The Shootings in Milwaukee

Last week a retired military man who had evidently been active in white supremacist circles went into a Sikh temple in a Milwaukee suburb and opened fire. Six people as well as the shooter were dead an hour later.

We can ask why as we always do in these circumstances. Clearly we are dealing with mental issues. We are dealing with hate and anger manifesting itself into acts that are despicable. These instances of people opening fire on complete strangers, such as Aurora, and an Omaha shopping mall a few years ago, and this incident serve to unsettle us all.

It proves that no place was safe. I am not going to go thru the whole litany of debate about gun control. I think that we as a country have made a decision that we would prefer to be an armed camp carrying the water for the moneymaking of the gun lobby, so be it, we reap what we sow.

I would like to talk about why such hatred toward folks that are different. Doing a little research on the Sikh religion in the aftermath of this shooting one thing is easily clear. These people are a peaceful, gentle, accepting sect. Their religion has more in common with the Far East religions that Islam. Yet because their followers wear turbans it appears that this gentleman associated them with Muslims. Not that their being Muslims should have qualified them for shooting either, but at least as this man sits in hell's lobby it is good to know that he knows now he did not even lash out at the people he presumed were deserving of his wrath.

Wearing a 9/11 tattoo does not make one a terrorist. Certainly I am sure many people have made similar tributes to these people killed by another cowardly act. Deciding that all people of any faith or look are enemies is always dangerous.

One should take a moment and ask themselves what kind of outrage and news coverage this case has brought. I am not one to call out the media, I do not believe in media biases being a big deal. We know what Fox and MSNBC are and are not. Media companies these days are less about ethics and more about profits. For Americans these days the choice is between watching a network that agrees with our general political tilt or does not and most make the easy choice.

Last weekend much coverage occurred but since then it really has been CNN. MSNBC has been caught up in the all encompassing flag fest that is the Olympic coverage they pay billions for but still surprising is how little this has been covered by NBC. And on Fox news the coverage has been sadly predictable falling way down on the charts in the level of importance.

It is pretty generic criticism to ask what would the news coverage have been if a Muslim man opened fire in a Protestant church. Fox news would be leading the charge and the other networks would not be far behind.

Have we really reached a point in the division of our culture that coverage and opinion on the subject of cowardly, murderous, attacks is one that is predominantly based on our political feelings. If so it does make one wonder if we are headed for some kind of breakdown in our society that will shock us all.

Are we a tinderbox of anger waiting to explode and divide.