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OPINION
Thursday, May 9, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
I
n America, shootings have
become part of the news cycle.
There is a breaking news alert,
followed by an outpouring of sup-
port, condolences and appeals for
stricter gun policy. We continue
to hear about it as the media gains
more information on the event —
the victims, the shooter, the town
where it happened. We sometimes
hear from the victims directly.
But then, like all things, it eventu-
ally dwindles. And with each gut-
wrenching, breaking news alert,
we slowly adjust to a world in
which this is normal. Today is the
129th day of 2019 and, already, 132
mass shootings where four or more
people were shot have occurred in
America this year. Despite the value
of each unique human life and each
unique
circumstance,
shootings
occur in America so often that, with
every bullet and every life lost, we
become increasingly desensitized
to the appalling acts of hate that
plague our nation with increasing
frequency.
On April 27, 2019, a shooting
occurred at a synagogue in Poway,
California,
where
worshippers
gathered on the last day of Passover.
Three people were injured and one
woman was killed — Lori Gilbert
Kaye, who was shot as she prepared
to say the traditional prayer for her
late mother. Any loss of life or inten-
tionally inflicted harm is tragic, but
even more so when motivated by
intolerance and hate.
As I have observed the ebb and
flow of gun terror and hate crimes
in America, I’ve noticed a pat-
tern in how people react. More
often than not, when people post
on social media or speak out about
one of these events, it is when their
identity is the one that is attacked.
While I have never been religious,
the Jewish identity I inherited from
my mother’s family is something
that will always be a part of me. The
history of anti-Semitism is long and
violent with Jews being discrimi-
nated against, displaced, targeted
and even killed. Even though I am
not religious, even though my father
is not Jewish, it would not make a
difference in the eyes an anti-Sem-
ite. For the shooter of the Chabad of
Poway synagogue, it would not have
mattered.
This is not the only reason why I
am driven to speak about the shoot-
ing. I speak about the shooting not
just because I am a Jewish person,
not just because I am an American,
but because I am a human being. I
may be more directly impacted by
the hate perpetuated against those
in this synagogue than those shot in
two of New Zealand’s mosques, but
both are tragic, and both deserve
condemnation. All shootings, espe-
cially those motivated by hatred
towards certain groups, are tragic,
despite the seemingly endless slew
of them in America.
The importance of diversity and
the influence of different identi-
ties such as religion, ethnicity and
nationality are essential. They are
what make America such a spe-
cial country. American culture is
defined not by a singular legacy, but
rather by the mixing of many dif-
ferent ones. Our differences enable
us to learn from and grow closer to
each other. But, in a world where
marginalized identities are con-
stantly on the defense, we are losing
one of the most beautiful aspects
of what makes us human: empathy.
By emphasizing the cultural, racial,
ethnic and religious differences that
distinguish us in response to the
hostilities that permeate society, we
are losing the ability to empathize
and identify with other humans.
But we can do amazing things
when we come together, defending
the freedom so fundamental to our
country not just for our own com-
munities, but for those of all groups.
After the Tree of Life shooting,
Muslim groups raised $150,000 for
the victims. And when two mosques
in New Zealand were targeted, the
Jewish Federation of Greater Pitts-
burgh raised money for New Zea-
land’s Muslim community. Not only
are we at our strongest when we are
able to look beyond our own identi-
ties, but it is imperative that we help
and defend each other in order to
truly work towards equality.
The other day, I was talking about
politics with my grandmother, who
is Republican, on the phone and
she said something that struck me.
As we discussed the inequality and
violence in today’s America, she
said, “We’re all American. It doesn’t
matter where you go to pray.”
We’re all American, but even
more
fundamentally,
we’re
all
human. We need better gun con-
trol laws, but that’s not all; Amer-
ica needs to address the thriving
intolerance, hate and violence. We
must realize that, while America’s
strength is in our diversity, our
greatest weakness is when we allow
our individual identities to separate
us.
Another shooting. I can’t say I’m surprised
OLIVIA TURANO | COLUMN
Olivia Turano can be reached at
turanoo@umich.edu.
SAMANTHA DELLA FERA | COLUMN
B
enjamin Franklin once
said there are two things
that are certain in life:
death and conspiracy theories.
OK, that may be paraphrasing
but, when it comes to American
society, it’s true. Conspiracy
theories have become so deeply
ingrained in the history of the
United States that the majority
of Americans don’t know what to
believe. Was JFK’s assassination
more than a one-man job? More
than half of Americans think
so. Did the real Paul McCartney
die and get replaced by a fake
Paul or “Faul”? Even I believe
that one (a little bit). Conspiracy
theories are as American as
deep-fried Oreos and NASCAR,
but, as fun as they are to joke
about, they can have dangerous
consequences on the American
psyche and the people being
conspired about.
The talk of conspiracy theo-
ries was recently revived with
the #FreeBritney trend blow-
ing up on Twitter. If you haven’t
been following this roller coast-
er of information, the story goes
that, after the 37-year-old singer
checked herself into a mental
health facility following the
declining health of her father,
someone claiming to be a former
member of her team went on a
fan contest to say Spears’s hos-
pital check-in wasn’t by her own
doing. Apparently, all of Spears’s
choices were orchestrated by
her family and her management
team, following a legal device
called
conservatorship.
This
led to an outcry among fans,
protesting in Los Angeles and
sharing stories on Twitter about
strange behavior they witnessed
from Spears’s team. Spears, of
course, has denied that she has
no control over her life, but this
just ignited the #FreeBritney
movement even more.
And that is the exact problem
with conspiracy theories — they
can never be stopped. Once the
idea gains ground, anyone trying
to reject the theory is just anoth-
er part of the conspiracy. Spears
went on Instagram to address
the rumors, but fans and follow-
ers alike claimed this was just
another example of her not being
in control of her life. Conspiracy
theories feed off of their deniers
and, when they fester, they can
cause real-life consequences.
When Hillary Clinton was
running for president, a theory
went viral that she was involved
in some sort of child sex ring/
human-trafficking ordeal that
involved a pizzeria in the Wash-
ington D.C. area. To most of us,
that sounds absolutely absurd.
However, right-wing media out-
lets, including former Trump
White House Chief Strategist
Steve Bannon’s passion proj-
ect Breitbart News, spread the
theory
and
many
far-right-
wingers believed it. The theory
went so far, in fact, that a young
man armed with an AR-15 rifle
opened fire in the pizza shop to
“investigate” the claims. Fortu-
nately, no one was injured.
So why do these conspiracy
theories exist? Studies show
that trust in the government
has been on a decline since the
Nixon
Administration.
With
this lack of trust comes skepti-
cism and cynicism, and with
skepticism and cynicism comes
the belief that the government
or other public officials are hid-
ing something. It’s only natural
to want to fill in the blanks.
Conspiracy theories can be
fun sometimes. Did The Beatles
leave clues about Paul’s death in
their music? I don’t know, but it’s
entertaining to look for them. Is
Madonna a lizard overlord sent
to control humankind from the
inside? Probably. These theories
may be ridiculous but they’re
fun — they cause no harm. The
danger is when we allow our
theorizing nature to seep into
our politics, to treat politics as
if it comes with the same drama
and absurdity that pop culture
does.
Trust in our pop culture fig-
ures is not vital to the struc-
tural foundation of this country.
Roseanne Barr is not the one
deciding what I can and cannot
do with my body — and thank
god for that. I don’t need to have
faith that Jennifer Aniston won’t
start a war in Iraq or that Alec
Baldwin won’t cut social secu-
rity. However, losing trust in the
government and living under
the notion that the government
is constantly hiding something
from you damages civic effi-
cacy and in turn damages our
democracy. Why would I vote
if I think that, no matter who I
want in office, there is a myste-
rious board of people really run-
ning the scene? Why even bother
to cast a ballot in the primary if
all candidates are lizard-people
anyway? These sound like silly
examples, but up until these
past midterms, voter turnout
followed the same downwards
trend as trust in the government.
I don’t want conspiracy theo-
ries to end — I find them fasci-
nating, and what else could I find
over 700 words to write about?
But we must get to a place where
we can separate our friendly,
funny theories of quirky celebri-
ties with harmful, chaotic ideas.
Politics is not pop culture and vice
versa, but the way we treat one
has dire effects on the way we see
the other. When the CNN website
looks like a screenshot from The
Onion, it is easy to lose trust in
your government, to theorize why
things are the way they are. It is
important not to get caught up in
that, to know that the people who
can change the country and con-
trol the things that happen aren’t
a board of mysterious figures in a
back room, but in fact all of us.
Britney Spears, Breitbart and America’s risky conspiratorial nature
Samantha Della Fera can be
reached at samdf@umich.edu.
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