Yesterday, I wrote very briefly about a prayer group appropriating personal tragedy for pious purposes. Today I’d like to consider the more general problem. Whenever we encounter almost any tragic situation in the mass media, there is immediately a crush of activists striving to craft a segue to their pet cause.
Anti-capitalists
https://twitter.com/ChrisWarcraft/status/649664924881293312
Feminists
I'm hearing that all 10 of the people murdered in the #OregonShooting were women. Can someone confirm?
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) October 2, 2015
Violence in the United States is absolutely a gendered problem. Mass shootings are a gendered problem. We need to understand that to fix it.
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) October 3, 2015
Masculists
https://twitter.com/Nero/status/649997350589468672
Creationists
Is not a gun problem is a morality problem. We taught our children they come from animals n they starting to act like animals. #UCCshooting
— Jordan Rodriguez (@jordanicolasr) October 1, 2015
Persecuted Christians
Will Roseburg Prompt a ‘National Conversation’ on Anti-Christian Bigotry? http://t.co/L96ldHXarS pic.twitter.com/dK4M5r4KN8
— National Review (@NRO) October 3, 2015
Persecuted Nonbelievers
Fox News host blames 'atheists' and 'secular progressives' for all mass shootings. #facepalm #factfree http://t.co/UsWNfzbvUh
— The Skeptic (@TheSkepticMag) September 3, 2015
Conspiracy Nutters
https://twitter.com/angiepowerdisne/status/650021533411246080
The list goes on and on. I noticed a few animal rights folks getting in on the action yesterday, resharing an article about how animal cruelty is an underappreciated warning sign for future murderous outbursts. (Oddly enough, those tweets have since gone missing.)
I completely understand the impulse to frame emotionally-charged highly-discussed events in terms of our own priorities and worldview, but we need to pause to ask ourselves, every time, whether we have enough facts to say with confidence that we are offering solutions which are truly relevant to the social problem at hand. Otherwise, we run the risk of reducing human suffering to a springboard for leaping atop our favorite high horse.
