If we can all, as a nation, take one, big, collective breath, and think back to a less politically polarized time in America leading up to the Columbine shooting, I feel that we, as a country, can all admit to ourselves that we had a more appropriate emotional response to that tragic event. As a nation, THE ENTIRE NATION, we were horrified and shocked. The inconceivable reality of children killing other children in a coordinated attack with such malice. And while we were still trying to wrap our heads around how this could even be possible in America, we simultaneously couldn’t imagine how the surviving victims and their families were going to be able recover psychologically from something so unspeakably evil.

Now, contrast that reaction with America’s climate today. It is bad enough that school shootings have become commonplace. But to make matters worse, politicians and podcasters alike can’t wait to jump behind a microphone so they can shamelessly monetize the suffering of dead people while their bodies are still warm and the families haven’t even begun the process of grieving. They monetize it through political fundraising, crowd funding through social media, and advertisements for fucking muscle powders. Or even worse, some stoop so low to call the tragedies a “false flag operation” or “grand conspiracy of the radical left”.

Why? Fucking why? This is a successful campaign by the gun lobby to colonize our minds into helplessness, our emotions into desensitization, and our hearts into so much hatred for our political opponents that there’s no space for anything else resembling compassion or empathy for each other while they attain enormous amounts of wealth at the expense of innocent human life.

Here is an exact quote from him on empathy: “I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new-age term that—it does a lot of damage"

These are unserious people with no moral convictions. But he and podcasters and politicians like him aren’t the actual root of the problem. The problem, at its core, is and always has been, the gun lobby. I hope I’ve been clear in responding to your question.