Why I’ve Said Nothing About Bowling Green

I was recently asked by a follower of The Naked Jesus, “How come you didn’t create a meme about Bowling Green? It seems to me you lost a great opportunity to make fun of Conway.” I’ve been praying over this ever since I started to see those posting. Here was my response to the question:

Over the past several years we’ve had some horrid shootings; Fort Lauderdale Airport, Cascade Mall, Baton Rouge, Orlando, San Bernardino, just to name the most recent few. These mass shooting took the lives of young and old, and all ages in-between, by some very hurt, twisted, sad people. These mass shootings left deep scars on our nation; while leaving deeper scars on the individuals involved in those shootings, and the communities where those horrid events took place. I honestly feel making fun of a fake shooting, discounts the pains of real mass shootings.

In that, in the pain of others who have suffered the true horror of a mass shooting, I couldn’t in good conscience play upon the hurt others have concerning those true events. For me, taking a poke at a stupid statement, made by someone striving to make a political point, is easy – but it’s not fair to those in pain. You see, it doesn’t matter what political views are, I find it wrong to make fun of her statement.

Seeing memes proclaiming “I survived the Bowling Green Massacre” plays into the lower base of our humanity, while ignoring the true pain of those who have survived mass shooting, and those who lost loved ones. While many will disagree with me, I get that – but, I also stand with those who truly lost people they loved in mass shootings; my heart breaks for them. While it’s easy to jump on the stupid things people say, this one is just not one I’m willing to jump on. What hurts the most, is that I have found many of those memes connected with people, and organizations, who claim to be progressive in their faith, or political views – and as a progressive I must say, “We should be better than that.”

Let our voices be voices that challenge the status quo; let our voices be voices that challenge those who abuse; let our voices challenge those seeking to harm others; let our voices hold those who hurting; let our voices not be used to harm others. When we play the card of a fake massacre, we allow our voices to be used to hurt others.