I started seeing the #YesAllWomen hastag on Twitter sometime over the weekend. Even when a few people Tweeted telling me to follow it, I didn’t make the connection between that and the massacre in Santa Barbara on Friday evening.

I found the Tweets fascinating, and began searching for the story behind it.

Though I still don’t know where it started or by whom, the message is resonating with millions of people globally. I came across a beautiful essay this morning in The New Yorker, written by Sasha Weiss, “The Power of #YesAllWomen” . In the piece, Weiss tells how the hashtag started after a man, spurned by women who rebuffed his advances, went on a killing spree to exact revenge.

In the excerpt below, I’ve taken out the name of the Santa Barbara shooter. I don’t believe in giving these murderers any of the fame they desire, so you’ll not see his picture, the videos he recorded or read his name here unless by accident.

[The murderer] was crazier and more violent than most people, but his beliefs are on a continuum with misogynistic, class-based ideas that are held by many.

And that is why #YesAllWomen is moving and needed. [The killer] earned the fame and infamy he wished for through his act of violence, and now everyone can read about his grotesque ideas. #YesAllWomen offers a counter-testimony, demonstrating that [his] hate of women grew out of attitudes that are all around us. Perhaps more subtly, it suggests that he was influenced by a predominant cultural ethos that rewards sexual aggression, power, and wealth, and that reinforces traditional alpha masculinity and submissive femininity. …

The thread has produced over a million tweets, and they are by turns moving, enraging, astute, sorrowful, and terrifying. Even though most of the tweets do not directly mourn the people {the shooter] killed, the tweets accumulate into a kind of memorial, a stern demand for a more just society. Here are just a few examples:

#YesAllWomen because ‘I have a boyfriend’ is more effective than ‘I’m not interested’—men respect other men more than my right to say no

Because I’ve already rehearsed “Take whatever you want, just don’t hurt me.” #YesAllWomen

#YesAllWomen because every time I try to say that I want gender equality I have to explain that I don’t hate men.

Men’s greatest fear is that women will laugh at them, while women’s greatest fear is that men will kill them. -Margaret Atwood #YesAllWomen

Because in about 30 states, rapists whose victims choose to keep the baby can get parental rights, like weekend visitation. WTF #YesAllWomen

#yesallwomen because apparently the clothes I wear is a more valid form of consent than the words I say

I repeat: the fact that there are male victims isn’t proof it’s not misogyny. It’s evidence that misogyny hurts men too. #YesAllWomen

Please do click over and read the rest of the article here. 

This morning, I saw my friend Maysoon Zayid, a wonderful comedian who’s experienced her share of adversity, derision and discrimination over the years, and never felt the need to take any of it out on others, Tweeting about the #YesAllWomen phenomenon. So I invited her to come on and talk about it, and she did.

(In case you missed her amazing Ted Talk, please check it out here…) 

Also at The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik wrote about the father of the last victim killed Friday night, “Christopher Michael- Martinez’ Father Gets It Right” . Again, I encourage you to click over and read the whole article, which is summed up perfectly:

The actual consequences of the N.R.A. and the gun policy it frightens those craven politicians into sponsoring is the death of kids like Christopher Michael-Martinez. This truth may not triumph tomorrow, but the truth remains the truth. It would be nice if the President, who knows all this perfectly well, put aside his conciliatory manner and his search for consensus and just said it. Speak up, Mr. President! Speak plainly. Just say, “Last night, I heard Chris’s dad. He’s right.”

Although we all saw the heartbreaking pain that Richard Martinez was feeling when he spoke about the craven politicians and the NRA being to blame for the death of his son on Friday night, you may not have seen his equally eloquent and devastating statement on CNN this morning, but you must.

GottaLaff  joins in from The Political Carnival every Tuesday morning, and we usually have some fun with the news, and get to talk about stories I might otherwise have missed on the show. Unfortunately, I took time from our segment to fill you in on a strange exchange I had with Ed Schultz on Friday, after questioning why he wasn’t on the air for his final radio show. Rather than rehash it here, I invite you to listen to the program during which I gave lots of background on my history with Schultz, and my reasons for disliking him. But nothing prepared me for his nastiness and vitriol via Twitter, and then the chickenshit manner in which he deleted all his ugly Tweets and denied any knowledge of the incident.

Tomorrow, Susie Madrak of Crooks & Liars joins in for her regular Wednesday morning visit, and we’ll see what else the day brings. Talk to you then, radio or not…