Andrew Crighton
Editor-in-Chief
I am sure that anyone who is reading this knows about the tragedy that took place Sunday night in Las Vegas. The scale of the pain and loss was so great that even several people I know were affected by the shooting.
Several times throughout our lives events like this take place, senseless violence and death that will change how many of us live our lives or view the world.
It will take time for those who were directly affected to process everything that has happened; and the media is doing everything in their power to discover what happened, why, who was involved and what will happen next.
Because events like this are so unexpected, they slam the brakes on our lives for a little bit; and leave us with nothing but questions and emotions.
Those questions should be answered. Why did this person commit such a terrible act? What can we do to help those who have suffered? What can we do in the future if similar events occur, or if we could possibly prevent it before it happens.
There is an extremely large hurdle when it comes to answering these questions though. There is always a call not to politicize shootings.
Politicians, media and social figures and everyday people will make a statement that there is no need to start asking questions about what could have been done and what we can do in the future.
I understand this sentiment. The suffering of others should not be used as leverage to increase your personal power and influence. However, a disproportionate amount of accusations like this are leveled at politicians.
There are those inside of the government who will use any situation to their advantage; but those people exist throughout all of the world.
I do not believe that the majority of politicians are attempting to make a personal name for themselves based off of tragedy.
What I do believe happens is that politicians experience the same emotions as we do. After reading the articles about Las Vegas I was mad. I was angry, and I was sad. But I was also confused. Why did this happen? Why did a seemingly normal person commit such violence against his fellow man?
Those in government are just as human as you or I, so why should they not feel the same way? There is one key difference though; politicians have power to start the wheels of change in motion. There is not a single,sane, person on earth who would want another mass shooting to occur; and if something could be done to prevent them then we should take action.
I believe that every politician wants to make changes in the world. The only question is why do they want to make those changes. Most of them I believe want change for the right reasons, there is simply a difference of opinion on how to go about them.
That is why I don’t believe we should demonize people for starting a conversation.
After all, there is a difference in perception when a politician calls for change as opposed to the direct victims of violence.
Marsy’s Law is a prime example. I want to start by making it very clear, I am not commenting in any capacity on the contents, intent or reasons for Marsy’s Law. I am simply looking at how it was started and the support it has received.
The family of a victim decided to create and propose a bill with the help of professionals in order to change the system so that others would not have to experience what they have.
As far as I know, no one has criticized this family with politicizing the death of their daughter.
Yes, it was their decision to begin a public battle in the name of their daughter, and we cannot say that we understand what they have been through.
We cannot understand what the victims and families of any violent attack have gone through; but we are capable of empathizing.
Just because someone has not personally experienced a violent loss in their life does not mean that they are unable to be hurt by the suffering of the people around them; and we should not punish them for wanting to take action.
In the majority of instances, there is not a scramble for power, there is simply a call for change.
Frankly, when any group begins the demonizing process of someone who is their competitor during these events, that group or individual should be shamed equally as much. Because if calling to for a discussion is a power play; then attempting to silence it is one-in-the-same.
