On a sticky Texas morning, Kimberly Mata-Rubio is lacing up her running shoes ahead of two races she is running in Uvalde in tribute to her daughter Lexi, who was killed in the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.
First up is a charity run honoring Lexi’s life. Then it’s back to a tougher contest: Campaigning to become mayor of Uvalde, a town still divided after one of America’s deadliest mass shootings and a botched police response that is still under investigation.
“One thing I hear with all of my children, and it echoes my own belief, is that right now Lexi’s legacy is our priority and we just want to honor her with action,” Mata-Rubio said.
Reminder that the Uvalde police wanted this covered up so badly they threatened a local mother with violation of her probation if she continued to speak out about it.
NRA: Look at her, politicizing her daughter’s death!
To quote Skunk Anansie: yes it’s fucking political, everything’s political!
also: it’s small town texas; i wonder if she actually expects to achieve anything.
She might win. Absurd life-altering tragedies have a way of changing the perspectives and opinions of the people they affect.
Uvalde overwhelmingly re-elected the same politicians, judges and sheriffs that led to the shooting and lack of response. Uvalde also voted strongly for Abbott.
That’s when my last shred of sympathy for that community evaporated. If they don’t care about their own children being killed, why should I? Clearly they want this to continue happening.
Consider that sometimes there are more voters who are unaffected by the people and policies they vote for, than voters who are affected.
I imagine in the case of Uvalde, there are more grumpy senior citizens who don’t give a shit about the lives of children than there are parents of school age children – or at least more voters in the former category than the latter.
Don’t forget that voter suppression exists, too. Just because the same shit heels got voted back in doesn’t mean that the people who were most hurt didn’t try to do something about it. Don’t give up your sympathy because of what it looks like to you at a distance.
i’ve learned first hand that not even the liberals in austin give a rats ass about voter suppression in texas; so she must be doing this for herself because she’s not going to have an impact in uvalde and much less for the rest of the state.
Well if it happened in Austin then it must apply to everyone and everywhere else. Makes perfect sense.
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How does any of that change what they said?
In case you’re legitimately asking:
OP is saying that “they” don’t care that “their” kids are being killed. This reads as OP saying the parents of the murdered children don’t care about their own murdered children. OP says that because the same bad politicians from before the shooting were voted back into office, this means the parents don’t care. OP therefore says they won’t bother caring either.
I’m saying the bad politicians may not have been voted back in by the parents of the murdered children, and instead have been voted back in by callous people who don’t care about other peoples murdered children. This would mean OP’s assertion that the parents don’t care is wrong, and their decision to not care about murdered children is wrong.
And that was in reply to:
Uvalde overwhelmingly re-elected the same politicians, judges and sheriffs that led to the shooting and lack of response. Uvalde also voted strongly for Abbott.
That’s when my last shred of sympathy for that community evaporated. If they don’t care about their own children being killed, why should I? Clearly they want this to continue happening.
A comment directed at the community as a whole.
So even if what you say is true, it simply reinforced OP’s point that the community is fucking garbage, as the fact there would even be a majority of evil people to override the will of the parents makes the town undeserving of sympathy.
If they don’t care about their own children being killed, why should I?
Wow, you sound like such a wonderful person. Jesus fucking christ.
I didn’t kill their kids, I didn’t stand around refusing to help, and I didn’t re-elect cowards who let kids die… Uvalde did though. So as bad and callous as my opinion sounds, it’s not as bad as what they did to themselves
She would have my vote, wouldn’t even need to think twice about it.
Hope she wins.
The issue is whether she has Uvalde’s vote. They reelected abbot in a landslide even after all of the death and incompetence.
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So I think those are tangentially related to the reason rural areas are conservative, but I think the biggest single factor is exposure to people who think and believe differently but are nonetheless good people.
My experience of rural people and conservative culture more broadly is the importance of tribalism and the tribal cultural bubble.
The more people are confronted with people who think differently, the more tribal thinking begins to break down.
So the internet and education are both really valuable tools if used correctly, but they can certainly be engaged with without ever addressing the underlying issue.
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Hate is a lack of imagination.
The more people are confronted with people who think differently, the more tribal thinking begins to break down.
I get what you are saying, from a “knowledge of power” point of view, but isn’t the reality that they just dig in their heels and double down on their current belief systems, versus having to deal with confronting the new ideas and reshaping themselves to them?
Trust me, I want you to be right, and I do believe the same way that you express, but human beings, especially the uneducated ones, have a vast ability to ignore the reality around them, if they want to.
They certainly can dig in and the is no single solution for this. Over the years, I’ve helped many people adopt a more progressive worldview. I don’t have any debate tactics or strategies, because I’ve never come across any that worked for me.
That said, I can briefly share where I’ve found success. To begin with, it’s important that people know I’m on their team. This is usually accomplished by building a friendship on neutral ground, most commonly a shared hobby or interest.
In the confines of trust and friendship, I usually speak up when I disagree about an assumed worldview or political stance. By this time, they usually know me as a person and recognize I’m probably a little more ‘hippy’ than they are, so they’re not shocked or surprised when I disagree.
I never push beyond that vocal disagreement, however. If they ask for more, I explain why I believe what I believe. Over time this civil disagreement and discussion can become its own foundation for friendship.
The catch is to avoid what my brother calls firehosing, where I just inundate someone with all the reasons I disagree. There is usually a long list and people can find it emotionally traumatizing to have their worldview utterly pummeled by hitherto unknown facts and information. It makes them feel defensive and angry that they have no genuine response.
So I try to allow them to set the tempo of the discussion and stop whenever they’re unable to process further.
I lived in Lauren Boebert’s district of Colorado for many years. I know people who personally campaigned alongside her. I still know some of the most insane, disconnected people you’ll ever meet.
From that crowd I helped a several break out and become genuine champions for progressivism. Some of them are just less rabidly conservative than they used to be and still others are largely unchanged, but have at least learned that not all liberals are out to ruin America. The trick is to persuade without coercion, which is so difficult when the stakes feel as high as they are right now.
My best friend was a gun toting Republican who thought Democrats wanted to destroy the country when I first met him. Now, he’s sold off his guns, believes Democrats need to be more progressive and works in a courthouse to help those who need it most. He’s an incredibly smart guy and most of his growth is entirely his own, but he needed the help of a trusted friend to open him to the possibility of thinking differently.
Absolutely phenomenal response. Man… really wish there was some sort of “Fediverse gold” to reward comments like these in these threads…
Thank you! I’m genuinely surprised and gratified anyone other than the OP saw the comment.
Well written response, thank you. And I appreciate your efforts, thank you for that as well.
I’m glad you found it helpful. I love people and this process can be incredibly rewarding. More often it’s deeply frustrating as people ignore arguments or roll over assertions rather than engage with the idea.
Sometimes you just want to shake people when they miss your point entirely.
But patience often bring new opportunities for increased understanding.
No doubt, I don’t understand Texas politics. I consider what shithouse fucked up stuff lead to the Alamo and how dearly they hold onto it’s legacy… I think it’s all I probably need to know.
Why didn’t her daughter go to school with a gun to stop the bad guy with?
I think you forgot the “/s”.
Nah, looks like a pretty serious statement to me.
My comment was meant as a comedic reply, and not as a actual correction. But thanks for replying.
God I hate this headline trend of “she/he did this, now she’s/he’s doing this” as a stupid clickbait title.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Then it’s back to a tougher contest: Campaigning to become mayor of Uvalde, a town still divided after one of America’s deadliest mass shootings and a botched police response that is still under investigation.
For Mata-Rubio, who would become Uvalde’s first female mayor, part of the challenge in her campaign is convincing the small town of 15,000 people to choose a new direction.
Months later, the Texas Legislature brushed off calls by Mata-Rubio and other Uvalde parents to raise the minimum purchase age for some firearms — which, they say, could have prevented the tragic shooting.
The shooting upended her previous life as a soft-spoken reporter at the Uvalde Leader-News who was content with small-town living alongside her six children and husband, a local sheriff’s deputy.
“Her candidacy may have a little bit more movement because she knows the people in that town and she understands the hurt that this event caused,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
“I am never stopping as her mom, as an advocate, but as running for mayor my main focus is bringing the community back together because we cannot move forward, we cannot see progress until we are on the same page,” Mata-Rubio said.
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