Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/29/capital-gazette-publishes-desp.html
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Thank goodness his Second Amendment rights were not infringed. Can we get a comment from the NRA? NRA, where are you?
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Defiance (along with mockery) is one of the best ways to aggravate terrorists. Saying “screw your ‘grand gesture’ of hate and violence, we’ll be back to business shortly” really gets them angry. I’m sure this loser thought “at least my enemies won’t publish on Friday”; think again.
Keeping his name out of the headline, instead calling him “Laurel man”, was a nice extra middle finger to him.
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“Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens.”
God save us from ourselves.
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don’t misunderstand me, this is not just a tragedy but an absolute horror anytime someone is just going about their lives and is shot and/or killed for any reason - imagine if it was you at work right now and you heard a really loud sound, looked down and blood was pouring out of your body, the incredible pain arriving a moment later, first asking WHY and then desperately thinking I DONT WANT TO DIE
but “going about your business” is the opposite is what should happen - not just the victims and their family/friend’s lives should be in shock and come to a standstill but the entire community
if I owned that paper I would print a completely BLACK PAGE for the cover for the next month and the huge words THIS HAS TO STOP, NOW, NOT ONE MORE VICTIM
this isn’t getting a flat tire on the way to work and getting dirty changing the tire, “oh well, do your best, and go about your business trying to make up for the hassle”
this is rampant guns easily in the hands of people who should not have them
oh and timely side-note: supreme court decisions by hard-right conservative judges helped make this possible and will prevent it from being undone in the future
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Bravo, Capital Gazette.
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So, when someone violently tries to shut you down you’d… give them exactly what they want? You’d let them and anyone else who opposes you control the entire narrative?
By putting out this edition, they’re standing up to the bullies, not providing proof that bullying works. It was the choice of the people who were there to do so. “If it were me” advice from a distant bystander is so much more valuable, though, I’m sure.
You don’t work for a newspaper to be silent. You work there to get the word out. By telling their own story, they make sure no one gets to spin it. They decide what and how much they want to say, and what to focus on, and as the victims, that is their right.
You’d choose otherwise? Fine, when it happens to you (I hope not) you can make your choice for you. But don’t blame these people for choosing a different tack when it really has happened to them.
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not sure where this fantasy comes from that standing up to bullies makes them go away? is that because it’s the only one of two options and trying to escape bullies instead seems like a “weak choice” ? because it’s not - you can’t stop a bully by just stopping that one event - you have to get everyone onboard to stop the next event and the next event - because the next bully doesn’t care that the previous bully was stood up to - we have a bully leading the entire country and he is only encouraged to go further every time someone stands up to him, if anything that is teaching the behavior to others
it’s not what you are saying at all but it strikes me to another misperceived fantasy that having a gun themselves they could somehow “shoot back” and empower themselves, instead of the reality where they either shoot someone innocent by accident or get shot by law enforcement who aren’t going to take even a second to figure out who are the “good guys with the guns”
the only way to stop this is to get EVERYONE to care and make it impassible, un-ignorable by EVERYONE instead of “going about their lives”
same logic as mandatory draft would stop wars or at least slow them down because suddenly everyone has their neck in the game
right now guns are everywhere and in the wrong hands because it simply doesn’t matter to most people until that horrible day when they are a victim, something has to make this their problem and that’s when you’ll get change
within our lifetimes there is going to be an anniversary for every single calendar date of a mass shooting - process that and then think about how everything that is being done up to this point has utterly failed
In my experience, ignoring bullies only encourages them to ‘double down.’
There are no easy answers here, but panicking and succumbing to hysterical defeatism won’t solve any problems.
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They are too busy with their ‘thoughts and prayers’. ::spits::
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This. And trying to talk sense into some people just will not work.
“Show me someone who’s opening move is a right cross, and I’ll show you someone who will not listen to reason.”
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I wish more papers did that for our other mass shootings, and they really have plenty to choose from, but I think it is wrong in this particular instance. All evidence points to this being an attack on this paper and its ability to publish the news. Pair that with our broader cultural antagonism towards journalists and a demonstration that they won’t be cowed is important. On top of that journalism is a difficult, low pay profession that people generally go into because they care about it. Giving that up, on top of all of the other trauma they are experiencing is probably not helpful.
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sorry I am always going to disagree with “keep calm and carry on” being the right approach to almost any serious problem, especially when it’s already demonstrated nothing is ever done about the problem and nothing ever changes
“carry on” is propaganda, it means “we can’t or won’t do anything so don’t bother yourself”
when I see people say “don’t get overly excited” about guns, it usually means they want to keep their own guns at any cost to others
guns aren’t toys, they aren’t entertainment, they should be rare and uncommon and when someone is spotted with one, the world should STOP and say WHY do you have a gun because guns are only good for one thing, destroying things, what are planning on destroying?
let people argue all they want that it is “too late to put the genie back in the bottle” first I want them to argue that “guns are perfectly acceptable for modern society” because they are not and appeasement is wrong
That’s a cliche and not at all what I said.
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You’re right, that’s NOT what I am saying at all. I never once said they should have had a shootout in the newsroom or that more guns are the answer, so stop pretending that I said anything remotely like it.
I have had my fair share of experience with bullies and I can tell you flat out that capitulating only encourages them and those around them. If this paper had shut down (and trust me, your tactic of “No front page” would accomplish that) it would send a message to every other grudge holder out there that doing this works.
But thank you for admitting that it doesn’t actually matter to you what people actually say or do, and that you’ll twist their words to villify them anyway.
Don’t ever, ever do it to me again. You have clearly indicated you aren’t interested in listening, arguing or even conversing in good faith, so you can cease conversing with me, on this or any other topic.
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NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said journalists ‘need to be curb-stomped’, in resurfaced footage
Keeping it classy NRA
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“I’m the real victim here.” —NRA spokesmonster who called for journalists to be beaten to death
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Where’s the inevitable right-wing asshat screaming “conflict of interest!~1”
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