Death in a Dead Land
NOVANEWS
by RICHARD ESKOW
Photo by Andy Blackledge | CC BY 2.0
For a while my editors considered me the go-to guy for tragic death. A little girl gets killed when Gabby Giffords is shot? I’m on it, with “A Moment of Silence.” Bombs explode at the Boston Marathon? I’m there, with “The 27th Mile.” America shrugs at the death of young children in Newtown? I’m on TV saying, “I’m not anti-gun, I’m pro-kindergartner.”
Well, I’m going to be a little less elegant in my phrasing this time around: We don’t give a shit. Americans don’t care about gun death, not really. It’s obvious. Right-wingers want to cling to their gun fantasies because it makes them feel empowered in a world where they’re economically powerless and emotionally impotent. Liberals are better on the issue, but too many o...