This is what will destroy us

 

Yesterday was Tuesday and it was a day I teach class. I'm up and out of the house by 6:15am to commute to Manchester. This semester I'm teaching the History of Illustration at New England College to a dozen undergraduates. Before we got into the history of comic strips and comic books, our topic of the day, we talked about the shooting at the school in Nashville. It was like we all couldn't pretend to be cocooned at school. So we talked about it. And everyone was frustrated. 

Most of the students grew up having those "active shooter drills" as part of their normal school experience since they were in elementary school. They all agreed that there are pro-gun politicians who are making money by allowing automatic weapons to be bought. There are, as an editorial cartoon pointed out, more hoops you have to jump through to buy certain kinds of cold medication than buying a firearm.

I showed them Clay Jones' cartoon (above), as well as the photo of Nashville's congressman, Rep. Andy Ogle and his family, all holding guns. This was Ogle's Christmas card. 

 

It was the great Steve Brodner's The Greater Quiet substack for March 29th that really struck me. That was where I saw the quote by Tennessee representative Tim Burchett (R). 

 

Here's USA Today's first two paragraphs:

"Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, described the school shooting in his home state as 'a horrible, horrible situation,' but it's not something he thinks Congress needs to address.

"'We're not gonna fix it,' he told reporters Tuesday. 'Criminals are gonna be criminals.'"

When you are indifferent, when your only other advice to the "What can be done to protect our children from school shootings?" question is, as he said in that same article, "Home school" -- I see that this as absolute indifference to the suffering of fellow human beings. This is what will destroy us.