Rant by an irrelevant Australian writer about something that has nothing to do with writing and everything to do with governments doing what they’re paid to do

*Language warning*

Oh Orlando.

Oh America.

I get that America is as diverse in its makeup and opinions as anywhere else – possibly even more so. I know that all the Americans of my acquaintance are as horrified at this ongoing insanity as I am.

But when will I cease to be dismayed by America’s collective continued inability to respond in a coherent fashion to its gun crisis?

I’m just an Australian. I can’t do anything more than express my horror and offer my consolations. I have no power to do anything else. This post by John Scalzi made me weep with helplessness. What compounds my sense of horror and hopelessness is the knowledge that when this shit went down here in 1996, our government acted immediately and decisively. To be clear: I am not blaming ANYONE for the legal and policy framework that allows this travesty to continue in the US other than the people who are squarely and unequivocally at fault: The US Government.

So my message to them is: Pull your fucking finger out. Stomp on some fucking toes. Offend some people. Lose a shitload of donations to your coward-arse parties. Lose some fucking seats. You don’t fucking deserve them.

Guns are not the only issue an Australian government has acted on decisively, BTW. In the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic was gearing up, the New South Wales and Australian governments decided to focus on the key issue of simply stopping the spread of the disease by any means. Scruples about promoting promiscuity or prostitution or intravenous drug use or – quelle horreur! – being seen to condone gay sex were unceremoniously sidelined in their bid to simply get those people most at risk to start taking measures to keep themselves safe. As a result we have the safest blood supply in the world and the epidemic never happened here in the way it did almost everywhere else.

Moral of the story: the risk of people dying in large numbers as the result of your policy fuck up is the worst fucking risk you can fucking face as a government. America, you fucking failed. Now get the fuck back up, sideline all your other shit and get this job done.