In the wake of the Colorado Springs shooting — you know, the one at the Planned Parenthood clinic? — there are disappointing people online telling everyone it was “actually” a bank robbery.
I don’t really know what to tell you. According to Fox News (for heaven’s sake) he fired at someone trying to crawl into the Planned Parenthood facility. He fired at someone driving near the Planned Parenthood facility. He fired at people while inside the Planned Parenthood facility. And apparently he said “no more baby parts” when it was done.
And I get it — nobody wants to think the guy who did it shares their views. Nobody wants to think that the “Planned Parenthood kills babies” narrative might’ve seeped into this wacko’s head and driven his violent urges in a specific direction. But it sure seems like it, which is leading to all kinds of cognitive dissonance. I mean what else can you call it when a so-called “pro-life” stance leads to murder? “Not all pro-lifers,” right?
I guess at least they’re dealing with their cognitive dissonance by retreating into fantasy, instead of doubling down and saying the victims deserved it.
I don’t know what to tell you.
Happy Monday, everyone.
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Richard Ford Burley is a writer and doctoral candidate at Boston College, as well as an editor at Ledger, the first academic journal devoted to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In his spare time he writes about science, skepticism, feminism, and futurism here at This Week In Tomorrow.