Is This the Most Heart-Wrenching, Disturbing Story I've Written In Years?

I almost started crying reading about the initial testimony in the trial of Robert Bowers, the alleged mass murderer who perpetrated the Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

Jun 03, 2023

Click here to check out the first 30 Installments - Volume I - in this series on Antisemitism and Culture. The top 5 most important pieces from this first wave:

This is the 27th installment in Volume II, intended as another 30 pieces exploring the many manifestations of Jew Hatred and the issues surrounding it in America and globally. See the 26 previous installments listed at the end of this article.

These writings are part of my ongoing effort to overcome my PTSD by forcing myself to try to write and publish something every day. “Politics is downstream from culture,” the late Andrew Breitbart popularized among conservative bloggers while he was alive. I’d go a step further: Everything is downstream from culture. The cultures you embrace determine who you are and who you become. You become what you worship.

The previous installment in this series in which I collected my bylined articles from Jewish News Syndicate this month turned out to be an accurate presentation of my journalistic work this month. During the past week, with the exception of my regular antisemitic incident report, I did not have any bylined work. All of my pieces were summaries of other news reports and press releases. However, I do have two original articles submitted on Friday which should run early next week and two longer articles in process which will hopefully emerge later this month.

In spite of this, I can say with confidence that I did write a brief article which hit me harder and horrified me more than anything I can recall writing in years. I almost started crying as I read the details and reporting, much of it included in the videos embedded above.

One of the stories I’ve been tasked with tracking daily for potential articles has been the trial of Robert Bowers, the man who sought to plead guilty in the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in order to avoid the death penalty. His plea was rejected since federal prosecutors believe they have a strong enough case to convince a jury to support his execution.

Up until now the trial rarely provoked writings beyond brief updates in the antisemitic incident report. That’s because for four weeks the trial was focused on jury selection. The formal trial only started this last week with survivors now testifying about their traumatizing experience. And much of the reporting on their statements is truly overwhelming.

Here’s the brief that I wrote and here’s a news article where you can read more details.

This in particular from the latter hit me so hard, emphasis added:

Survivor Daniel Leger testified he was actually running towards the sound of gunfire during the attack, hoping that, as a nurse, he could help others when he was shot.
Leger testified that when he was shot in the abdomen. He fell onto stairs, immobilized and in excruciating pain. He could hear the shooter nearby, apparently talking to himself about ammunition magazines.
…
"Something terrible was happening. We're trained to help people," Leger said. "Jerry was a doctor. I'm a nurse."
Leger testified that when he was shot in the abdomen and fell onto the stairs, he felt pain that gradually increased and became excruciating through his abdomen and hips.
He tried to move but was unable, in pain and immobilized. He testified he heard someone say the word, "magazines" several times. He believed it was the shooter.
Leger said he didn't speak because, "If the shooter knew he was still alive, he'd come back and finish the job."
Leger said that, as a nurse, he felt he was dying. He started praying.
He said reviewed his life, "the wonder of it all, the joy of having my beautiful sons and wife." He said he prayed for forgiveness for those he wronged throughout his life. Leger said, "I was ready. I was ready to go."
Leger then saw someone in camouflage pants. He thought, "It was either a helper or the shooter."
He reached up. The person was an EMT who said, "This one's alive."

Here’s a chilling related fact from another article I cited in the piece:

After 40 minutes, Leger was carried out of the synagogue into an ambulance and suffered serious injuries. He now uses a colostomy bag and has nerve damage in the left side of his body, he said.

This is why antisemitic ideologies and conspiracy theories are so dangerous. They directly inspire violence against Jews, whether it’s a massive attack like what happened at the Tree of Life synagogue or if it’s merely some teenager punching a man wearing an IDF sweatshirt.

Thus to prevent violence and crime, we all need to go to the root: confronting, condemning, and educating about where these ideologies come from and what they believe. And I’m going to keep doing it. Shutting up and ignoring the hate out of some misguided fear that talking about it will spread or promote it just isn’t a tolerable position, grounded in facts. Coverage condemning antisemitism is not what inspires people to become antisemites. And I’m fucking sick of getting into arguments with people who think it does, as I did on Substack Notes the other week.

Evil ideologies aren’t going away any time soon - they’re the normal state of humanity. And I’m not going to stop getting upset about it or give up trying to do something meaningful to fight it.

Is This the Most Heart-Wrenching, Disturbing Story I've Written In Years?

I almost started crying reading about the initial testimony in the trial of Robert Bowers, the alleged mass murderer who perpetrated the Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

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