As with all of these stories of terror attacks and mass murders in the United States and abroad, which in recent years seem to have become part of our daily news feeds, the sheer volume of traditional and social media generated in response quickly becomes all-consuming and, in time overpowering. One has to turn away, if only for a little while … and then one must turn back, because how can we not, especially when it is so easy to do so?
Through it all, there was nothing specific in the television or social media coverage of the Orlando slaughter that really hit me until I came upon a lone tweet (via a retweet) from author and journalist Mark Harris. Many people were calling for an end to prayers in favor of a call to action, but he said it best:
Sometimes one brief message from one individual says more than thousands of hours of media content and commentary ever could.