hell paso

i’d like to say a (not so) brief word about the recent hell paso shooting…

…and hopefully help myself come up with a “wtf” in the process.

we, as a society, i feel are getting almost accustomed to shootings. the fact it happens, i feel, no matter how often, is kind of a numb point to us at this point. the only questions we all ask is “where and how many?” and that’s really what makes em different. as long as it follows the basic rule of criminal decency (no cripples, kids or seniors) and wasn’t in your home state, it’ll be the lead story on the news (maybe) but not really dominate the broadcast.

and it always follows the same pattern as far as the shooter goes and the current “government” and media reaction:

but i feel this is different. first off we need to establish two indisputable scientific facts:

1. the current president is racist, particularly against mexicans
2. texas is fuck all huge

a good portion of our state’s residents have never trekked through texas around the lubbock/midland/odessa area. and that’s good. it’s boring. insanely boring. you literally feel like you’re driving in the real life version of the highways typically reserved for wile e. coyote and the roadrunner to blow shit up on. there is fucking NOTHING out there. and this white boy drove across if for nine hours to get from one of the largest cities in the nation to get to el paso.

nine god damn hours.

if he was really just trying to kill mexicans to “stop the invasion” he could have driven to laredo. it’s a prettier drive with a shit ton more to see and keep you entertained…it’s a straight shot down I-35. only one road the whole way, AND it’s two hours shorter a drive.

so why the fuck did he make that longer, duller drive? because his president (not mine) talks about the border invasion and SPECIFICALLY refers to el paso. he’s from the do everything via google generation. he could have easily searched “mexican border near me” and it would have sent him any number of places that were NOT el paso. but he went there because the flaming cheeto on penn ave told him that’s where the invasion was…and because daddy didn’t hug him enough (or uncle carl hugged him too much) he feels the need to impress his male “superiors” and lots of folks got shot for it.

i’m not gonna argue gun control here. that’s pointless. we have the best government money can buy and the NRA has paid off a shit load of it. gun control, in this day and age, is simply not going to happen. the people that CAN do something about it have been paid ridiculous amounts of money to not to, and by people that they are scared of, and rightfully so. the mental illness question is also a moot point because the other people that right NRA sized checks are the pharmaceutical companies and without mental illness they would simply cease to be. while we all focus on the overwhelming opioid deaths we lose sight of the fact that their made in plants built on a foundation of zoloft, prozak, etc, etc. being in physical pain just has less of a stigma attached to it than mental pain, which is why more people die from painkillers than mood killers.

so my main quest in writing this, from a personal perspective, goes unresolved. there really is no easy solution to this. although fortunately for the shooter (i’ve avoided using his name on purpose and REFUSE to add the word “allegedly” because that’s fucking stupid – he shot people, that’s a given. it’s “allegedly” murder until it’s a case, but the shots are indisputable) he was white and just shot a bunch of brown people. his life could have been a lot worse had he been black and tried to sell loose cigarettes…

seriously – what the fuck is wrong with this country and how do folks genuinely not think it’s the racist piece of shit on the news every day?