Althouse: "By naming the tragedy 12/14, we honor the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting, their families and their town. 12/14."

January 26, 2013

"By naming the tragedy 12/14, we honor the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting, their families and their town. 12/14."

"Think it. Say it. Help Newtown heal."

I'm sorry, but no. If we take that approach, history will turn into numerical code and erstwhile ordinary days on the calendar will pop up each year as doomsdays, depressing some people and luring the crazies into copycatism.

Big events are normally named by the place where they happen, unless they are storms that we see coming and we name them like babies, when they are still cute like babies and haven't, like teenagers, shown their horrible tendencies.

9/11 was the exception to the rule, and this past year we got another 9/11 attack, in Benghazi. What do you do when these things pile up on the same day? It's not even random. The day fires up the imagination and focuses plans. I don't want a famous school massacre day called 12/14!

Protect our days, so that they continue to dawn as fresh new days, innocent and full of potential. Or let individuals infuse them with good memories, anniversaries of happiness like weddings and births.

76 comments:

Birkel said...: Well said.; 1/26/13, 8:38 AM
pm317 said...: Lefties have gone insane! I really mean it.; 1/26/13, 8:40 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Maybe the numbers will improve the kids' math skills.; 1/26/13, 8:42 AM
Astro said...: Althouse's counterattack. Let's remember this day: 1/26.; 1/26/13, 8:42 AM
David said...: "I'm sorry, but no."

Yep.; 1/26/13, 8:43 AM
Goddess of the Classroom said...: As horrible as the Sandy Hook murders were, they were local, not national, nor were they an attack on our country, as the 9/11 attacks were.; 1/26/13, 8:44 AM
KCFleming said...: Every day is a day of mourning, somewhere. Every stretch of road, too. Cars, trains, planes. Pills, booze, fists, weapons.

Life becomes one inviolate memorial. Depressing, and impossible to honor.; 1/26/13, 8:49 AM
Hagar said...: I believe it is called "disaster porn."; 1/26/13, 8:51 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Hopefully Newtown has room for 26 more playgrounds.; 1/26/13, 8:51 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: There is no collective process to recovering from the loss of a loved one.

The process is entirely individual.; 1/26/13, 8:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Agreed.

Thanks but no thanks.

Sorry for your loss.; 1/26/13, 8:54 AM
sinz52 said...: The terrorist bombing of the London subways was typically called "7/7," having taken place on 7 July 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings; 1/26/13, 8:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If you want to call things by numbers, it would make more sense to give the murderers a number, so they don't get famous. Call Adam Lanza #357864 or something.

But it's obvious why we can't do that! No one will be able to talk about it anymore at all. Language would lose color and emotion. We'd be digitized into blandness/incomprehensibility.; 1/26/13, 9:02 AM
tiger said...: What utter crap.

This is what you get when you are more concerned about what people feel than what they think.

'Help New Town Heal'.
Treacle and trite.

NOTHING this nation can do will 'help New Town heal'. Towns don't heal; people do and they do it individually, if at all.

Feelings a mile wide and an inch deep.; 1/26/13, 9:07 AM
pm317 said...: This is more about enhancing their gun control ideology than anything else. I don't own a gun and never will but I had to point this out. They are playing politics with murder of innocents. What is new?; 1/26/13, 9:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Instead let's commemorate 12/14 for the discovery of the South Pole.

Peter; 1/26/13, 9:11 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Lefties have gone insane! I really mean it.

I am more and more getting the impression that this is all opportunistic. Somewhat like 2008, but with a Republican House. They "won", and are riding the win as long and as hard as they can. It's not a good shot, but this is probably their best shot at gun grabbing legislation for a long time.

BTW - anyone else note this? Feinstein Gun Control Bill to Exempt Government Officials. Her proposed legislation would exempt government officials, law enforcement, and former law enforcement. In a collectivist Utopia, all are equal, but some are more equal, and the rulers the most equal. Black Sea dachas for the Soviet leadership and modern guns for Feinstein and other government officials, while the rest of us are relegated to "any gun manually operated by a bolt, pump, lever or slide action" (properly registered with her government, of course).

All in the name of Sandy Hook, or now apparently "12/14".; 1/26/13, 9:13 AM
Wince said...: The last hing you want to do is bestow upon mass murderers a special day on the calendar for their handiwork.; 1/26/13, 9:14 AM
chickelit said...: 12/14: I feel an uncontrollable urge to reduce that fraction to 6/7.

Al national dates must have at least one prime number, else we get reduced to a common denominator (or numerator).

9/11
12/7
7/4; 1/26/13, 9:23 AM
CWJ said...: Expanding upon Goddess of the classroom and Pogo's comments. Every local event and/or private event has the potential to be nationalized. And once nationalized, the whole citizenry is perforce expected to comment, emote, demand action, etc. on cue. Its all a question of which events, which baby down the well and such, make the editorial cut. I find the whole manipulative process irksome at best, disgusting otherwise.

If the good people of New town wish to call this 12/14, so be it. They have more of a right than anyone else. But leave the rest of our calendars alone.; 1/26/13, 9:26 AM
Brian Brown said...: The idea that the political party that was just celebrating Roe at 40! gives a shit about those 20 dead children is silly & obscene.; 1/26/13, 9:26 AM
Henry said...: Days are for Birthdays and Anniversaries.; 1/26/13, 9:27 AM
Mogget said...: Perhaps a naming system that indicates the inadequacies of the perp's genitalia would useful.; 1/26/13, 9:27 AM
Brian Brown said...: they were local, not national

Because some of the people affected by this work in New York City, you know the place where everyone is educated and smart, this has become a national tragedy as it affected our betters.

Get with the program already.; 1/26/13, 9:28 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: "Help Newtown heal."

I'm sorry, but no.

That kind of tells us all we need to know.; 1/26/13, 9:38 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: The idea that the political party that was just celebrating Roe at 40! gives a shit about those 20 dead children is silly & obscene.

So is your mother.; 1/26/13, 9:40 AM
Aridog said...: How many more "Oh, look ... SQUIRREL!" moments must we endure to distract from the Benghazi Bulshit-a-thon by Hillary and supporting characters? No explanation for the BS spewed by sundry administration players 9/14-9/16/2012 including Hillary, Barackster, and little missy Rice.

OMG! Girls in combat occupational specialties!! (Announced by a civilian whose total military service was as a 2nd Lieutenant in Military Intelligence ... long ago). OMG ... Sandy Hook memorialized (never mind more people die weekly in several major cities)!! Federal court rules in favor of the law (shocker!)OMG OMG OMG!! Be stil my anxious heart!; 1/26/13, 9:41 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: How many more "Oh, look ... SQUIRREL!" moments must we endure to distract from the Benghazi Bulshit-a-thon by Hillary and supporting characters?

Haha.

Like the Kangaroo Court "hearing" itself isn't one big "Oh, look ... SQUIRREL!" moment.

Lol.; 1/26/13, 9:43 AM
B said...: Good to see the Ritmo marker occur so early in a thread. Saves time.; 1/26/13, 9:43 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Little Eichmanns"; 1/26/13, 9:43 AM
SayAahh said...: Road side memorials.

Calendar memorials.

Intrusive uninvited reminders of mortality.

I concur with the beautifully written last paragraph by the host.; 1/26/13, 9:44 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Dates should be reserved for celebrations... like the 4th of July... only.; 1/26/13, 9:44 AM
CWJ said...: Wow, Ritmo. Even by your standards, that was a dishonest just juxtoposition of quotes. Do you really believe that AA was refering to the title of the link and not the idea of numerical naming?; 1/26/13, 9:44 AM
Unknown said...: The idea that we can, by naming something "correctly", cause "healing" or any other thing is part of the same thinking that posits we can control mass killing by outlawing a certain kind of weapon.
It's a little crazy.
Maybe we're all a little crazy.; 1/26/13, 9:47 AM
Brian Brown said...: O Ritmo Segundo said...

So is your mother.

Don't worry stupid shit, nobody takes your concern at all seriously.

55+ million abortions since 1973, and you're clapping.

Idiot.; 1/26/13, 9:49 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Wow, Ritmo. Even by your standards, that was a dishonest just juxtoposition of quotes. Do you really believe that AA was refering to the title of the link and not the idea of numerical naming?

I suppose I could wade through the reeds long enough to find precisely where an ounce of humanity exists in the many posts like this one dealing with gun violence. But it's becoming harder and harder by the blogpost.

The fact is that gun safety just isn't much of a concern to 2nd amendment absolutists. I've seen one honest debate by a kid now running Breitbart's empire on Piers Morgan, but that was about it. The gun humping crowd is just not interested in an honest debate that takes seriously any issue regarding gun safety and responsibility. Not that I've seen. They're just too busy believing preparing themselves to prevent the apocalypse.; 1/26/13, 9:49 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/26/13, 9:51 AM
Anonymous said...: 1/08
4/19
12/14...

How do we remember those who died in a stretch of time, like in Fast & Furious?; 1/26/13, 9:53 AM
Brian Brown said...: O Ritmo Segundo said...

The fact is that gun safety just isn't much of a concern to 2nd amendment absolutists

The fact is, the NRA teaches gun safety courses.

Of course to you, non-gun owning pussy, only banning guns = "gun safety"

But you're silly and ignorant.

So you have that going for you.

Idiot.; 1/26/13, 10:00 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: 55+ million abortions since 1973, and you're clapping.

Clearly not enough, as you're still around.

You are a walking advertising billboard for abortion. Your presence practically SCREAMS to all "ABORT ME!"; 1/26/13, 10:01 AM
Brian Brown said...: . The gun humping crowd is just not interested in an honest debate that takes seriously any issue regarding gun safety and responsibility.

Yes!!!

Because as we all know, an "honest debate" is stupid, ignorant people like you, making incoherent statements about weapons you've never held, fired, or owned.

I mean that's like totally honest and stuff!

Retard.; 1/26/13, 10:02 AM
Brian Brown said...: The fact is that gun safety just isn't much of a concern to 2nd amendment absolutists

The fact is, the people who give not one shit about 55+ million abortions, and partial birth abortions, do not care about 20 dead children.

But keep pretending.

Pretending is what you ignorants do clown.; 1/26/13, 10:03 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: But you're silly and ignorant.

So you have that going for you.

Idiot.

You would be the one to know about having nothing going for oneself other than being a silly and ignorant idiot, wouldn't you?

Why were you not aborted. Please explain to me what value you hold to society.

The process should be so embarrassing and shameful that I predict it could end in you deciding to abort yourself.; 1/26/13, 10:03 AM
edutcher said...: Excellent point, Ann.

Newtown wasn't the Alamo; sadly, it was like Columbine and San Diego.

The real issue is the way Newtown heals is time.

All the grief counselors and New Age can't change that.; 1/26/13, 10:03 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Jay has put the thread into a state of false pregnancy, and has decided that the only cure for it is to abort himself from the thread.

His comments are a form of intellectual abortion.; 1/26/13, 10:06 AM
Brian Brown said...: Hey how do we know ritty and her silly, ignorant ilk care about those 20 dead children in Sandy Hook?

Because they want to ban weapons that were not used, and are rarely if ever used in US homicides.

Message: ritty cares!; 1/26/13, 10:07 AM
Brian Brown said...: Hey how do we know ritty and her silly, ignorant ilk care about those 20 dead children in Sandy Hook?

Because banning guns = gun safety!

That's how!

Message: ritty cares; 1/26/13, 10:08 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: To the botched abortion attempt known as "Jay":

Please tell me what you've ever done in your life to make your mother proud of you.

You know, other than hanging around on an internet comments thread under a three letter pseudonym lashing out with vituperative abuse against anyone proposing to make massacres of children less likely.; 1/26/13, 10:09 AM
Brian Brown said...: Hey remember when ritty and her silly, ignorant ilk mocked the NRA for suggesting that armed guards be put in schools?

Funny how they went utterly silent when the Obama White House said they would fund armed "resource officers" in schools.

Message: ritty knows Honest Debate about "gun safety" when she sees it!; 1/26/13, 10:10 AM
Aridog said...: *Ritmo* sez to someone else here...

You are a walking advertising billboard for abortion. Your presence practically SCREAMS to all "ABORT ME!"

Ritmo, I think you are a punk who survives only behind a keyboard and the anonymity of the web.; 1/26/13, 10:11 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/26/13, 10:15 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: You can think what you want, Ari.

Tell me, what redeeming values if any does "Jay" possess?

Seeing as how he's attracted to gun violence and politics threads like a fly to doo-doo.; 1/26/13, 10:15 AM
AustinRoth said...: I think there is a bigger picture, long-term plan here.

By using that labeling, the Left moves down the road that even a crazy lone gunman is a 'terrorist', so ALL people with access to 'assault weapons' are potential terrorists, and then finally anyone WANTING an 'assault weapon' is a potential terrorist.

As part of the Obama/Left plan as stated is to use the Terrorist Watch list to deny background checks and to seize any guns anyone on the list may have, 'assault weapon' or not, those who know their history can see where this eventually ends.; 1/26/13, 10:24 AM
pm317 said...: Obama Lefties have gone insane and the revolution has to come from inside, from their own..; 1/26/13, 10:25 AM
ricpic said...: Aside from the numbers tripe, was Sandy Hook all that momentous? Only for the don't waste a crisis crowd.; 1/26/13, 10:44 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: 9/11 got its name because the attack took place in 3 places. The World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shankstown, with the third more accurately described as a place of counter-attack.

Sandy Hook is a place as well as a school, and one can understand the residents not wanting to bear a stigma. But dates can have stigmas too, and everyone born on that date would have to bear the stigma of calling it 12/14.; 1/26/13, 10:52 AM
Aridog said...: *Ritmo* sez ...

Seeing as how he's attracted to gun violence and politics threads like a fly to doo-doo.

Just as you seem to be. Shocking isn't it?; 1/26/13, 10:52 AM
Anonymous said...: When did we start naming winter storms?; 1/26/13, 10:55 AM
McTriumph said...: Why exactly are my 2nd Amendment rights being limited because a Newtown shooter slaughtered Newtown children because the Newtown parents and government failed to protect their children.

No doubt the Newtown shooting is a tragedy, there is a lot of guilt, anger and loss, but this isn't a national tragedy, except for the opportunistic hair on fire statist.

The victims are in my prayers, but the best thing moving forward would be for Newtown to protect their children.; 1/26/13, 11:04 AM
kjbe said...: Sandy Hook is a place as well as a school, and one can understand the residents not wanting to bear a stigma.

Agreed. This was just an attempt at that. I hope the author and the commnity of Newtown well and hope they get what they need to heal.; 1/26/13, 11:21 AM
Brian Brown said...: Connecticut has an assault-weapons ban, modeled after a federal law that was enacted in 1994

So of course what we need is an "honest discussion" of "gun safety" and stuff!

Most certainly not an "honest discussion" of why the Democrats who wrote and signed that AWB into law have no culpability in these murders.

No, no, sireeee!; 1/26/13, 11:33 AM
Scott said...: Long time reader, first time commenter here. That being said if *anything* should be remembered on 12/14, here's a better one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg

Union:(1,284 killed
9,600 wounded
1,769 captured/missing)

Confederate:(608 killed
4,116 wounded
653 captured/missing); 1/26/13, 11:36 AM
Rob said...: Murtha has perfectly dialed into the national zeitgeist--no matter what you call something or somebody, it's a reason to take offense. If people call the massacre "12/14," you can be certain somebody will claim that depersonalizes the victims and that it should be called "Sandy Hook." See also Negro/black/African-American, handicapped/disabled/differently abled, homosexual/gay/queer/LGBT/LGBTI.; 1/26/13, 11:42 AM
Darrell said...: 20 on one particular day versus 1500-3000/day, every day for 40 years.; 1/26/13, 12:16 PM
Auntie Ann said...: This day is call’d 10/25.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of 10/25.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is 10/25.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on 10/25.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And 10/25 shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon 10/25!; 1/26/13, 12:44 PM
JAL said...: The fact is that gun safety just isn't much of a concern to 2nd amendment absolutists

Why don't you start at home and have Sen. Feinstein take remedial gun safety before she does anymore proposed infringing?

DF is supposed to have a CCW and she shows up in public at her big take-the-guns bash with a rifle and her finger on the trigger.

Idiot. Ignorant one at that.; 1/26/13, 12:46 PM
JAL said...: As for "memorializing" Sandy Hook ... is it possible that some of these families do not want their children remembered this way?

One thought of many about a really bad idea.; 1/26/13, 12:47 PM
ken in tx said...: We need a memorial for the first dead guy in the invasion of Normandy. This is from the Americanization of Emily.; 1/26/13, 2:30 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ""By naming the tragedy 12/14, we honor the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting, their families and their town. 12/14.""

I'm sorry, but no. If we take that approach, history will turn into numerical code and erstwhile ordinary days on the calendar will pop up each year as doomsdays, depressing some people and luring the crazies into copycatism.

9/11 was the exception to the rule, and this past year we got another 9/11 attack, in Benghazi. What do you do when these things pile up on the same day? It's not even random. The day fires up the imagination and focuses plans. I don't want a famous school massacre day called 12/14!

Protect our days, so that they continue to dawn as fresh new days, innocent and full of potential. Or let individuals infuse them with good memories, anniversaries of happiness like weddings and births.

The point is that the month plus the year add up to the number of victims. How often is that likely to happen? Can't lawprofs do arithmetic anymore?; 1/26/13, 4:35 PM
McTriumph said...: Maybe Lanza was clever and could do arithmetic too.
I find this national day of celebrating dead children absurd, it's a Newtown tragedy and failure to protect their children.

How about we honor our dead from the Battle of Fallujah or any number of heroic efforts. Or we could fucking wait till this generation of soldiers are dead like we did for the WWII generation.

Newtown is local tragedy just like the homicide victims in Chicago this weekend are a Chicago problem. What are going to call the memorial for the Chicago victims, 1/26 or 1/27?; 1/26/13, 5:09 PM
McTriumph said...: Auntie Ann, touch down!; 1/26/13, 5:11 PM
McTriumph said...: ken in sc

Funny, great movie and Julie is hot in it.; 1/26/13, 5:13 PM
CWJ said...: Smiling' Jack,

Duh, did you really think AA didn't "get" the 12+14 connection. She even says it in effect in the title to the post for goodness sake.

Just because the math works out, doesn't automatically make it a good idea.; 1/26/13, 5:32 PM
kentuckyliz said...: The math doesn't work out. There was a27th victim, don't forget.; 1/26/13, 10:07 PM
Amartel said...: Dear Second Tier State School Propaganda Communications Professor From Same State as Political Exploited Tragedy,

No. If you intend to undermine fundamental civil rights then you are going to have to work. That means explaining your position, with logic and citations to authority, not just shouting out "12/14" and bursting into tears.; 1/27/13, 2:25 PM
Rich Rostrom said...: Finding names for things can be awkward. The use of dates is one method.

Mark Twain wrote an essay on the extent to which the French identify great events by the date. He composed or translated an entire sermon in which all the referents were dates.; 1/27/13, 6:52 PM