I appreciate The Drama’s stance that in the USA it doesn’t take any kind of special psychopath to become a mass shooter. It’s essentially encouraged with no barrier to entry and the only thing that takes Emma down that road is like a few bad years. A moderate level of bullying and isolation. The only thing that pulls her out is like, a few good friends. A club.
She wants to kill people because like she’s bored and lonely. That’s genuinely it. And she sees no real irony or falsehood in her becoming a gun control activist because it’s as genuine as the first thing.
She really does seem to be immediately past that. She’s over it. It wasn’t about hurting people, it was about looking cool and having an impact on others. Being an activist fills the same role in her life.
It’s still terrifying that it was that close. As Charlie points out, if there are thousands of mass shootings a year, how many people in this country are there who wanted to or almost did but didn’t go through with it? No one at her school knew, except, like, didn’t they?
Everyone who grew up in the age of mass school shootings felt like it could be them next, any day, any time, maybe anyone. It became baked into our routines and casual consciousness. It’s all just happenstance that it wasn’t us, specifically. It’s pure luck.
