Why I don't care about mass shootings anymore > The status quo of death Cazzy Lewchuk Columnist s of this writing, the latest mass hooting to rock the US has left 26 dead. This time, it was ina church in Texas. Previous high-profile mass shootings have been in nightclubs, movie theatres, music festivals, and even elementary schools. As is typical of these mass shootings, literally zero action was taken by the government to stop this sort of thing from happening again in the future. The US government right now is incredibly Conservative, Republican, and, I believe, insane—so the lack of action isn’t surprising. However, even under Obama and Democrats in control, no clear action was taken to stop these mass shootings. It’s possible that whenever Democrats are in power again, something may change, but it probably won't. The US is the only country where this sort of thing happens all the time. Almost every other country I can think of has sensible laws about who can own a gun and bans many types of assault rifles outright. Guns are an essential and important part of American culture and always will be. There are many steps the government could take to prevent mass shootings, but they won't. Personally, I think guns are horrible tools of death that should be owned by as few people as possible. I understand gun hobbyists enjoy what they do, and I believe the majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens. I also think guns will always be part of American culture. Inevitably, another mass shooting will happen, and Ill hear about it, but I plan to avoid details as much as possible. I don’t care what race the shooter was or if what happened meets whatever the definition of terrorism is supposed to be. I don’t care what the gun laws in the area were like or what sort of guns were used. I don’t care to hear which politicians refuse to act and instead accept donations from the National Rifle Association. The gun culture and extreme lobbying used to allow this sort of thing is deeply ingrained in US culture: It’s literally written in the Constitution. It will never be completely erased, and likely won't change at all for a long time. Mass shootings are a very depressing and high-profile news story. They are only a small part of the unnecessary death Don't pit survivors of sexual assault against each other > There are ways to have important discussions about gender inequality, but this isn’t one of them Rebecca Peterson Assistant Editor I: the ongoing flood of sexual assault allegations coming out of Hollywood, there was the disturbing and heartbreaking story from Broadway star and current Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp regarding an assault he endured at the age of 14. He described the dread and frustration of watching his abuser climb the echelons of Hollywood, becoming a respected and well-liked A-lister over the decades, even hosting the Tony Awards this past June. Kevin Spacey, the man called out by Anthony Rapp, responded by saying that he didn’t remember doing it, and if he did do it he was drunk, and by the way he wants to take this opportunity to come out as a gay man. This approach didn’t end very well for Spacey. The LGBTQ community, one that suffers many kinds of abuses as well as the stigma developed by 1950s PSAs about the supposed danger of the gay man as a natural pedophile, has not welcomed Spacey into the fold. His Netflix series House of Cards has ended, and he has now been cut from his starring role in the nearly-finished film All the Money in the World, to be replaced with Christopher Plummer. This all excellent news and should set a precedent for how we deal with sexual predators in any industry going forward. However, I’ve been seeing a common complaint on social media recently about the Spacey controversy coming from the feminist community (a community I very vehemently consider myself a part of). The complaint is usually phrased like this: “Well, of course they’re taking action now that a man has said something.” Or, “Notice how people are quick to throw over Spacey because a man made an accusation?” I get where the comments are coming from—there is absolutely a discrepancy between how we deal with the statements and accusations made by women, and the statements and accusations made by men (not even getting into the statements and accusations made by trans and non-binary people, because that gets downright depressing). However, the Photo of Anthony Rapp via thesun.co.uk somewhat egregious to say “man” in that dismissive tone when the man in question isn’t exactly working from the highest echelons of privilege. Anthony C C It's utterly disingenuous to simplify a complicated situation with a dismissive “Well, of course they're doing something about Spacey, because a man said something. my tone of how this argument is being made is unbearably snide, completely disregards the brutal context within which Anthony Rapp made his accusation, and essentially pits male survivors of sexual assault against female survivors of sexual assault. You can accuse me of “tone policing” all you want, but I personally think it’s Rapp has been out as a queer man (yes, specifically “queer” as per his 1997 statement, not gay, though he said he was also “primarily homosexual” but had been in love with women before) for decades, one of the first stars on Broadway to do so. Whatever one might think of the Hollywood system, it is still a risky career move to be that goes on around the world every day. People die in terrorist attacks, war zones, by their own governments, and in natural disasters. My heart breaks for every single victim, but it’s also hard to process such large numbers, and humans aren’t meant to. Ultimately, mentally straining ourselves over the horrible injustice every time there’s a mass shooting simply isn’t good for you. Every mass shooting is a tragedy and it makes me feel sick to think about that sort of thing affecting me or someone I know. I have travelled to the US for concerts before and I’m terrified of being the target of some sort of mass killing. On the other hand, these attacks are random and can happen anywhere. By its nature, tragedy is unpredictable. I guess all I can do is continue to avoid it. openly queer. Calling out Spacey, one of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers, would have taken an enormous amount of courage—the same courage far too many women have had to employ to make their voices heard as well. There are other factors at play here; the fact that members of the LGBTQ community are more likely to be victims of sexual assault and harassment, the fact that toxic masculinity creates a terrible stigma for men who come forward, the fact that gay men are often conflated with pedophiles anyway so there’s an added difficulty when it comes to calling out members of the community knowing that some people are going to respond with “See, look, proof that gay men are predators!” It’s utterly disingenuous to simplify a complicated situation with a dismissive “Well, of course they’re doing something about Spacey, because a man said something.” It’s not “of course”—it’s honestly borderline miraculous. It’s a damn good thing. As amember of the LGBTQ community, and as a sexual harassment and assault survivor myself, I’m glad to see justice for someone who has had to live with what happened to him since he was 14. I’m glad to see what I hope will be the start of a general cleansing of Hollywood. I’m glad to see that very few people are defending Spacey, even if they liked Baby Driver and thought House of Cards was prestige TV. There are ways of having this discussion of discrepancy in how assault allegations are treated in mainstream media without minimizing the experiences of the victims involved. It requires nuance and empathy, not a catchy, biting one-liner that fits within the confine of a tweet. These past few weeks have been exhausting, and have forced me to relive my own stories of Hollywood sexism and abuse from when I worked in the industry, but seeing the fall of even a well-loved actor like Spacey has given me a glimmer of hope. This should be a win; not an opportunity to show how much of your feminism you ve ripped from fucking Tumblr.