Thread by @asymmetricinfo

A very quick tweet storm on my latest column: why we should ignore mass shootings. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

Not because they don't matter--they are, as the Catholic Church used to say, "sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance". And yes, I understand the arguments against this proposition, which may well not work.

But the truth is that all the attention we pay to these crimes is a big part of the reason they keep happening. The shooters, having achieved nothing of note, want fame. They achieve it in infamy.

Moreover, each shooting inspires copycats, who see all the attention the last shooter got, and crave the attention--and the power over cringing victims--for themselves.

THe more attention, the more copycats.

So I'm arguing for *not* treating these gravest of crimes with the gravity they deserve. Ignore them.

Treat them like a bad car wreck on some highway you never heard of. Not because those two things are morally equivalent, but because it may be the only way to prevent more of them from happening.

And with that, for obvious reasons, I'm going to stop talking about it. Read the column here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…