The Denver Post looks into the life of Karl Pierson, the 18-year-old young man who entered Arapahoe High School with a shotgun on Friday and wounded two students before killing himself. He was on the school debate team and went to a national contest, where he faltered. He is described as a “gifted debater,” but he didn’t limit his debates to scholastic competition.
In one Facebook post, Pierson attacks the philosophies of economist Adam Smith, who through his invisible-hand theory pushed the notion that the free market was self-regulating. In another post, he describes himself as “Keynesian.”
“I was wondering to all the neoclassicals and neoliberals, why isn’t the market correcting itself?” he wrote. “If the invisible hand is so strong, shouldn’t it be able to overpower regulations?”
Pierson also appears to mock Republicans on another Facebook post, writing “you republicans are so cute” and posting an image that reads: “The Republican Party: Health Care: Let ’em Die, Climate Change: Let ’em Die, Gun Violence: Let ’em Die, Women’s Rights: Let ’em Die, More War: Let ’em Die. Is this really the side you want to be on?”
Friends described him as a “good political thinker,” but those social media postings show no evidence of it or of any gift at debate. It’s not debate at all. Those are the DNC’s crude talking points. Rep. Nancy Pelosi used almost the exact same talking points in an appearance on MSNBC the same day Pierson went on his attack.
Am I blaming the likes of Pelosi and MSNBC? To a degree, yes. Their talking points probably didn’t play much of a role in what Pierson did on Friday — he appears to have targeted a teacher with whom he had had a confrontation. We don’t know what that confrontation was about.
But Democrats don’t debate issues or facts anymore, ever. They never take responsibility for their missteps or failures. They pick outrageous fights based on nothing and smear those of us who disagree with them, relentlessly. Their favored pundits almost never deal in facts. They spread hatred and lies and deliver talking points designed expressly to dehumanize their opponents. They go out of their way to create offense and provoke reactions. The media seldom if ever challenge any of it. Clearly, Karl Pierson was influenced by what he heard Democrats say day after day, year after year about Republicans. He internalized that hatred and spread it in his own life.
Pelosi, Reid, Obama and the Democratic Party are all far more culpable for spreading hatred in our country now than any other single group of people. They spend most of their time dehumanizing and degrading and verbally assaulting all who disagree with them. There are bound to be serious consequences for that.
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