Column: Politics in the wake of tragedy

When the news regarding the terrorist attacks in Paris broke Friday, many were shocked. With the death toll growing above 100 and details emerging on exactly how these people were killed, it was not clear how fathomable these attacks were.

Yet that didn’t stop a few from attempting to promptly capitalize on the attack. With what seems to be a new tradition in our society — especially in the age of social media — a few saw what unfolded in Paris as a chance to push their own beliefs.

“Imagine a theater with 10 or 15 citizens with concealed carry permits,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said on Twitter hours after the tragedy. “We live in an age when evil men have to be killed by good people.”

Even lower than Gingrich was Salon, who published an article saying the terror in Paris will hopefully “convince the right to tone down their incessant violent rhetoric.”

In the piece, the author compared Friday’s attack to a number of unrelated comments made by American conservatives in recent months. Much like the former speaker’s tweets, the article was published a few hours after the tragedy unfolded.

And yet worse than those two were those who claimed this attack was the result of the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe, even though there has been only one person linked to both at this time.

While these parties are not alone in acting so vile, they do serve as prime examples of how dehumanized many have become.

Whenever a shooting, attack or any other event unfolds, it appears to have become more common to push one’s political opinions over compassion or any sort of basic human decency.

Mere hours after a horrific event happened is not the time for — in context — petty arguments and personal political suggestions. It is instead the time to show empathy toward those who died and a country in mourning.

That does not mean we ignore solving the problem altogether. Instead we explore solutions in a respectful amount of time.

We already failed at doing that earlier this year with the Charlie Hebdo shooting. How proudly we chanted “Je suis Charlie” before forgetting it ever happened, leaving the world solutionless in preventing future terrorist acts.

With social media and the internet, it has become easier than ever to relay our thoughts to the masses.

But sharing one’s politics after a tragedy — especially as many questions remain unanswered — is not only bad politics but also a complete disregard to the pain the people dragged into this tragedy are going through.

Should we discuss ways to prevent these acts from happening? Of course.

But that should not come moments after an event unfolds and surely should not happen by riding one’s war wagon while many are dealing with tremendous pain.