Responses to the Las Vegas Shooting

Another horrific event occurred on Sunday night in Las Vegas. A gunman from a hotel room opened fire during a Jason Aldean concert and killed over 59 people while injuring over 400 others. This tragedy surpassed the 2016 Orlando shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. When I first woke up Monday morning and saw the news stories about it on my phone I rubbed my eyes and hoped I was still asleep. I was confused, then angry, and now heartbroken. I’ve spent today gathering more information on the attack, learning about the innocent victims, and looking to social media to see how other people are expressing their sentiments.

Like with most disastrous events, people have been using Facebook and Instagram to show that their hearts and prayers are with the victims and their friends and families who have to deal with their loss.

I actually wrote another blog earlier this semester about how posting to social media to show your sympathy for those affected by tragic events has become the norm today. We saw it with Hurricane Harvey, the recent earthquake in Mexico, and any type of attack (Manchester, Paris..etc.)  These posts give me a sense of comfort and hope. It makes me feel better that during a time when everything seems dark that I can scroll through my social media feeds and see hundreds of people from across the world praying and sending good thoughts to people who they don’t even know.

But a couple of posts rubbed me the wrong way, and after I read them I felt a bit irritated. The Onion and Clickhole are two social media accounts that I follow that I normally get a lot of enjoyment out of. If you haven’t heard of either of these, they are satirical accounts that normally post fake content and use sarcasm to deliver humor.  

The Onion acts like a news source and makes fun of the mundane an overlooked details of life: 

Clickhole creates hilarious fake news stories:  

I get a kick out of following both these accounts.

But, on Monday, as I was scrolling through the dozens of “Praying for Las Vegas” posts, I saw how The Onion and Clickhole were expressing their thoughts:

             

I didn’t enjoy these posts, and I didn’t find them appropriate to be posted the day after a mass shooting. The pain from the victims’ loved ones was still too raw the day after, and the country was trying to process this shocking event. I know that sarcasm is there theme and tone of all their posts, but I think that the timing was insensitive. Gun control is obviously a very controversial topic that deserves to be debated and talked about, but it should be brought up under the pretense of sarcasm. I put myself in the shoes of a person who had lost a mom, or a boyfriend, or friend in the Las Vegas shooting and tried to imagine how I would feel if I saw the Clickhole article on “5 Ways to Honor the Victims of Las Vegas Shooting without Being Disrespectful to the NRA.” Even though they aren't directly offensive, they don't help ease the pain.

I’m not trying to say that the issue of gun violence and control shouldn’t be talked about. But I don’t like the way those satirical accounts brought it up. Some celebrities have posted (what I consider a much better approach) their feelings on gun control in an attempt to get this topic talked about to eventually lead to policy change.