Tag Archives: gun violence

Pratchett on How Guns Possess Us

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2024

Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, notify me at [email protected] and indicate which you would like. I promise not to share your e-mail address with anyone. To unsubscribe, send me a follow-up email. Tuesday I’ve been listening to Terry Pratchett fantasy novels as I drive […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Joe Biden as King Hrothgar

By Robin Bates | Published: November 5, 2023

Biden’s low poll numbers may be because, like King Hrothgar in “Beowulf,” he can’t prevent violence from breaking out in the great hall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Atticus: Future Racist or NeverTrumper?

By Robin Bates | Published: June 5, 2022

To see how gun violence and white supremacy are linked, look at “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Gun Violence and Armageddon

By Robin Bates | Published: May 31, 2022

Wednesday This past Sunday I shared a number of poems from Lucille Clifton’s Book of Days to reflect on how Christian nationalists, many of them wielding weapons of war, work against Jesus’s goal to bring the kingdom of God to Earth. One poem from the collection particularly stands out in the wake of the mass […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Massacre Machinery & Slaughterhouse 5

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2022

Kurt Vonnegut, one who has seen the horrors of war, was a passionate opponent of guns in civilian hands.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Racism, Traveler of Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2019

Spiritual Sunday  When Dylan Roof walked into a Charleston Sunday School class and gunned down those who had welcomed him in, South Carolina poet Marcus Amaker composed the following poem. God may seem absent when hatred opens fire upon innocents, as occurred once again yesterday in El Paso, but Amaker finds hope in the belief […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

The NRA, Preying on Anxious White Men

By Robin Bates | Published: October 3, 2017

The NRA is implicated in the ease by which the Las Vegas shooter acquired an arsenal of automatic weapons. This Scott Bates poem calls the organization out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

King’s Clown Rampaged in Orlando

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2016

Perhaps more than any other American writer, Stephen King understands such incidents as the Orlando massacre. The famous horror writer dreams America’s nightmares and appears prescient when they come true.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Atwood’s Dystopias & the Gun Business

By Robin Bates | Published: December 6, 2015

Margaret Atwood’s recent dystopian fictions capture how capitalism preys upon sex and fear. We don’t have to travel into the future as the gun industry is taking full advantage of our fears in the present.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed