Monday, September 25, 2017

some world news

Came home from church and flipped on the news (I shouldn't do that).

A small Church of Christ, in Tennessee, had a shooting incident. One person was killed, apparently the pastor is still in critical condition.

It's not clear why the person who shot up the place did it. Apparently he was an African immigrant who complained of not having had the success he wanted. He had apparently briefly attended the church.

The church seems to serve a mix of races, so I guess it doesn't cleanly fit any of the "narrative patterns" the news plugs these things into. (That, plus the fact that the NFL national-anthem protests were going on, kind of led to the story sinking).

My best guess, given the age of the shooter? He had some kind of bad undiagnosed/untreated mental illness - he was of the age when it often shows up. (Also the age of some older college students).

I don't like having this kind of thing in my head but I admit back several years ago, when there was the shooting in Missouri (I believe in that case it was someone who believed they had an argument with the pastor?) I sat in church the following Sunday and looked around and thought, "How would I get out quickly, or at least get myself out of the line of fire, if that happened here?"

I DON'T LIKE HAVING TO THINK THAT. ESPECIALLY NOT IN CHURCH.

I don't know. Yes, there are probably factors here we will learn later (the shooter was injured but is still alive and is in custody) but it does seem, increasingly, people can't deal with anger/hurt/disappointment and you see them reacting in violent ways - overnight, there were some police officers in Fort Worth injured when they had to investigate an incidence of a driver pointing a gun at another driver, and in this general area (the corridor including Dallas and Oklahoma City, and east), there have been a number of road rage incidents and while you can never tell if it's because there are more of them or they're reported more, my impression - from being out on the road myself - is that people are getting more selfish with their driving and more quick-tempered.

And I don't know. We all have to live on this Earth together and yeah, people have done boneheaded things on the road that tick me off but I also know it's safer not to react, or to react by going "Okay, I'm gonna slow down a bit to let this guy pass me and get out of my range"

I don't know. I'm having a period right now where I feel like humanity mostly disappoints me. I suppose that means I still hold out hope it can be better than it is, but yeah - disappointed.

But yeah. I'm to the point where I cringe if a student gets angry in class. Or if I'm at a meeting where someone blows up. Or if someone seems to be driving aggressively. Or when people argue in a store - I start looking for exit paths or things I could duck behind. 


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