The Synagogue Massacre by Ula Bitinaitis
As flags are hanged halfway on posts and many Americans are overcome with grief and outrage, a tragic mass shooting leaves an open wound on the United States yet again. The Saturday of October 27th was met by a man, Robert Bowers, storming into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue, taking eleven lives and injuring several more. The ceremony taking place was dedicated to the naming of a child; a session that marked the beginning of their journey in the Jewish faith. Among the deceased include children, the elderly, and most of all, the innocent. Instead of a gathering of commemoration, the morning brought about sorrow and anguish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Picture by Michael Henninger: https://people.com/crime/synagogue-shooting-suspect-treated-jewish-doctor-nurse/
Robert Bowers of 46 had been heard shouting anti-Semitic statements before he opened fire. His online posts on Gab, a typical social media website favored by white nationalists (as well as other platforms) have shown his dedication and utter disgust for the Jewish faith and its followers. What does this mean for America?
In this day and age, many can find it unbelievable that such hate crimes and terrorist attacks are still occurring. The discussion on gun control, a galvanized one that considers many age groups of all creed and background, is only emphasized by this event. President Trump has even spoken on the situation, stating that "if they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation", while also tying in the necessity for a death penalty.
Jabs at the media have also been on the rise. With massacres such as the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting and many more, people have criticized the media for either elongating the discussion on shootings, recklessly interviewing children or others who have been victims of such disasters, and in short, leeching the watchers' time for money.
When nationally impacting tragedies occur, people often want to be aware of the deep, gritty and interesting details. This includes questions such as "Who was the killer?", "What do they look like?", and many, unfortunately, are often intrigued by the prospect of seeing actual footage and sound. People say that the media takes advantage of the viewers' wants; rather than discuss matters other than gun control, there is an agreement within certain groups that they go to incredible lengths to elongate the screen time for which coverage of this information is shown, including interviewing people at the site of the shooting hours or days after the occurrence, asking them what the bullets sounded like, asking if any of their friends have died, plastering the murderer's face online and on television, showing the videos of by standards running for their lives from buildings, making sure to preview the screams for the viewers at home. The organization eschoolsafety has even found a 12% increase in threats to schools between the autumn school semesters of 2016 and 2017, and a 59% rise in violent incidents. Some go as far as to say that this coverage increases the chance of school shootings, saying that the infamous stories of shooters may provide a fame or notoriety that someone may wish to have after death. Disasters seem to sell, and many groups agree that it's an all too common habit in American news media. Rather than contribute to this, here are the names and ages of the deceased from the recent massacre.
Daniel Stein, 71
Joyce Feinberg, 75
Richard Gottfried, 65
Rose Mallinger, 97
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal 54
Bernice Simon, 84
Sylvan Simon, 86
Melvin Wax, 88
Irving Younger, 69
Multiple things can be agreed upon after this tragedy; the discussions of anti-Semitism, gun control, and media coverage burn hot in political discussions today. With the recent disasters of 2018 and earlier, they aren't dying out anytime soon.
Picture by Brendan Smialowski: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/suspect-in-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-charged-in-44-count-hate-crime-indictment/2018/10/31/bf2be61c-dd36-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f742292eba82
Articles, statistics and picture sources below:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/us/muslims-raise-money-pittsburgh-synagogue.html
- http://time.com/5436877/trump-synagogue-armed-guard/
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/29/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-what-we-know/1804878002/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/suspect-in-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-charged-in-44-count-hate-crime-indictment/2018/10/31/bf2be61c-dd36-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f742292eba82
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/29/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-what-we-know/1804878002/
- http://time.com/5436877/trump-synagogue-armed-guard/
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-shooters-parkland-florida-shooters-students-20180218-story.html
This is so incredibly sad and awful. Look at the ages of the people who were killed. Imagine living 97 years to then die in this hateful way. Breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteIts incredible how far we've come as a society in certain aspects but at the same time how little we've changed and refused to grow. I am absolutely appalled. My heart is broken.
ReplyDeleteOmg, I haven't even heard about this! This is so, so unimaginably horrible. It is so awful to know that such a thing could happen in our society. I'm horrified and heartbroken.
ReplyDeleteDevastating. It's insane that these kinds of mass shootings are as common as they are. Either something is very wrong with our country's laws or very wrong with mankind -- and I hate to say I think it's a little bit of both. On the upside, your blog post was amazing! You obviously put a lot of work into this. :)
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