A blog, or the internet as a whole for that matter, doesn’t in any way adhere to the conventional societal wisdom of off-limit conversation pieces, those of course being politics, sex and money. In fact, I think the web was built on the second to make the third and is now fueled in large part by the first. And still the second, of course. Some things will never change.
OWTK has never been a place for such conversations, not because I don’t enjoy, in varying degrees, all three but because there’s never been an impetus for me to ‘go there’ here, which is an incredibly stupid statement considering kindergartners were slaughtered in their desks a few hours north of where my daughters attend school. If a parent blogger is ever going to address gun control, there was the opportunity. I couldn’t bring myself to publish any words of grief after the Newtown, CT shootings, I simply cried alone and fought the urge to hunker down with my family.
Today there were more killings. Broadcast killings. That news coupled with a political thought I was just having yesterday brought me to this post, to whisper two questions into the wind.
I was wondering if there exists a tipping point for even the most ardent supporters of someone like Donald Trump, people who are finding his eschewing of political correctness a refreshing change of pace in a political landscape dominated, usually, by outward diplomacy in manners of speech and action. Is there something Mr. Trump could do or some quip he might make that would cause those people to stop and say, “okay, that went too far. I’m out”?
And I wonder the same of the pro-gun NRA crowd. Could there possibly be an event, something more tragic than room fulls of 5 and 6 year old children being murdered, that would cause them to stop, reflect and say, “Aw fuck man, something has to change. There are some people who simply shouldn’t be able to have such easy access to guns. I think we can and need to find a suitable marriage of 2nd amendment rights and public safety”?
I don’t enter into the political arena online because it is hard to hear and be heard in the middle. I like to think I’m sensible, rational and kind when it comes to most things in life and that is a mindset and such are traits that make it difficult to rise above the shouting. And I can shout but it hurts on many levels to do so.
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