I guess I have nothing constructive to add at this difficult time, unless words that feature F and S and “bag” in various combinations are constructive, which I doubt.
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Personally, I think that expressing legitimate rage is constructive. It’s better than just stewing in it.
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Within reason. Please keep it clean and respect the rules of the forum, however.
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Have we violated the rules of the forum @EBK ?
Any level of rage is “within reason” when lives are being taken like this. It’s acceptable and reasonable and honestly the right thing to do to be enraged about this. If we’re not completely enraged, then are we really paying attention? Are we actually caring? There are things in life that are deserving of rage and this shouldn’t be stifled. Monsters don’t deserve gentle words.
We’re already pulling our punches more than any white supremacist scum remotely deserves - specifically and only to respect the forum. I definitely have LOT more harsh words to say on this subject that I’m not saying here specifically to avoid violating forum TOS. If we’re not permitted to talk about being enraged at racist mass murder, then please let us know.
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That was merely intended as a friendly reminder. I quoted your post because I agreed that conversation is valuable. It wasn’t meant to single you out. Sorry if that was unclear.
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That’s no kidding.
There are people here from Buffalo, and/or who have friends/family in/ties to Buffalo, who are trying to process a lot of things. While raging at the perpetrator is entirely justified, I doubt that it does anything but add noise/complications to their efforts to process this, even though they almost certainly share the rage, or will, at some point.
This punk lived closer to me than to Buffalo, and could have chosen a number of I90 rust belt towns. There’s one of those pop-up strip mall tactical gear cosplay shops about 10 miles from here. I probably won’t egg it.
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Cool, I just wanted to be sure! I really respect the heck out of the forums here and I don’t want to violate any rules. I’m really making a monumental, conscious effort to stay within the rules. 
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that it’s totally reasonable and okay and morally right for us all to be angry about this. Never feel bad about being angry at things that deserve us to be angry about them. 
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I haven’t been following the news much lately (been in a bit of a funk) but the more I learn about the killer and what he thought about the world, the more scared I get knowing that he isn’t alone.
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Not alone by a very long shot. Hasn’t ever been, actually.
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Remember you also aren’t alone. Let us know if you need anything.
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Absolutely nothing wrong with that. When there’s so much bad in the news, sometimes you just need to take a step back and take care of yourself.
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Being local, it’s been the entire news cycle here since Saturday and I’ve had to pretty much stop watching and remind my loved ones to take breaks from the news. It does no good to replay events like this over and over and stew on our anger, frustration and fear. There was actually also a news segment where they interviewed a clinical psychologist from one of the city hospitals who pointed out that especially since the pandemic, lots of people are more susceptible to indirect trauma from watching the same stressful or frightening news pieces on a loop, the way news outlets tend to do. So while it’s important to be informed, it’s also necessary to limit how much news media you take in just for the sake of your own peace of mind. Especially if you’re already feeling blue 
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I love you, Mike Myers. I know we’ve drifted apart over the past few years, but after watching your appearance on “Colbert” I feel like Max in 1302.
All silliness aside, it’s great to see public figures who have been close to Buffalo showing their support. Considering Myers is also a pretty huge Maple Leafs fan, it’s even more notable for him to don that Sabres jersey.
We must not lose sight of what we’re fighting against, though. We need to end white supremacist terrorism at every turn, and support our disadvantaged communities throughout the year, not only when it’s relevant. Again, I wish I could elaborate more but I don’t want to risk my posting privileges.
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I can say something that’s pedagogically sound and most likely won’t violate any rules (I used to be a college physics teacher and learned a lot about how we learn in the process):
When you are feeling discomfort, that’s the feeling of learning - You are not learning and growing if there’s zero discomfort. In discussions about race and privilege, people with the most privilege will often shut down the conversation /close the thread / take their ball and go home / etc. at the first sign of any discomfort. But if you recall anything you’ve ever learned - truly learned, that you KNOW now, long after learning it - in every instance, there was discomfort during the learning process.
If you wish to be anti-racist, you must sit through this discomfort and not avoid it.
White supremacy inundates every aspect of life, definitely in the US, but white supremacy is not remotely limited to this country. White supremacy is taught and learned. To break free of this the very first step is to sit with the discomfort of having this identified and named directly so you can learn.
Rule of thumb: if a discussion on race (or sexuality, or gender, or disability, or or or) is making you uncomfortable, stick with it through the discomfort, you’ll come out the other side a better person. That discomfort means there’s something useful for you to get out of the conversation, promise. Even if you don’t end up pals afterwards, even if someone is mean - you can still learn like mad every dang time if you persevere through the discomfort. It is worth it.
This has been another soapbox talk with professor Amanda.
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All well said.
The trouble starts when people are encouraged to just watch the same footage of a terrible happening over and over. Or doomscroll on you-know-where all day long. That’s not helpful and I think (from personal experience) it leaves people in a less receptive and capable frame of mind. And FTR, I write this as someone who’s seen periodic attempted invasions from the same type of a-hole as the shooter, up close, where I live. Friends have lost friends to this guy’s kin. It’s never pretty.
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As long as being Black is a crime punishable by death, we will continue to see this every day occurrence. It’s so insidious how we want to do things like buy groceries.
People, on the whole, like to act it’s allll over. It was soooo long ago. I always remind these people that my parents were teenagers during the Civil Rights Movement. None of this is ancient history. And may never be. I grieve for the victims in Buffalo. I grieve for every Black person in America. Racism is everywhere, but anti-Blackness is both strong and treated as isolated incidents here. I have literal skin in this game and it has shaped my entire life.
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It may shape my death, too.
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I am especially sympathetic to the plight of black Americans because I am of Jewish heritage and I know exactly how minorities can get treated in this world. I have personal experience there. But I’m still privileged in this country because I’m not discriminated against the second someone looks at me. I can’t even imagine how stressful it must be to just walk down the street knowing people are judging me just because of my skin color. And then to know that people are being murdered for it. How would you feel safe? I wouldn’t feel safe. I’d spend my days anxious and scared and I admire any person of color who stays brave in the face of all of that.
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Yeah. I mean, you have to live your life. Only I get to wake up every morning and wonder if today’s the day a representative of white supremacy decides they can’t stand the idea of me living my life.
I locked myself out of my home once and as I was trying to figure out how to get in, my only thought was, “Well, hope none of these neighbors decide they don’t like what they’re seeing”.
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Several current members of the group ASDAH, who I really like a lot, have written extensively on the mental and physical toll exacted by racism and other oppressions. In other words, the literal problems which affect health are bad enough. But even for those who “move up” to better material circumstances and get at least some protection from literal danger, the mental and emotional toll remains. It continues to harm its targets physically throughout their lives. 
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