Reacting to the Truth

Here we go again.

This mass shooting is close enough to home that as it turns out, some people I've known for years have been deeply affected by it.

As it turns out, the gunman in this case had a personal grudge against the Capital Gazette; apparently he was a bit unhappy that they'd reported on a harassment case involving him, including the fact that he'd pled guilty. His efforts to sue the newspaper for their reporting were dismissed due to the simple fact that they had reported nothing but the truth. Unfortunately, it turns out some people would rather lash out in whatever way they can rather than accept that... and in a country with so many guns as ours, some of those people are going to lash out in that way.

Those people who lash out at the news media in other ways should take note: Your reaction being less extreme does not make it any more justified. If there's an actual error in reporting, it should be noted and corrected... but all too often, what we see instead is that people get unhappy because the truthful reports they see aren't telling them what they want to hear. That's not something our society can or should tolerate.