Gutfeld: Another monster gets 15 minutes of fame
'Gutfeld!' panelists weigh in on the power of the media during mass shootings amid the recent Highland Park shooting during the 4th of July weekend and how individuals have become bystanders.
Oh. I hope this is good. Happy Thursday, everyone. I know I look great. Those injections of panda tears into my face are really paying off. We made them cry by reading aloud from Kilmeade's book. The only side effect is me craving bamboo shoots 24 hours a day. Alright, enough of that crap.
So we're learning more about the July 4th fiend. Now, I ain't showing the guy, but we have a replacement for him. This, this is a pile of horse ----. And trust me, it's an improvement. We're not saying his name, but that's not good enough, from now on it's just horse ---- from us. My apologies to the horses and their ----. Thank you.
Fact is, for every minute this fiend's face is up on a screen, you create more just like it. That's the power of the media. Ask any woman who had a Jennifer Aniston haircut in the nineties or me. So enough with the guy's face. He's a mass killer, not L'oreal's first plus size cover girl.
Now, mass shootings are almost always linked to previous ones. For the unstable and evil, they keep stats and record the damage like ghouls in a demented fantasy league. So it infuriates me to see the news slap that tattooed face right up there all the time as they repeat the same B.S. we already heard before. Meanwhile, the victims get a quick mention like they had a tiny part in a Hollywood blockbuster. Doesn't it drive you crazy? It does to me. Because is it news or is it spectacle? And are we culpable when we know we're supplying the fiend's reward, which is attention? People don't commit suicide for notoriety, but suicide plus, when you take people with you, that's for infamy. And we indulge it under the guise of news, as another monster gets 15 minutes of fame.
FBI agents work the scene of a shooting at a Fourth of July parade on July 5, 2022 in Highland Park, Illinois. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Now I get it, I'm in the news business, hard to believe. How did I get here? I don't belong here. But now it's just overkill. Now we know the guy had more red flags than a parade on Chinese New Year. Threatening to kill his family. I know, I know. I'll cut him some slack on that one. I think we've all done that, at least on one Thanksgiving.
He threatened to kill himself. He posted stuff about mass shootings like it was excerpts from an upcoming book. He painted a mural about killing. He brought up mass shooting the night before. This guy tipped his hand more times than me at happy hour with a bottle of Tito's. And did I even mention the face tats? Now, that doesn't mean you're a psycho killer, but I wouldn't ask him to babysit. And yet he got guns and he took innocent lives.
So if you can't prevent that guy with all those signs, then what can you do? Makes no sense. Well, you ever notice how certain people only intervene in stuff when the risk is low? But when there comes a time when someone really has to speak up, they don't.
You know, we used to hear neighbors say "hmm, he was so quiet, the last guy you'd suspect." But now they say "oh, yeah, we all knew that guy was a psycho. Oh, well, back to watching Tik Tok videos." It's like if courage was coffee, we've replaced it with instant Folger's crystals. It's the virtual version based on virtue signaling and virtually useless in the real world.
HIGHLAND PARK JULY 4TH SHOOTING SUSPECT'S PARENTS WERE ‘A PROBLEM,' SAYS FORMER COACH
Don't you dare deadname a trans celebrity, that'll get you an instant ban, but racist murder fantasies from the Waukesha killer or video rants from New York subway attacker, Zuckerberg and company look the other way.
Law enforcement search after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park. (AP Newsroom)
You know, we condemn people for opinions, but obvious threats slide on by, because we aren't supposed to say anything. That's because deliberate antisocial behavior is now just another lifestyle choice. And to call it out, well that makes you antisocial.
So now we sit back, and we watch or we just film it. Take a look at this scene in downtown NYC. Three women destroy a restaurant, all because they were charged extra for sauce. I haven't seen that violent a reaction since Brian Stelter was shorted a McNugget in his Happy Meal. But you could look at those bystanders, many of them so-called men, cheering it on while the workers cowered in the back. You know, I'd ask them to man up, but that would be asking for toxic masculinity or misgendering. That's the kind of argument intellectuals want to have while a street loony bashes your head against the sidewalk.
So you got to ask yourself why would anyone open a business to see it smashed by a bunch of laughing jerks? Why would any employee risk their life for this? But we're now a nation of spectators, so quick to condemn pointless stuff but shy away from the severely wrong. There used to be a name to describe people who saw the risk of stepping in, but went ahead anyway, they were called brave or crazy.
This place used to be the home of the brave, but it's turning into a hen house, home of the chicken. We need help from each other. Now, I'm not saying the mass shooting could have been prevented, but in an engaged community. Who knows?
A witness to the Highland Park shooting during the July 4 parade recounts the shooting that left six people dead and described the efforts to save children. (Fox News Digital/Getty Images)
Now, there's no law against minding your own business. In fact, most of us like it that way. I don't need my neighbors calling the cops on me every time they see me doing tai chi on my balcony wearing nothing but Kat's old hair extensions. But this isn't about laws. It's about community and we have lost community. Looking out for your neighbor, that regular contact with them, knowing the police, the businesses around you, the kids. We should bring that back. But it's hard when politicians, and teachers and celebs pit us against each other like a nation of drunken real housewives, while insisting your neighbor is an oppressor and your country's shared history is a lie.
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Perhaps the answer is less gawking and more talking. More time outside being a neighbor as opposed to online. Now, I'm not saying you got to raise a barn together like a mob of lemonade guzzling Amish, but maybe keep an eye out for each other. You know, I hate to say this. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe this lady had a point. I know. Hear me out. It was like 20 years ago, okay. Her last great point when she said "it takes a village to raise a child," because right now, families, they're having a hard time. And I, yeah, I cannot believe I just complimented Hillary Clinton. Truly, pigs have flown. I think I see her husband doing a barrel roll.