Opus 2017-339: Headlines: Take a Deep Breath

How should we respond to the Las Vegas tragedy? 

There are many legitimate ways.
    Prayer for the victims and their families
    Serious thought about our own priorities
    More time spent with those who are important to us
    Plan to attend a concert or sporting event

That last may seem strange but we need to keep in mind that the point of terror is to get people to live in fear, to change their lifestyle and be crippled in the process.  Was this guy technically a “terrorist”?  Only time will tell.  What he did instills terror even if he was just a sociopath. 

What we as Americans need to do is continue to live our lives.  Do a little math.  There were 22,000 people at the concert.  Even in a closely packed  crowd with an unobstructed, preplanned field of fire and an automatic weapon how many people were killed?  Let’s say 110 to make the math easy.  Each one was a tragedy.  Collectively this was obscene.  With that in mind take note that 21,890 lived through the crime.  That means that 99.5% of the people shot at lived to tell their grandchildren about it.  I am aware that if I had lost a family member I would be too much in shock to see this.

A link on Drudge caught my eye and took me to the Miami Herald.  This is a statement that we need to file away and keep reading until we understand it and believe it.

“This country has so many public venues and it’s built on the premise of free assembly for whatever purpose — for political purposes, for religious purposes or even just for amusement, as was the case here,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police. “It’s hard to say what more could be done that hasn’t been done short of curtailing the American way of life, which I don’t think is a particularly good idea.”

This police spokesman sees the bigger picture.  Life will never be totally safe.  The only way to make it really safe is to lock us all up and give dictatorial powers to a select few with guns.  In effect you would need to establish a society like the Communists did in Russia and China but keep in mind in order to keep the sheep safe they murdered millions who were suspicious.  I will take my chances.  I vote for liberty.

Meanwhile, don’t believe much of what you read for the next few days.  Reporters are desperately seeking headlines that will advance their careers.  Politicians are looking for ways to cut into your liberty while you are still in shock.  Wait a week and then start listening to people you think you can trust.  There is probably a lot going on that we have not heard yet.

homo unius libri