State Representative Matt Harper (R-Huntington Beach) equated the shooting deaths of eight black churchgoers gunned down in Charleston, SC with a car accident. It all happened on Facebook when San Diego Democrat Ryan Trabuco posted an image of a newspaper headline on the murders of eight African American churchgoers at a Bible Study which featured a sticker advertisement promoting a gun shop.
Harper was the first commenter on Trabuco’s post saying “What about automobile ads in the same paper as a story about a car crash?”
This is a common theme among conservatives who refuse to speak out on gun violence in this country. One of Trabuco’s friends, William Rodriguez-Kennedy, engaged Harper on the thread suggesting it’s stupid to compare the two. Harper doubled-down on the stupidity with the comment, “Is an automobile any more responsible for a tragedy than a firearm?”
We’ve captured the debate and its above for all to see.
Harper then belittles Rodriquez-Kennedy, a minority, suggest the “angry ethnic” is doing the talking. “You seem like an angry person tonight,” wrote Harper. “I hope things change for the better for you. Best wishes.”
Rodriguez-Kennedy gets in a powerful last word, but Harper’s comments are amazingly insensitive to the tragedy in South Carolina and borderline racist to Rodriguez-Kennedy. In Harper’s mind, a fatal car crash is the same as cold-blooded pre-meditated murder of eight African-Americans in a church.
Is it time for a GoFundMe campaign for a racial sensitivity class for the Huntington Beach Republican? And will Harper’s peers sit quietly by and say nothing to this insensitive and racist dialogue by a state elected official?
Unbelievable. Harper’s example is a tragedy. Like a tsunami, hurricane, or tornado.
Being murdered at the hand of a crazed gunman while sitting in church is a crime and an act of terrorism.
Thanks for sharing. It’s astonishing that in the minds of certain conservatives it seems intelligent to compare an act of terror to a car accident. Especially considering how problematic that argument is from even a rhetorical standpoint.
William. Was President wrong when he refused to call the Fort Hood shooting terrorism? Mr Obama just called it workplace violence.
You can’t blame the president on this with blaming the DOD http://abcnews.go.com/US/terror-controversy-fort-hood-victims-step-closer-purple/story?id=27393522
@William says what? (Ha ha, that’s funny)
To answer your question I would classify the attack at Fort Hood a terrorist act, I would also call him a traitor and I am a U.S. Marine Veteran.
With that being said, I think your focus on the president is misguided and irrelevant to the central point being made by me in my comments. That being: It is inappropriate for anyone, but especially an Assemblymember to compare an act of terror to an automobile accident. Further it is inappropriate to try and pull the angry ethnic card on someone.
William, try not to be like the other conservative poster on this board, John Jaeger.
For some reason he also cannot stay on topic.
It would be nice to have a discussion with someone that doesn’t exhibit what I call the mosquito on crack mentality.
The topic is about a sitting Assemblymember equating an act of racist terrorism to a car wreck. That is a poor analogy that drops to the level of being a non-sequitur.
I know, RHackett I made the analgoy. I am not a conservative and I am the one who called the assemblyman on the bs analogy.
William, Hackett means the other one who challenged you. People need to pick better names
Basically its the Lincoln Club that manipulates political process for the Republicans and they get him. They need more Mimi Walters types. There are many folks in HB that really don’t agree with him or Dana Ronabacher who had least kept his mouth closed on this issue. The more moderate Republicans don’t get the support that the crazy ones do. I think the Dems in that area should pushed for a Tom Daily Dem. It will take awhile but there is tech start ups in HB where people are not as conservative even those that worked for Boeing sometimes think that some of the Republicans go to far I could lose my job since a lot of harder right Republicans want to get rid of the import-export bank.
Well, there has been few blacks in Orange County and there is some prejudice, so yes you have bad statements by politicians.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought that “tariffs” were the primary cause of the Civil War–these guys are outright delusional.
For more on conservative stupidity, please read the following:
http://stupidpartymathvmyth.com/1/post/2015/04/stupidparty-wants-to-suppress-knowledge-and-force-public-education-into-becoming-a-propaganda-machine-for-american-exceptionlism.html