Stephen Colbert started on Friday’s “Late Show” by addressing the shooting in Oregon and said that “we change nothing and pretend that it won’t happen again.”
A mass shooting at an Oregon community college on Thursday morning left at least nine people dead.
He began his show with a somber monologue.
“In the face of the killing in Oregon yesterday, I honestly don’t know what to do or say,” he said. ”Other than our hearts are broken for the people struck by this senseless tragedy. I don’t know how to start a show like this which is often about what’s happened in the last 24 hours.”
“I can’t pretend that it didn’t happen.I also can’t pretend to know what to do to prevent what happened yesterday, all of the times it has happened before,” he said before adding, “But I think pretending is part of the problem. These things happen over and over again and we are naturally horrified and shocked when we hear about them — but then we change nothing and we pretend that it won’t happen again.”
“Some say the answer is stricter gun laws, others say the answer is mental health care, that we need better treatment or just keep the guns out of hands of the insane. Maybe it’s both. I honestly don’t know,” he continued. “But I do know that one of the definitions of insanity is changing nothing and then pretending that something will change.”
Watch a clip of his comments:
h/t: Raw Story
Every time one of these massacres happen, the locals always say “I can’t believe it happened here.” Time for people to realize these massacres can, and do, happen everywhere. Time to pull heads out of the sand.
I guess one reason for that disbelief is people like the esteemed Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin who couldn’t entirely believe Sandy Hook happened even after it fucking well happened. Maybe after he looked at the scene in his own county he can tell us, straight up or down, whether the bodies are really dead and the parents really parents or just actors.
The Oregon press is finally on that story
I’ll say one thing—not that this is a unique sentiment but I am getting sicker and tireder of the gun nuts who pop up here and everywhere saying blah blah no proposed law would have stopped this one blah blah and we just need to improve mental health services, or “reconnect,” for God’s sake, or clap for Tinkerbell or whatever. Just leave the poor widdle guns alone they never did anything wrong. This in the face of huge amounts of evidence within this country and around the world that GUN CONTROL WORKS. Clear, undeniable evidence. We can’t take in Syrian refugees because there might be a naughty person among them but we must, without suggesting any measures be taken, tolerate regular massacres on our own soil by fellow citizens who are having a bad week and have with trivial ease acquired incredibly potent weapons designed for the most modern army on earth to mow down enemies with. That’s just fine. Sicker and tireder and not in a mood to have respectful dialogue about it. OK, end of rant but I’m going to continue to feel that way.
Seductive Beaver Mascot…I dont think I’ve laughed that hard in a while…that will probably stick