Murders in the city of Chicago, Illinois, are up over last year and could hit 500 by the end of this year. That’s 41 a month, and you don’t need me to tell you that almost all of those homicides were caused by a bad guy holding a firearm. But where’s the media to wring their hands over this gun violence? Where’s the 24/7 news coverage, presidential addresses, and push for answers?
When people talk about our country becoming “desensitized” to violence, most of the time that’s a discussion about films and video games. But when we shrug our shoulders and accept as the new normal the equivalent of a school shooting per month in one of our largest (and most beautiful) cities, there’s no question that’s another drop in the “desensitized” bucket.
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not in any way making an equivalence argument comparing the murder rate in Chicago with what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday morning. There’s no question that horrific event and the age of the victims is something that stands alone, even when compared to other mass shootings of this kind.
But I am talking about a tragic loss of human life happening at an alarming rate in the Windy City, and the media’s unwillingness to declare 41 murders a month worthy of a national discussion, much less a national crisis.
My guess is that the media’s lack of interest in Chicago’s ongoing murder spree has a lot to do with the lack of political upside in reporting on the story. Because what’s happening in Chicago can’t in any way be blamed on Republicans, conservative ideas, or a lack of left-wing ideas, the media would prefer to pretend the murders aren’t happening.
You see, the media can’t blame the murders on a lack of gun control, because Chicago has the toughest gun control laws in the country. The media can’t blame the murders on a lack of high taxes or big government, because Chicago is wholly owned by Democrats and their machine. This is also why the media can’t blame the GOP.
In fact, Chicago is a magical place where American leftists have seen every single one of their Utopian dreams realized, so the pointing out of these murders in paradise might upset a Media Narrative aggressively pushing for those Utopian dreams to be forced upon us nationwide.
So the media ignore the Chicago murders, just like they ignored the deaths of who knows how many innocent Mexican citizens at the hands of assault weapons run into that country by their precious Obama Administration.
Apparently, according to our media, some victims of gun violence (the ones who are not predominantly white) are more equal and worthy of their time and activism than others.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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