on a more serious note

[anotheranon]

I've been following the Knoxville shooting case and it seems to get a bit more disturbing the more I read. One source suggests it was case of domestic violence, but most sources (go to Google News for lots of 'em) focus on the shooter's hatred of liberals (and the UU's are a very liberal denomination, with a long record of supporting civil rights, desegregation, GBLTQ rights, etc).

If this hatred is the cause then pecunium is rightly calling this horror terrorism (found over @ patgreene).

I want to say I'm totally knocked off my feet by this, but I'm somehow not. Perhaps because I'm not a Unitarian and don't know anyone who was at that church and isn't all that personal for me, but more likely because it's not surprising - with all the hateful rhetoric from the right wing media, some nutcase was bound to act on it sooner or later :(

Comments

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

You were a good friend to get your friend some help - you did what you could, and it sounds like you realize that it wasn't his fault.

And reading the above I KNOW you're right, and if this guy was in fact failed by the system I do have some sympathy there. I'm neither from TN nor UU (though, like you, we were married by a UU "hired gun"), but I think the frustration for me isn't because of closeness but because even if this guy had problems from the get go it was still hatred that pushed him over the line - it's that hatred as a motivator that I have no patience for.