Since the shootings at the University of California Santa Barbara carried out by Elliot Rodgers, the internet has been pretty much inundated with opinions on what happened to make a young man go on such a vicious rampage. The hashtag #yesallwomen was born, and I’ve spent a decent amount of time reading the responses, realizing that I can relate to many. News outlets, conservative and liberal alike, have responded to the tragedy, positing their theories for why it happened or what to do next. We’ve even had substantial chatter here at Law Street, including from our new blogger Allison Dawson who talked about it in her excellent post “The Shooter Alone is to Blame for Santa Barbara Slayings.”
I don’t want to discuss this tragic event, because in the past three days I’ve read dozens of different takedowns, analyses, and examinations of the event and I, quite frankly, don’t feel like I have anything else to add. And no matter what we blame it on, and my personal feelings aside, we’ll never be able to figure out exactly why it happened. It’s probably some combination of all the different root causes that analysts have mentioned — but it’s not going to bring back the people that Rodgers murdered.
Now I’ve always been a supporter of substantive online discussion. A few months back I wrote about the power of hashtag discussions, and I stand by the fact that they can add real value to our cultural and societal discourse. But part of me also feels really sad, because as great as the discussion has been, I’ve seen it all before. Every single time something like this happens, we talk about it, we dig into societal concerns and gun laws, and then nothing ends up changing.
I love words, but actions speak louder. And we need to start taking action. I don’t want to politicize the issue because it was a genuine tragedy and those who lost loved ones deserve their time to grieve. But it’s already been politicized over and over and over again because this is all anyone will talk about. For god’s sake the politically irrelevant dusty relic that is “Joe the Plumber” has chimed in, telling parents of the victims that “your dead kids don’t trump my constitutional rights.” Great.
So now that this discussion (and hashtag) has been talked to death and there’s really nothing left to say, I am going to tell you all in a vaguely hypocritical fashion, that I think we need to all shut the hell up unless we’re going to do something about it.
I don’t care what you do about it. Go with whatever theory you have for why you think that tragedies like this happen and do something.
So if you think it’s about misogyny and cultural problems, fine, understandable. Go raise your sons to be better than some of the men of this generation. Open up discussions with the men in your life. Teach women to stand up for themselves.
If you think it’s a mental health issue, encourage more investment into mental health services at your university or at your child’s school. Fight to end the stigma of talking about mental health issues.
Or guns, If you think it’s about guns, lobby for stricter regulations. Encourage the development of technologies that make guns safer. Vote for candidates who attempt to implement legislation restricting gun access.
I don’t care what you do. I don’t care why you think this happened. But I’m begging you, do one of these things or come up with your own. I already did mine. I just donated a few dollars to a candidate whose views on this whole issue I support. And I know politicians aren’t going to solve all problems and probably will barely make a dent. But at least I’m taking an action I can believe in. And I want you to all do it with me, no matter how big or small it is.
I’m tired of being scared that I will someday senselessly be targeted by someone like Elliot Rodgers. It seems like every other week there are mass shootings, or attempted mass shootings. And I don’t care what we do to fix it, I don’t care if my theories about what happened are vindicated or not. I would just like it to stop.
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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.
Featured image courtesy of [Ryosuke Yagi via Flickr]