This past Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced plans to create a police unit designed to confront and combat the “epidemic” of hate speech, which she claims is killing families. In the wake of the fatal shooting in Buffalo, she promised to confront the problem “head on”. What she does not discuss is the failed policies of the State of New York’s collaborative efforts to deal with mental health issues that were predominantly at work in this tragedy.
She talked on and on stating
“We’re proposing a comprehensive plan to combat domestic terrorism, state strength and state gun laws and promote and investigate social media platforms promoting violent extremism”, adding “In the wake of the racist act of tear in Buffalo, New York will lead the charge to confront this epidemic Head on”.
-New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)
That sounds very noble, but the fact that there was an underlying variant, that caused Payton Gendron to succumb to his wish to kill others that IS NOT being addressed. Gendron is an 18-year-old with a history of mental health issues who was detained a year ago by police, after he discussed openly pre-graduation from Susquehanna Valley High School, outside Binghamton, that his plans were to commit a murder-suicide post-graduation.
Though he was held for a time, he fell off the radar and ultimately was left to fulfill his wish. No one intervened and many are dead because of this poor continuity of care.
There is no doubt that Gendron had white supremacist indoctrination that he was living out, but not without some underlying diminished mental capacity, that should have been checked. Why blame the outcome on “violent extremism” and not look at the underlying cause of such issues?
This is the typical, radical and socialist left, taking advantage of one man’s mental illness and the resultant death of many, to promote their much-desired agenda of censorship and gun control. What better way to control America than to make it sound as if it’s for the good of all? It would seem emotionalism sells.
Additionally, who is to say, what is really “hate speech” and/ or who gets to mead out the consequences of breaking someone’s nebulous rule? Further, a task force cannot police what people say. This invasion of privacy by snooping into online gatherings is a slippery slope indeed.
One of the governor’s executive orders instructs their State Police to establish a-
“…dedicated unit within the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC) to track domestic extremism and increase social media monitoring at the Intelligence Center.”…responsible for developing investigative leads based on social media analyses focused on radical extremist activities motivated threats by identifying online locations and activities that facilitate radicalization and promote violent extremism…”
-New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)
Since when is it the governments job to monitor a free people, eavesdropping on conversations, check emails and social media forums looking for some self-proclaimed definition of “hate speech”? Nowadays hate speech can be classified as calling a “him” (biologically) a “him”, when “he” identifies as a “her”. The possibilities and circumstances are ridiculously vast.
Governor Hochul comes across sounding resolute, but she is merely playing to her leftist constituency when she claims that access to guns kills people. This is an amazingly ridiculous claim. People kill people.
It’s easy to deflect responsibility for the failure of the healthcare system in the state of New York to assist those with mental health issues, denying the existence an unsuccessful system, rather than actually dealing with it.
The governor prefers to focus her attention on the use of words such as: terrorism, white supremacy, nationalism and racism. She calls this past Buffalo episode an intersection of two crises, the main stream of hate speech and easy access to military style weapons. Why doesn’t she refer instead to this circumstance, as the intersection of the two crises, the broken healthcare system and the poor communication with local authorities? Both are failing to collaborate on the crisis of mental health care for the State of New York.
It is easier to divert energy, funds, manpower and focus, in an attempt to demonstrate that you have a handle on the problem. What all her edicts and mandates indicate is, that she has an agenda and is going to use this circumstance to fulfill that. She would prefer to deal with the effect, and sweep an underlying cause under the rug, using phrases like “horrific and despicable act of terror” to garner support for her political agenda.
Governor Hochul was also quoted as saying that this (referring to the Buffalo shooting) is
“a wake-up call and here in New York we are taking strong steps to directly address this deadly threat”.
-New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)
Perhaps instead, she should institute a task force to evaluate the threat of mental health, in her communities there in New York. Many states, not just New York have neglected this overarching issue.
The American people are not getting the truth about this mass murder, because then some would see the shortcomings of the current administration and let’s not focus on that.
While it is clear there was much vastly wrong with Gendron’s thinking, he had a previously stated mental condition and was clearly a danger to himself as well as others. Why is his white supremacist thinking the focus and not on the mind that was absorbing it? Let’s get people like Gendron the help they need, and stop politically grandstanding on the tragedy in the lives he affected so horribly.