I'm surprised that there hasn't been a thread on this. I almost never have to start a thread about headline news here. I can only assume people are speechless. The story is still a bit unclear but after the coverage I have seen today I have a few comments. 1. This is a hate crime. There are a lot of petty shit that gets blown up into hate crimes in our PC world, but this kind of sets the benchmark against which all hate crimes can be measured. 2. This shooter is a pussy. If he has such issues against black people that rob and kill and rape, why didn't he go down and take on the street gangs that actually do some of this shit? Killing some of them and getting himself wasted in the process seems like a braver way to start a race war. Instead he goes after people that are non-violent, welcoming, unarmed, and most importantly, not guilty of the crimes of his delusions. What a coward. 3. This is definitely terrorism. In fact it may be more of a terrorist act than a racist one. It is a whole lot more akin to Charles Manson trying to start a race war or McVeigh trying to start an anti-government war by killing innocents just to cause outrage, than to any recent racial killing I can think of going back to MLK. This guy thought he could start a race war. Hopefully nobody will give him his wish any more than they did those other times. 4. This guy is probably a lunatic who will spend his life on a funny farm. Most of the press so far has been about the outrage about innocent churchgoers and the racial hatred element, but they are starting to recognize that this may turn out to be another case like the theatre, political, and school shootings, where we are talking about mental illness combined with a weapon. We really, really need to find better ways to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally unstable. Now.
People can't believe it happened in a church. I can't believe it hasn't happened sooner. I remember sitting in church after the Aurora deal thinking how easy it would be for a lunatic to take out a heap of folks. We're all facing the front, not armed, etc. What puzzles me about all this is how the Confederate flag is being made an issue. Rly? Wow.
@red55 I was thinking the same thing regarding the lack of a thread. I get everything you say, but I just don't get the concept of "hate crime," even though this atrocity fits the definition better than any that's ever come along. "A guy walked into a church full of unarmed, innocent people and shot 9 of them to death --" Why does it even matter what comes after that? Why does " -- because they were black and he hated black people" make it worse than "-- then stole their wallets and all the money from the collection plates?" The guy deserves a painful death, regardless of what motivated him.
Of course it's a hate crime but I saw yesterday where some white supremacy groups are upset because it makes them look bad. They are saying it wasn't a race crime but a religeous crime because it happened in a church. The guy is a a definite loony but maybe he won't get to watch TV and make crafts at a loony bin. South Carolina has the death penalty and if this crime doesn't meet all the criteria for death nothing does.
If this guy had a rag on his head it would only be a matter of time before drones started flying over all our heads and some country would have been invaded.
I agree. He killed 9 innocent, defenseless people who were apparently very great ones who had the characteristics that we hope our kids have as adults. Just that alone should get him the worst punishment possible. That "hate crime" bullshit is just that. It's a political tootsie roll pop that's given out.
Meh I don't know about that. If it wasn't hate then why did he not just pick the first public place he could find instead of a black church? Lots so easy targets out there, why this one?
