Being a Roseburg resident now for more than 8 years, it was more than a shock to see a mass shooting occur in our small town. Sadly though I knew right from hearing of the event, minutes after it happened, that the community response was going to be mixed, and in many ways, unable to be understood by those looking in from outside.
In the aftermath, this reaction was best displayed in the days leading up to and the day of President Obama's visit to console the families of the victims. Within a few hours of his press conference, local people were criticizing him for politicizing the tragedy and 'standing on the corpses of our loved ones'. Yes that was from one of the initial locals, publishers of a right wing rag that are known for being media whores whose publication offers editorial space to moon landing hoaxers, birthers and every shade of conspiracy theorist. They had a son on campus at the time of the shooting so of course were pumping their 'on the spot' happenings to Fox. They even made O'Reilly when the President announced he was coming. Evil, despicable hate-mongers.
So, after the White House announced that the President would make a diversion from his west coast trip, and visit the families of the tragedy, there was a shit storm across social media, the mostly conservative, gun-toting, hunting simpletons across the state. 'Not Welcome' plus your selection of hate speech or anti-Obama epithet/screed ensued.
One of these hate merchants, who has recently been selected as the Republican candidate for an Oregon House seat was one of the first to actually get the ball rolling, and this is where my story starts - with the man primarilu responsible for making my grieving town a laughing stock to sensible, sane, balanced individuals.
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