The last week or so has been really tough when it comes to the news. A guy who was my age decided that because (and I'm paraphrasing here) he couldn't get laid, and his head was totally twisted, that it was a good idea to go on a shooting rampage on a college campus to get back at the entire female population.
Now, there are a lot of places I can go with this. I could talk about what it's like to be a woman in our society, dealing with the catcalls and being hit on, even at my workplace. I could go on about gun control and whether it's a good or bad idea. I could try to go off about feminism and equal rights for both genders. I could talk about the mental health crisis in this country.
I'm not certain where I want to go with all of this, except to say that the latest mass murder in our country has put me on edge. I look at the websites I frequent, read the comments (which I highly discourage. Reading the comments on any major forum, especially news sites, has a tendency to depress.), and realize that my country has somehow gotten itself all mixed up.
I'm a redditor. I love lurking around, reading AMAs and looking at cute pictures of kittens. I'm fascinated to get to hear opinions and conversations from people who aren't just American, and who have really interesting thoughts about the current events going on in the U.S, and in general about our culture. There's a dark side to Reddit, too. Because it's an anonymous forum, you will come face-to-face with disturbing amounts of misogyny, racism, sexism, and blatant disregard for other human beings. And, yes, there are a ton of people on different threads that will lament how they're single and not getting laid.
As a female, it would be wonderful if I could walk across a street and either hear nothing at all, or have the guy who needs to assert his dominance yell something about how lovely I look today, rather than, "OOOOWW! DAMN WHAT A NICE ASS!" Nope, I take it back. I don't want the compliments, in any form, I really would rather just be left alone. I'd like to not worry about the consequences of having a job that sometimes means taking public transportation at 10 pm on a Friday or Saturday night and having to walk by myself to transfer buses. I hate that I had to ask my housemates to limit where we look for our next apartment to areas that wouldn't make me feel like I need to have pepper spray, a knife, or to conceal carry.
I also would love to live in a country that identifies and TREATS those with mental health issues. The kid who went murdering girls at his university was clearly unhinged, to the point where his parents and therapist called the cops because they were afraid of what he'd do. The cops said he seemed fine, and now six people are dead. Seven if you count the shooter.
And what makes it real to me is that I've had a guy freak out on me using words that this guy used. A person who decided that even though I said no, I wasn't interested in any physical relationship with them, that they needed to force me into it because I "promised" at some point in time months earlier. No means no. There's no ifs, ands, or buts to that. He ended up blackmailing me, faking a panic attack, and labeling me as just another one of "those girls" who are "teases" and are the reason why he was still a virgin. Was it terrifying? Absolutely. It didn't matter that I was being told these things via phone call and (after deciding I didn't want to hear those things any more and hung up) text message. It didn't matter that I was in a secured area where he couldn't get to me. I was scared out of my mind, because I've never witnessed such behavior. He was blocked through every method I could think of (social media, texts, and phone calls), but the thought of coming into contact with him ever again is horrifying. (To the point that I've described him to coworkers if he ever decided to pay a visit to my workplace)
No one should have to deal with this. Innocent people shouldn't be dying because some mentally disturbed, misogynistic asshole gets access to a weapon and goes out to get revenge.
It's a scary world out there.
