Sorry this is very late, my internet was down today. It has been a hectic morning, but I found calm in Baldur’s Gate 3. Great game, always something new to discover. If you like video games, I would recommend it.
Last week had two events that really got to me. I’m not going to do a deep dive, because I’m still processing. There was a shooting at a house show in Minneapolis with a fatality. It was a random act of violence, not targeted specifically. The details, as I understand it, are that someone was an unwelcome guest that was not connected to the show. They were asked to leave because they were making people uncomfortable and the shooter returned and opened fire.
This is a horrific act of violence in a place that was historically a safe space for people that don’t have a lot of safe spaces. Punk rock and its various subcultures have a lot of issues, but there are some truly great people in the scene that do a lot to help make the world a better, more inclusive place. You could throw a stone and hit a million people who are problematic for one reason or another. And it is a problem that needs to be continually addressed. But this one really hurts because from all accounts, this was a healthy space with good people.
Even though it was in a state I’ve never even been to, I have friends connected to that house show and the victims of this crime. It is a very small world and these actions have personal ramifications. One of the things I have truly loved about being involved in a music scene is the connections I’ve made with likeminded people. When you’re not involved in the scene, it can feel foreign and off putting. Once you’re involved, you find that you’ve got friends all over the world that will do whatever they can to help you keep your head up in a world that’s trying to hold you down.
The other one has more far reaching implications. A newspaper in rural Kansas was raided last week by police on a lie. If you haven’t read this article - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/12/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid/70581793007/ - read it today.
Excepts to show how important this is:
Police in a central Kansas town raided the local newspaper's office Friday and seized computers and employees' personal cellphones – an action that advocates say violates federal laws protecting the media.
Law enforcement officers with the Marion (Kan.) Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office took the Marion County Record's computer file server, other computers and phones, and other equipment, the Record reported.
The federal Privacy Protection Act protects against most searches of journalists and newsrooms by law enforcement, usually requiring police to issue subpoenas. "Legal experts contacted by the Record termed the raid unheard of in America and reminiscent of what occurs in totalitarian regimes and the Third World," the Record reported.
Police also searched the home of Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel, reported the Record, which is expected to file a federal suit against the city and those involved in the search.
"Our first priority is to be able to publish next week," Meyer said in the story Friday, "but we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today. We will be seeking the maximum sanctions possible under the law."
I understand this might seem like an outlier. A one off with a power hungry police chief thinking they could get away with it. And they might. This is troubling to the highest order for me.
Journalism is already weakened to the point of inefficiency in a lot of ways. There are still people out there doing good work. This was an attack built on a fabricated reason based on an article that doesn’t even exist. It was a suppression tactic. When you can not have news operating freely, you start entering scary places historically.
The next year is going to be rife with political discontent. This was a warning shot.