But it will never happen to me...

While it's human nature to be more emotionally impacted by a tragedy when it affects an individual personally, I find it progressively more commonplace, and frankly progressively more disturbing, to see large quantities of people not exhibit a shred of empathy, nor sympathy when said horrific occurrence occurs outisde their orbit. If and when I ever inquire how the aforementioned tragedy impacted them, I'm typically met with a shrug of the shoulders and the same sentiment - "It will never happen to me."

Yes, I'm more or less referring to the MAGA cult, or, I'll be nice and call it a movement (yes, in line with bowel movements, but I digress). Hard-line members of this...movement firmly believe, no matter what happens to people like Renee Good or Alex Pretti, there's zero chance of a similar fate meeting them. You'll hear them defend the ICE agents, who committed the murders of Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good, as just doing their job; following the rule of law; and if you never want to get in trouble with law enforcement, to obey their orders. Yet, what do they say when one brings up the name "Ashli Babbitt"? A competely different story. Why? Because it happened to one of "them."

Make America Great Again is a misnomer. It's not about a land of freedom; it's not about a land of justice; it's not about a land of equality; it's about a land of the privileged - old, male, straight, white, "Christian." I place 'Christian' in quotes, because I'm just going to say it - Donald Trump's actions and rhetoric are antithetical to Christ's teachings. One can support Trump. They can support Jesus. But I'm sorry, a person can't in their right mind support both. Trump is everything anti-Christ. How he's conned millions into believing contrary is beyond me. Ban Arabs/Muslims. Deport Hispanics. Supress Black votes. Demonize the LGBT community. Strip women's rights. Notice a pattern? MAGAs may stand proud during the singing of the National Anthem, but when they utter the words, "Home of the brave, land of the free," they don't mean for everyone - just them and their kind. As Thom Yorke sang, they want to feel special, so f*cking special. They falsely believe everyone, regardless of demographic, possesses equal rights in this country. This is why, when a marginalized group attains equal rights in some respect, they view it as special treatment. When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, this provided the LGBT community with equal rights when it came to marriage. It's not like, in addition to attaining marriage rights, the Supreme Court guaranteed each newly wed gay or lesbian couple a free car. THAT would have been special treatment. Providing equal access to marriage, however, is not. But again, MAGAs aren't interested in equality; they just want to feel special. 

What many in the MAGA movement don't seem to realize is, whether they want to believe it or not, the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti impact them; they impact us all. Whether we're Republicans, Democrats, men, women, LGBT, straight, Muslim, Christian, atheist, white, black, etc., we're all connected, as part of the experiment known as the United States of America. When one of us is killed by law enforcement while utilizing our First Amendment right to protest, the rule of law and justice become more blurred. When a demographic's rights shrink, the Constitution begins to burn. When we stop feeling sympathy, empathy for our fellow citizens, the soul of our nation erodes. 

America is said to be the land of the free, not for the few, but for all. If one of us is denied basic rights, none of us are guaranteed these rights. When one of us is killed by an ICE agent at a protest, we're all in danger. The brave fought and died to provide a voice to the voiceless at home. Our land of the free requires them to be heard.