Two degrees of separation from TN church shooting: Strange tales from strange times.

[DemoTex]

I found out last night that the daughter and grandchildren of a friend of ours was in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville during the shootings on Sunday. Thankfully, the daughter and her kids were not injured.

Our friend, who we have known for years (through my m-i-l), is an elderly widow. We discovered a couple of years ago that she is a right-wing, Limbaugh-listening Republican. She, at the same time and to her horror, discovered that we are liberal Democrats. Politically, she tolerates us, and we her. But she sometimes backslides and starts to rail against liberals and the liberal-controlled media (etc.), and I have to remind her with all the charm I can muster that almost all liberals are really just like my wife and me (she loves us!).

I have not yet talked to our friend, so I know no more than that. Are they (her daughter and other family) members of this Unitarian Church, or just visiting? I do not know. Either way, it perhaps shows a thirst for tolerance, social justice, and the other "liberal values" often associated with the Unitarians.

The $64K question now is: Will our friend (the near-victims' mom and grand-mom) have a change of heart? Can she grasp the near certainty that a liberal-hating right-winger (and most probably a fellow Limbaugh listener) came very close to dispatching her precious family members to eternity? Or will she blame the whole tragedy on the likes of my wife and me .. the liberals?

My guess is that this church shooting rampage will have been our friend's moral and social epiphany. I'm betting on a change of heart that will allow her to see the many pitfalls of the path she has been treading. I'm hoping for a scintilla of good to come from this violent act by a hate-filled coward.

I wait with trembling hands and bated breath.

[slackmaster]

1. I'm waiting for some actual evidence that the guy listened to Limbaugh

Or even the radio, at all.

To answer your ponderable, in the event it turns out the guy was a hard-core Dittohead, it's not going to change anyone's mind about anything. People on the right will view this as the act of a deranged loner. Remember, they are always preaching "personal responsibility".

[mmonk]

4. I believe a search indicated he at least read Limbaugh.

[atreides1]

Not only Limbaugh

Hannity and Billo the Clown as well.

[slackmaster]

5. Limbaugh is pretty hard to avoid, but the question remains open

:hi:

[malaise]

7. Well he sure posted on Fox

against Obama.

[crikkett]

2. I will be on the lookout for your report.

Thanks!

[mmonk]

3. Let's hope for the epiphany.

[Ian David]

6. I would beat her with this like a stick. But that's just me. n/t

[DemoTex]

8. I'll probably use the velvet hammer. n/t

[Ian David]

9. How about the flexible anal probe of guilt? n/t