If you’ve ever seen (or read) Macbeth, then you’ll likely remember the scene wherein Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, watches the staged play-within-a-play and comments on the woman playing the queen. The woman has gone on for some time about how she will never marry again once the poor (and poisoned) king has passed. Gertrude is saying at this point that she doesn’t buy it, and that the queen on stage is selling a bill of goods (basically).

Five people dead, twenty-five injured by a gunman in body armor carrying a rifle modified from semi-automatic to automatic, as well as a pistol side-arm. You’d be forgiven if you don’t immediately know which mass shooting this refers to. Would it change things if I told you it was the United States? Oh, you already basically guessed that. What about if I told you that it was one of the shootings that have happened in the week previous to recording this podcast? Still unsure?

That’s because we have a violence problem in America. We have so many shootings that we don’t even know by these above details exactly which shooting I’m talking about. For the record, I’m talking about the Colorado Springs shooting that happend on Saturday November 19th. But it wasn’t just having a violent culture that brought this shooting about. It’s also an attack on LGBTQ+ community, like Pulse and like so many other crimes against marginalized (in this case, LGBTQ+ groups). Rhetoric has a price, and this is the price, especially in a nation like the United States.

End the rhetoric.

Save lives.

It matters who you vote for.

For reference: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting