So, Knoxville. 2 Dead.
When I heard about the gunman in Knoxville who entered the Unitarian Church in Knoxville with a shotgun and killed two people, I felt a mix of emotions; horror, and sadness, anger and fear. But not surprise. Never surprise.
I've been a Unitarian Universalist for a large percentage of my life, though a lackluster one. I haven't gone to a meeting in years, though I was married in a Unitarian church. In many ways I was too cynical, angry and contentious to be a good Unitarian- in some respects I was just too conservative for the local congregation. My mother though is an active Unitarian though, heavily involved in the Society's activism. I also had a number of friends who attended the Unitarian youth group with me. Whether or not I fit in with the local Unitarian society, I respected them a lot for their philosophy, and their commitment to making the world a better place.
So I'm horrified because I can easily imagine someone turning a shotgun on the gentle, dedicated people I knew; I feel sadness at the children who will have to grow up with the memory of what a madman can do, to turn a children's play into a scene of terror. I feel anger because it was unfair, because the church was a target for it's beliefs and willingness to help gays and lesbians in the Deep South.
But i'm not surprised. Or perhaps only in the numb "I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier" sense. for decades there's been a propaganda campaign against liberalism in generals, and social liberals in specific. And it ramped up tremendously when the likes of Anne Coultier started making "jokes" about putting liberals in concentration camps. And they'll still back off and pretend their "Jokes" had nothing to do with creating an atmosphere where a man feels it's right to go into a church and kill the liberals he was taught to hate. And after a while, when it's safe, they'll go back to propagandizing.
The Unitarian Universalist Society will survive this; they've been beleaguered before, and they will continue to do their good works. But for now I'm scared at what my country may become, and I'm angry enough to want to protect the people I care about, who the likes of the far-right would see dead. And I'm sad, but not surprised. Because I've been seeing this coming for a long time.
I've been a Unitarian Universalist for a large percentage of my life, though a lackluster one. I haven't gone to a meeting in years, though I was married in a Unitarian church. In many ways I was too cynical, angry and contentious to be a good Unitarian- in some respects I was just too conservative for the local congregation. My mother though is an active Unitarian though, heavily involved in the Society's activism. I also had a number of friends who attended the Unitarian youth group with me. Whether or not I fit in with the local Unitarian society, I respected them a lot for their philosophy, and their commitment to making the world a better place.
So I'm horrified because I can easily imagine someone turning a shotgun on the gentle, dedicated people I knew; I feel sadness at the children who will have to grow up with the memory of what a madman can do, to turn a children's play into a scene of terror. I feel anger because it was unfair, because the church was a target for it's beliefs and willingness to help gays and lesbians in the Deep South.
But i'm not surprised. Or perhaps only in the numb "I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier" sense. for decades there's been a propaganda campaign against liberalism in generals, and social liberals in specific. And it ramped up tremendously when the likes of Anne Coultier started making "jokes" about putting liberals in concentration camps. And they'll still back off and pretend their "Jokes" had nothing to do with creating an atmosphere where a man feels it's right to go into a church and kill the liberals he was taught to hate. And after a while, when it's safe, they'll go back to propagandizing.
The Unitarian Universalist Society will survive this; they've been beleaguered before, and they will continue to do their good works. But for now I'm scared at what my country may become, and I'm angry enough to want to protect the people I care about, who the likes of the far-right would see dead. And I'm sad, but not surprised. Because I've been seeing this coming for a long time.