While giving a speech in Nara, Japan, former prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, a Trump ally, was shot in the chest by a man carrying an improvised double-barreled shotgun. The shooter is in custody. Abe is currently showing no vital signs, although he was conscious and able to speak immediately after the incident.
Confession: when Instapundit blogged about this, I left a tart comment to the effect that Abe would come out of this with a holier-than-thou attitude. I thought that was pretty funny. Someone angrily responded that my comment was too soon, and that I shouldn't be a douche. I told the guy to stop being a humorless liberal and to take the stick out of his ass. It occurs to me that the guy was being a douche by calling me a douche. Since I made my reply, other people with equally puckered assholes have added their dislikes to the ever-growing pile.
My American coworker in the office, completely unaware of the comment I'd made on Instapundit, said we live in such tense times right now that we really shouldn't be joking about such things. I said nothing in response, except to smile.
Abe isn't my personal friend, and he's the former leader of a country that my people (on the Korean side) have deep problems with. I can't say I have any personal feelings for the man, no matter how much of a friend he might have been to Donald Trump (a fact that CNN, with it's Trump-obsession, was quick to bring up). So you'll forgive me if I see no problem joking about the incident—yes, even if Abe dies. Maybe I'm just a cold bastard. Or maybe I'm a normal human being who fails to feel any empathy for distant figures and events. If you deeply feel the plight of every single Bangladeshi who dies in a flood on the far side of the world, then maybe you have the right to critique me. Otherwise, I don't need to hear your fucking opinion.
Wow—I managed to make this all about me, didn't I?! Maybe I am the asshole, here.
UPDATE: Abe has died. Remember this at his funeral: holier-than-thou jokes are out of bounds, but cracks about gun control are perfectly okay.
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