The right’s fake outrage

Photo by Casey Gomez

They say that if you do something for 10,000 hours, you become unmistakably great at it. By that logic, the United States of America is a world-class talent in handling mass shootings. The seemingly-monthly cycle goes something like this.

Someone opens fire on a large group of people. Conservative news outlets will mention Islamic terror, and if the perpetrator turns out to be white, the online right-wing fake news masses will post doctored photos linking the shooter with communism, Antifa, Hillary Clinton, etc. These will all be proven fake, but by that point Republicans won’t care. Democrats will push for gun reform in an attempt to prevent another tragedy. Republicans will clutch their pearls and throw feigned shame — or what Republicans think shame is, as I’m convinced they’ve lost all sense of the idea — at the thought of ‘politicizing a tragedy’.

This is a rare example of genuine human sympathy from a party led by an unfeeling demented bully. It takes a lot of emotional intelligence for Republicans to understand that, in the wake of such harrowing times, it may not be tactful to militarize them for political gain.

Just kidding. They’re just too spineless to come up with genuine counter-arguments. To prove once and for all that Republicans are simply feigning outrage about a topic they are unable to defend, let’s take a look at one of America’s most recent tragedies.

A month ago, 20-year-old Mollie Tibbets went missing in Iowa. After an intensive search, it was found this week that she was murdered by a Mexican man working in the United States illegally. Within the same few days, Donald Trump’s former lawyer/fixer and his former campaign manager were both indicted on serious charges that will prove damning for the Trump presidency.

One of these news stories can potentially shake the entire foundation of our country; the other is a tragic murder that is unfortunately a drop in the bucket for America’s current landscape. Reputable news outlets covered both but obviously gave more focus on the pressing political matters at hand. Right-leaning sources like Fox News, however, took an interesting approach. ‘GIRL MURDERED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT’ dominated the headlines. For a political party that pretends to embody moral superiority, they sure are hypocritical when a tragedy fits their narrative. Not only that, but they actively use it to take attention away from their compromised president and his legal blunders. To their credit, I guess it is hard to be balanced without a spine.

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