Mass killings in the news - or not...

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A really good commentary about the Kyoto killings and the lack of media coverage from USA Today:

Kyoto Anime arson killings didn't get much attention because we couldn't demonize guns
While obsessing over President Donald Trump’s racist rants and his supporters’ hateful chants, Americans could easily have missed the awful news from thousands of miles away in Kyoto, Japan. Last Thursday, as Trump was facing a firestorm over his raucous campaign rally, a 41-year-old man aired his grievance against Kyoto Animation by means of a literal firestorm

Shouting “You die,” the enraged assailant doused the three-story anime studio with gasoline and then set it ablaze. By the time the smoke had cleared, 34 employees — mostly young women — were dead and nearly three dozen others were injured. 

In terms of the death toll, this was Japan’s worst mass killing in nearly two decades, sending shock waves throughout the island nation. Globally, the impact was deeply felt within the anime community, including those attending an international anime convention held in San Diego. Beyond that, the reaction was hardly commensurate with the horrific nature of the crime. 

And the thesis of this post:

Guns get more attention
It would be hard to find adults anywhere in this country who do not remember when 12 victims were gunned down at an Aurora, Colorado cinema in 2012. It would be equally difficult to find folks outside of Nevada who do recall when 12 victims succumbed to smoke inhalation at a Reno hotel in 2006 when an irate resident set fire to a stack of old mattress, causing the building to become engulfed in flames.

Few outside of New York City likely recall the 87 killed at the Happy Land Social Club in a fire deliberately set by a the ex-boyfriend of an employee. The death toll was nearly twice as high as Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub massacre, a crime which remains fresh in our collective memories.

True - a section of this nation wants to remove our legal access to guns and is using any propaganda tool to do this. Believe me, as a nation, there are over 350 million guns in private hands. If guns were a problem, you would know.

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on July 23, 2019 9:38 AM.

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