27 May When tragedy strikes, saddle up the hobby horses

I’ve done my best to avoid ingesting details of the Santa Barbara killings, but thanks to Dave Pell, one of my favourite Internet gem aggregators, I did see Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday’s loopy suggestion that, “a steady diet of Judd Apatow comedies in which the shlubby arrested adolescent always gets the girl” might be a factor. (Put down Apatow—and Seth Rogen, also implicated by Hornaday—as unamused.)

Pell’s comment seems apt: “Whenever a sociopath does something horrific, there is a race to explain how that singular act is representative of a broader societal trend. But what if it’s just representative of extreme sociopathic behavior and the unfortunate availability of killing tools?”

The more ghastly an event, it seems, the greater the urge to saddle up hobby horses.

I’ll cast my vote with Richard Martinez, father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez, one of the murdered students:

Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the N.R.A. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say, ‘Stop this madness; we don’t have to live like this?’ Too many have died. We should say to ourselves: not one more.

Later, Martinez asked Members of Congress to stop calling him with empty condolences:

I don’t care about your sympathy. I don’t give a shit that you feel sorry for me. Get to work and do something. I’ll tell the president the same thing if he calls me. Getting a call from a politician doesn’t impress me.