Crimes and Misdemeanours

It's getting to the point where the U.S. seems to be descending into anarchy.  A selection from my Twitter feed this evening:

"My daughter, 17, asked a customer at her work to wear a mask. He threatened her by showing her his gun and telling her he has a right to carry a gun and to choose if he wears a mask or not."

"That happened in a store I worked in. I slowly motioned for my co-worker to call security. Within seconds security came running over from all directions. I had no idea how many plain-clothes security we had. Police came and arrested him for inciting violence."

"Someone trespassing in my back yard I asked to leave - nicely - told me he would kill my dog, and pointed a gun with a laser sight on it at my dog's head. They aren't nice people. I own my home."

"In Michigan a security guard was shot when he requested a customer wear a mask before entering the store.  Family went home, came back with guns, and one member shot and killed him."

"My 17 year old was told by a customer that she would have to call the cops if she wanted him to put on a mask."

That's only a small sample of the heinous actions that people are seeing every day.

Trump has brought out the worst in people with his self-centered and divisive rhetoric.  Whether it's deliberate or not is up to debate, but the result is the same.  More and more people are brandishing their guns and claiming the "freedom" to do so.  That makes them no better than terrorists, whose only purpose is to threaten and/or kill those who oppose their ideology.

Some ask: if the gun nuts are so eager to use their guns, why not join the police or military?  The trouble is that many already have.  It's clear that certain elements of the police and military are there solely to take advantage of the ability to hurt and kill people they don't like.  And more often than not, the system is rigged in such a way that they can get away with it.

In the meantime, those people who find themselves facing a gun barrel through no fault of their own will be traumatized for life.  That is, if they survive the encounter at all.  People of colour now have to teach their children how to interact with a police officer, for fear of their lives.

That's not the way for a civilized country to do business.

Refusing to do something simple to help your fellows (like wearing a mask during a pandemic), just because it inconveniences you, is selfish, stupid, and throws dirt on all the sacrifices that our ancestors made so we could all could have a better life.

There are times that I wish we could exile all the stupid people to an island somewhere and rebuild a better society.