Why ‘Do Something’ Is Emotional Terrorism

I get the desire to prevent future tragedies. I absolutely understand why people want that. I think that, in the wake of anything terrible, be it natural or man-made, it’s completely rational to sit down and discuss what happened and what we can do to prevent the loss of life the next time around, if at all possible.

But such discussions need to have a rational approach. They need to be undertaken with a certain degree of calm. They need to be discussed when emotions are as low as they possibly can be.

And we can’t have those after high-profile shootings, because people demand we “do something” right then, right there.

Take this letter to the editor from Houston, for example.

Regarding “Minneapolis, a series of shootings and the grim realities of a tough summer,” (Aug. 29): Following the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, which resulted in the loss of two innocent lives and left 17 others injured, it is undeniable that Americans have demonstrated a profound lack of courage in addressing gun violence.

This pattern of inaction is not unique to Minneapolis. It has been a recurring theme in numerous other shootings across the country, including those in El Paso, Santa Fe, Uvalde and Sutherland Springs Church. Despite the devastating consequences of these tragedies, Americans have consistently failed to take decisive action to curb gun violence.

Instead of demanding meaningful change, Americans resort to superficial gestures such as voting for candidates who have facilitated the easy access to military-style firearms to the shooters. They engage in rituals like prayer sessions and purchase “Texas Strong” T-shirts, as if these actions alone can solve the problem.

The most concerning aspect of this behavior is the tendency of Americans to forget about these tragedies  quickly. Instead of demanding action and holding their elected representatives accountable, they revert to their usual pattern of inaction. This pattern of forgetfulness is a stark reminder that Americans are not as courageous as they may seem.

It is clear Americans would rather tuck tail, forget and run instead of demanding action from our elected officials.

God help us.

This is one of three that implore people to pass gun control. It’s the “do something” mindset at work, because that something is always gun control. It can be nothing else in these people’s minds.

Never mind that we know the killer sought out a gun-free zone for his attack. Never mind that Minnesota’s red flag law was never used. Never mind the permit-to-purchase law for handguns and rifles with a pistol grip that’s on the books in the state.

There were tons of gun control laws that had been passed, and yet this killer still carried out his deadly attack. He didn’t seem to fall into some loophole no one was familiar with or anything of the sort.

No, he just did something awful, and the “do something” crowd is prattling on once again.

On Tuesday, before I saw this letter, I took to my YouTube channel to go off a bit about some of this. I do not engage in family-friendly language, mind you, but I figured I’d share that here for those who might be interested.

The long and the short of it, though, is that the “do something” crowd really isn’t about doing something. They’re about doing one particular thing, and if you don’t do that and do it right away, they pretend that you don’t care at all.

This is emotional terrorism.

This is them trying to bully you into capitulation by using emotion to dictate the course of acceptable actions. They don’t even pinpoint literally anything that would have stopped his attack from happening. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that they can push you into embracing their entire ideology out of fear that you’ll be seen as uncaring.

Their preferred policies failed, so they’re trying to manipulate you into embracing still more of what didn’t work. They make it like you’re the problem, that you’re somehow a coward for not bowing down and doing what they also claim the masses want, as if that somehow makes sense. In their minds, you really want those laws anyway, you’re just too scared of some nebulous lobby that they’re convinced is way too powerful without understanding just how small the firearm industry actually is.

And they’re doing it by trying to blackmail people emotionally.

This is the political version of, “If you love me, you’ll do what I want” or something.

Here’s the deal for those people out there: Pound sand.

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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