San Bernardino

I am shocked, shocked to find that that sort of thing is going on!

 

That part is definitely true. Mass shootings are a relatively small problem. In terms of "preventable things that kill Americans," it's not really on the radar because of the actual risk, just the scariness of it.

 

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people die every year while waiting on drugs to be approved by the FDA.

 

How thin is that razor blade upon which we walk?

 

I'm going skating later, so pretty damn thin.

 

Yeah, but it's pretty fucking scary. Given the choice between dying because I'm waiting for drugs - the example someone gave - and getting fucking mowed down out of the clear blue sky in an enclosed space by a rampage shooter, I'm picking the drug wait, 1,000 times out of 1,000.

I understand the argument that it's an irrational fear, statistically speaking. But I do credit to a degree the intensity of the horror.

 

Koresh and the Branch Davidians were a largely unknown quantity. You could join them thinking they were one thing, when they turned out to be another. And, you couldn't predict the end game.

Radical Islam has existed for 1400 years. It's been in the news a lot lately. If you sign up, you know what you;re getting into, and you know that you may be expected to strap on a suicide vest, or shoot up innocent people.

Muslims aren't duped into becoming radicalized. They choose it. They seek it.

 

Especially if the shooter's of a different race ... [/shuddering]

 

It's the American dream to build a personal armory and shoot up everyone they're mad it. These two were living the dream.

 

There's a guy on my floor at work, same year as me, that's a Muslim. He never talks about it, but he is. He's not different than you or I. He's very engaged in politics, and quite far (but mainstream) left. His wife is basically a hot Middle Eastern woman. No headdress or anything like that. I don't know how engaged he is in his religion - maybe there are lapsed Muslims like there are lapsed Catholics. I know I've seen him angrily lash out at ISIS and other terrorists on Facebook a couple of times. He's a huge gun control advocate, and a huge gay marriage supporter. Name the wedge issue, and he's staked out the standard lefty position on it.

Anyway, it causes me some cognitive dissonance. This guy is really the only Muslim I know, and he's basically a browner version of your high school class president.

I think that's why some of us see the religion painted with a broad brush and defend it. Because we know guys like this, and it doesn't add up.

 

NBC's Kerry Sanders sees, "so many potential triggers":

“I think we’ll eventually get some indication on what the dispute is about,” he responded. “This was a holiday party. Maybe it was called a ‘Christmas party’. There’s so many potential triggers here, it’s really unclear.”

NBC Journo Speculates on San Bernardino Shooting: Maybe ‘Christmas Party’ Was a ‘Trigger’

 

CNN's Erin Burnett wisely asks us to consider one potential trigger many of us had not thought of:

Jim, I mean, obviously, her involvement is a game changer in how enforcement, law enforcement will look at this. But I just have to ask you, could there be something else, anything else, that could have explained her involvement? Something like a postpartum psychosis?

CNN Insanity: Erin Burnett Wonders If 'Postpartum Psychosis' Led to Slaughter