Quote Originally Posted by kidicarus13 View Post
... There are ~8000 deaths per day in the US. If I do not personally know the deceased or someone that was personally affected by their deaths, I do not have the bandwidth to think much about it.
Correct.

There are so many tragedies that occur to people everyday in a country with a population nearing 400 million, and a world with over 8 billion, that there it not enough time to mourn every one. And if you tried you would likely be paralyzed with grief, unable to function.

And which one would you chose to mourn? The third person shot in the L.A. dance hall? The brown haired girl that was stabbed to death in Idaho? What about one of the babies in Africa that succumbed to malnutrition this morning?

When I see or hear someone expressing their outrage or horror at whatever dramatic event just occurred, I question their sincerity.

For instance, Hannah Gay Keao, Edgewater City Council member on the Boulder supermarket murders- "I cannot tell you how many times my husband and I have cried since because I?ve lost count. We?ve cried, together, alone, holding our daughter, watching the news, reading statements in our inboxes from our lawmakers."

Do I really think she has actually cried so many times she has lost count? No. If she indeed has, she is either so mentally unstable as to be unfit for office, or is really bad at math.

Or both.

People that chose to publicly express their grief are often looking to call attention to themselves. Whether it is virtue signalling or attempting to advance a cause, their motivations can be suspect.

It calls to mind the North Koreans that openly wail with unrelenting grief when they visit Kumsusan Memorial Palace where Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il lie perpetually in state.

Those that express the deepest lament are judged to be the most loyal citizens.

When Chuck Schumer jumps on Twitter to immediately denounce the L.A. murders as a hate crime and call for gun bans, he is seen as the most strident defender of democracy. At least in his mind and those that follow such dogma.