“Mass shootings normalize terror and create a traumatized population that views strangers with suspicion and fear.”-Ruth Ben-Ghiat
This is not the story I set out to write yesterday. But this is the story that came through my fingers. That line from Ruth prompted me to retell the story of my daughter’s graduation from Wellesley, which occurred three days after the Uvalde mass shooting. The story of a distraught mother nervously scanning the crowd, while trying to be emotionally present for her daughter’s big day.
In the cognitive war we find ourselves in, I would argue that the mass shootings are part of that war. If the mind is the battlefield and digital poison is radicalizing men to murder, then that is war.
Who will speak for the ghosts? I guess it’s up to all of us.
To read the print version of Ghost Stories, please go here.
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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you, as well, to those who support my work with coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was recently published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, author Greg Olear called it “The Big Sleep 2.0” except with “not so much sleep happening.”
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep6 - Un-normalizing Mass Shootings