The New York Daily News’ cover in the wake of yesterday’s San Bernardino, Calif., massacre is both provocative and highly political. By design.
The publication calls out those it feels could do something to end the plague of gun violence, but instead revert to useless platitudes, time after time.
The tweet of the Daily News front page, which hits newsstands in print form this morning, is already the most retweeted of 2015 for the paper.
Beneath the headline God Isn’t Fixing This, the cover reads:
“As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes.”
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP presidential candidates Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham all responded with “prayers.”
Four pull quotes from the Republican political leaders are plastered on the publication’s front page in eerily similar, arguably meaningless glory.
Think that means a lot to the victims of San Bernardino – 14 dead and 14 wounded – and the victims of the inevitable next mass shooting?
For their part, and by contrast Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders pointedly called for “action” to stop gun violence.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile underscored the need for stronger gun control laws in the United States after Wednesday’s mass murder.
It’s a message he has stressed repeatedly in recent years, and weeks, as he is forced to address tragedies like this with alarming frequency.
While the Daily News is obviously in the business of selling papers and ads and benefits from the viral sensation that is this cover, you tell us:
Is it a viral sensation at least in part because it says what so many people are thinking but are afraid to, and so jarringly hits the nail on the head?
AND VOTE: Time for stronger gun control measures?