[Guest post by Isaac Chotiner]
A gunman killed seven people in the great city of Oakland yesterday. Tragic, you say. But not tragic for everyone. Take Deborah Lee, who studies at the university where the shooting occurred. Lee heard gunshots, but not to worry. As she told The New York Times:
“I heard a pop, pop, pop sound and then girls screaming.” Ms. Lee said she believed that the shooting had occurred in the same building as her classroom. She was frightened, she said, but added, “I’m a Christian, and I believe God protects me.”
This isn't just inane--it's absurdly solipsistic and even creepy. It's also the kind of thing that one can get away with saying most of the time. No doubt the families of the seven dead Californians feel similarly blessed.