Dead Irony
Well, folks, it’s time to start up the old “Thoughts and Prayers” machine that our country turns to when faced with yet another episode of gun violence. Cries for unity and solidarity come gushing right after the blood spills.
Also, cue the hunt for the perpetrator nutcase with said guns, because it’s not the guns that kill people, it’s people. And just wait when the nutcase is a brown person, better yet an immigrant, even better, a terrorist. All of those things help during Thoughts and Prayers season.
It’s all worked before, right?
It never has.
And right now, at this very moment in American history, it’s far too late for thoughts and prayers. We’re well past that. Why? Because our country has been primed by a madman of sorts for the better part of eight years. He’s gone around stoking hatred and grievance and has convinced at least a third or more of the voting population that he alone is the answer.
All of this was crystal clear for me as I sat watching the assassination attempt unfold in real time. I rarely watch the news, but I happened to be sitting at a bar eating lunch when the news broke. It was in the minutes after the Secret Service had whisked him into a car that a man-an audience member there for his dose of grievance-turned to face the camera and began flipping off the nation.
You couldn’t hear his words, but he was mouthing “f*ck you” to whomever would listen.
So, who was this would-be worshipper flipping off? He was flipping off all those people that the Madman has claimed are the true villains of this nation. The audience member was hurt because his man-the man who said he can fix everything-was almost killed. The audience member was angry that now he might have to think for himself, that he might have to actually contribute to democracy rather than surrender his rights to the king. He was angry because the energy, albeit toxic, that the Madman has created might have come to tragic end.
But folks, this is how dead irony works. It’s funny until it isn’t.
The supporters of the Madman’s ideas have received what they have wanted all along: one more thing to be mad about, but the irony is two-fold this time. The attacker was a young white boy who had easy access to a gun, and he was a registered Republican, at that.
While the gunman’s motive remains unclear, what’s clearer than ever is that the Madman will only get madder and his supporters-well, we’ve seen this movie before.
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