Killers with smiling faces

Another mass shooting...

So, there was another mass shooting in the US yesterday. Twelve people were killed by the gunman. Still, despite the vivid horror of gun violence, what is likely to change? The NRA, the gun lobby and the profits of the arms trade are "too important" in the US for much to be done about the problem...

More victims than we could possible imagine

Now imagine a similar attack, discriminate only in as much as the preferred victims are the most vulnerable. Imagine too that instead of twelve victims we have around 65. Then multiply that by every nation on earth and then again by every single day of the year...

That is how many people are dying every year (c. 4.6 million) because of air pollution, according to the the World Health Organisation. This figure does not include other types of pollution, climate change or different forms of deadly contamination. How many millions would that make?

                                                 UN-aligned for a fairer and safer world!

Routinely massacring the innocents

Dying of pollution does not sound as dramatic as being shot, but don't be fooled. Desperately gasping for breath is just one of the problems. So we have terrorists all over the world jointly killing thousands, or tens of thousands, of people every day: every single day! And what are we doing about it? 

Precious little. Why? The same reason why more is not done to curb gun violence: politicians want to keep the economy ticking. Just like terrorists, they care little about collateral damage. These politicians and the destructive enterprises they support are really just a more insidious and deadly form kind of terrorist. They are all around us: killers with smiling faces.