Spinning Tragedy Into Cash

Ever since that little shit in AZ lost his mind and shot up a parking lot, killing and wounding his way into history, a whole parade of unconscionables have been trying to spin the story to their political/financial advantage.

To me, this is lower than low.  Those that blame this incident on the escalating partisan violence in our political system are no better than those they point the finger at.  Those who look to find a way to muffle freedom of speech by labeling anyone who speaks out on the Internet against the government as some sort of terrorist or threat are, in fact, one themselves.   There are sociologists, scientists, law enforcement officials, government officials, medical personnel, all lining up to define the *one* cause of this incident...and of course that one cause is whatever they can directly benefit from.

But perhaps the worst of the worst are those who endlessly dig for new angles to the story, perpetuating it, extracting every last drop of Public Interest out of it.  One almost wishes for an earthquake or a plane crash so that these disgusting parasites will leave Arizona like rats off of a sinking ship to the next Big Story.  These hypocrites, these purveyors of filth, these traders in Human Tragedy for Profit, they host the stage, charge admission and hold the microphone for all of the rest of the phonies, charlatans, carpetbaggers, scoundrels, creeps and political hacks who come to exploit this horrific event.

Violence sells -- in movies, in video games, on television and in print.   Violence is just another thing our society mines and exploits, just like Human Tragedy.  The real reasons that a young man would come unglued and attack a crowd of people are many, and nearly infinitely complex, yet in a way we as a society and a country all have played a part in the way violence overall has escalated with every passing decade.  We will never know why, just as we have never truly known why in other similar tragedies.  Targeting "why" to a singular cause is naive, and warping "why" to a specific agenda for personal or political gain is purely sick and wrong.

God (whatever you conceive him/her/it to be) help the families, friends and neighbors of those killed, injured or forever affected by this tragedy.  And goddamn those who exploit it.