The heading of this post is not
my personal opinion but that of a resident of the scene of this week’s mass
shooting—Tiffany Rodgers, white female of Rancho Tehama, an unincorporated area
in northern California. Being unincorporated, the now “just” 80 percent white
community with little law enforcement presence has become a haven for “pot farms,”
from which the shooter, Kevin Neal, made his living. Donald Trump, who failed
to tweet “condolences” for the Hispanic victims of the Colorado shooting a few
weeks ago, was roundly criticized for “mistaking” this latest shooting with the
church shooting in Texas, obviously because there have been so many mass
shootings since his election that he can keep track of them—and since the name
of the community is Spanish, he probably thinks all of the victims were Hispanic
too. He needn’t be the hypocrite and waste false personal sympathy on people he
viscerally hates. By the way, although the Las Vegas shooting occurred during a
country music festival, not all the victims were necessarily white; 12 of the
58 dead were Hispanic.
Before we examine the opening statement, I want to point out
that some people have tried to inject gender politics in the fray. In the wake
of continuing accusations of sexual misconduct of various real or dubious
credibility that have now taken on the aspect of a vindictive political
campaign (women are oh-so innocent?), USA
Today has a story now, written by a woman (Alia Dastagir, who “specializes”
in gender politics in the publication), entitled “Guns Don’t Kill People, Men
and Boys Kill People.” The story is full of the usual feminist interpretations of
the male psyche, which of course is typically self-serving, plus the usual
mendacities. For example, the writer claims that when guns are in the hands of
female super-beings in films, it is “intended” to “appeal” to men; yet we all
know that this is meant to appease feminists and provide equal-opportunity
“empowerment” images for women. Naturally, when the suspension of disbelief
becomes too great, female critics are likely to accuse filmmakers of being
“misogynistic,” rather than their own taste for vengeance being displayed too
starkly.
Not “every man” is a potential violent killer, Dastagir
admits, but “we can’t ignore that is part of the story.” But then again, there
are other parts of the story that are conveniently hushed-up. All of these men
have mothers (and not always at-home fathers), and we have to ask if it is
“just life,” does their upbringing have anything to do with “life”? White men
tend to attempt to “rationalize” their bigotries, while white female bigots
tend to dispense with “logic” and go with their “gut.” This is something you
frequently see at Trump rallies, where women—particularly older ones—accept whole
hog the sleaziest, most outrageous racial stereotypes without question; they
might not be acting out with guns, but they certainly are making no effort to “soften”
the tendency to violent procilivities. Even “educated” white women hold beliefs
that wilt under close scrutiny; at that southern college I attended, I remember
in a classroom a very pallid, very “Nordic” type astonish everyone, for no
reason that had anything to do with the class discussion, by blurting out that
she wasn’t a “racist,” but she just would never marry a black man. But she was
a just not a racist, she felt the need to repeat. Well, duh, but why needlessly
open that can of worms when there was a chance that someone should have made it
worse for her by requesting that she “explain” what she meant? There is a fine line between racism and beliefs based on race.
But back to that opening statement. The Sacramento Bee reported that Neal, who after an arrest for
being in possession of an illegal weapon had been banned from owning guns back
in January, somehow managed to manufacture his own AR-15 semi-automatic rifle
from a “ghost gun” kit he purchased online. Tehama County assistant sheriff
Phil Johnston noted that Neal’s neighborhood frequently complained about him
shooting guns at all hours of the day, yet not only was it apparently not known
by local law enforcement (or his neighbors, for that matter) that Neal wasn’t
even supposed to have any guns to fire, he claimed that
Even with calls from
neighbors about Neal firing weapons in the past, deputies received little
cooperation when they responded. We would receive calls that he was shooting. No
deputies observed it. This is why they tried to do surveillance to catch him,
and that’s all I can say about that. We tried to make contact with him using
other avenues, but quite honestly the neighbors up there weren’t real
forthcoming, either, and they also had firearms and frequently shot, also.
This at least in part “explains” Tiffany Rodgers disturbing
acceptance of gun violence in America. Nobody “really” wants to talk about it
or stop it. There will be those who seek to politicize or make it solely a gender
issue to escape culpability as the writer in USA Today tried to do, but the truth remains that no one is “innocent”
in all of this.
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