Call it “terrorism” - David Sirota in Salon

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/20/call_it_terrorism/

"I woke up this morning to an explosion of text messages, tweets and voicemails, each of them asking the same thing: Are you OK? The answer is yes and no.

Yes, I’m physically fine — thank whatever higher power there is, I was not among the 50 people shot at a nearby Colorado movie theater, mainly because while I was planning to go see the latest Batman picture this week (and perhaps at that theater), the babysitting challenges of having a 19-month-old son logistically prevents me from seeing midnight movie premiere.

But no, I’m not emotionally fine. I don’t know the status of all of my friends or of my extended radio family, many of whom may have been there to see “Dark Knight” and instead experienced the darkest night of all. And just as important, whether I personally knew the victims or not, 50 of my fellow Coloradans shot down while watching a super-hero flick is both an unspeakably awful tragedy and yet another jarring reminder that terrorism is everywhere.

For all the legitimate questions that will be asked in the coming days (Why are there so many mass shootings in America? Why is it so easy to buy weapons-grade tear gas canisters? How much is this related to the availability of guns?); for all the insulting media coverage that will try to ramrod the dead Fargo-style into the woodchipper of the presidential campaign (New York Times headline: “In Wake of Colorado Shooting, a Concern Over the Proriety of Campaigining”); and for all the demagogues who will use this tragedy for their own gain (pro-gun GOP Rep. Loui Gohmert is today blaming the shooting victims for not being armed) – there is only one harrowing conclusion we can come to for certain immediately after such a heinous act: terrorism has no specific nationality, geography, race or creed."

snip

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Yes. let's call it what it is. terrorism.

[DearAbby]

1. Shocking

I live in Golden. Woke up to this most horrific news. I am just shocked. Prayers and healing thoughts to those injured or killed. Healing thoughts to the rest of us...we need to get a handle on ourselves.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I agree with David. Maybe we should take a good look at ourselves and

try to find out why we have a culture of violence.

"Indeed, at a time when so many bloodlusting Americans cheer on our government proudly assassinating the imams who allegedly inspire Muslim terrorism, a shooting like this (if, indeed, it had nothing to do with Islamic extremism) begs us to wonder why we don’t feel similarly bellicose or enraged at the inspirations fueling so many other forms of terrorism — whatever those inspirations may be."

[nichomachus]

3. Please don't

Call it "mass murder," until we find out the real reason.

"Terrorism" has been thrown around so much in the last 10 years that it's in danger of losing its meaning.

[TalkingDog]

4. Exactly. He follows the pattern: White, young, male. The other commonality is often Christian

but we don't have enough information on his background to make that determination.

If we stop dancing around it, we can start to address the root cause.