Tijolaço: hate is contagious and kills. Is that so hard to understand?

"Hatred has been carefully sown in recent years, hatred of all kinds: racial, national, religious, ideological hatred. In the United States, this has been combined with the insane American cult of guns, which some lunatics are also creating here," writes journalist Fernando Brito, editor of Tijolaço, about the most recent massacre in the US; "What more is needed for people to understand that the acceptance of hatred empowers the insane and the permission to use weapons gives them the means to carry out their delusions?" he asks.

November 06, 2017, 08:06 PMUpdated June 26, 2018, 15:43 pm

"Hate has been carefully sown in recent years, hate of all kinds: racial, national, religious, ideological hatred. In the United States, this has been combined with the insane American cult of guns, which some lunatics are also creating here," writes journalist Fernando Brito, editor of Tijolaço, about the most recent massacre in the US; "What more is needed for people to understand that accepting hate empowers the insane and allowing the use of weapons gives them the means to carry out their delusions?" he asks (Photo: Giuliana Miranda)

By Fernando Brito, editor of Tijolaço

Devin Kelley, a former Air Force member who was "dishonorably discharged," has been identified as the killer of at least 25 people at a Baptist church in a small town in rural Texas.

Mass killings continue, now at a rate of almost one per week, and it is no longer possible to place the blame on Islamic radicals, although the near-consummated defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq will scatter its remnants around the world.

I say one per week only because of the large-scale ones, because a survey published by Newsweek showed that in 240 days of 2017 there were 244 mass shootings in the US, with 10.223 deaths and 20.530 gunshot wounds, only in cases where there were at least 4 targets.

Hatred has been carefully sown in recent years, hatred of all kinds: racial, national, religious, and ideological hatred.

In the United States, this has been combined with the insane American cult of guns, which some lunatics are also creating here.

The deranged Kelley could never have caused harm and pain on the scale he did if he hadn't had the rifle he displayed on Facebook, just as retired accountant Stephen Paddock could not have killed 59 people at a music concert in Las Vegas if he hadn't legally possessed several automatic weapons.

What more is needed for people to understand that accepting hatred empowers the insane, and allowing the use of weapons gives them the means to carry out their delusions?