Following the horrific murder of 49 people in Orlando on Sunday, the nation has been in a state of mourning. And many of us — perhaps looking for coverage that doesn't focus on Donald Trump's ignorant statements — looked to late-night television Monday evening to see what the hosts would say about the all too familiar problem of gun violence in America.
Many of the sentiments among the hosts were similar. Stephen Colbert spoke about how mass shootings in our country are so common that the subsequent calls for prayers and healing are like "a national script we have learned." Jimmy Fallon wondered how he's supposed to explain these events to his children. John Oliver said, quite simply, "It just hurts." The men of late night, like much of the country, are heartbroken. But Sam Bee — the only woman in their midst — is angry. And that's important.
It often seems that female anger is acceptable only in certain mediums. Beyoncé can smash car windows as a scorned lover in the context of Lemonade. Nearly every day we see "feuds" between women play out as headlines. But Bee's anger is different. It is fury. She began Full Frontal last night by acknowledging that the appropriate action here would be to talk about love and support and how we'll get through this together. "But ya know what? Fuck it. I'm too angry for that."
By expressing her anger, Bee articulated exactly what so many of us are feeling about the increasingly frequent mass shootings in our country. She captured the anger and disbelief we feel that civilians can purchase war weapons in a matter of minutes. Yes, we can pray, but as Bee points out in her segment, what is faith without works? What are we actually doing to effect change? To put an end to the carnage?
It's natural to feel helpless about such a widespread problem, but as Bee illustrates, you can at least flip your shit that we have this problem in the first place. We can all send our thoughts and prayers to the victims of Orlando and their families, but we can also be fucking mad about it. As Bee said early in her segment, "Hey, is it okay if instead of making jokes I just scream for seven minutes until we go to commercial?" Not shriek. Not cry. Freak out about it.
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