Hopefully Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico will make a full and speedy recovery. It was always likely that the man who shot the prime minister had more than a screw loose. But if early reports are correct, we’ve got a real winner here: an attempted assassin who considered himself a nonviolent activist for peace!
In 2015, Mr Cintula founded the campaign group Against Violence and sought to get it officially registered in Slovakia. “Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent,” a petition circulated by him said.
From the Daily Mail:
Juraj Cintula, 71, from Levice has been identified by Slovakian media as the gunman in yesterday’s assassination attempt on Robert Fico, 59.
Fico was meeting a crowd of supporters in in Handlova, north-east of Bratislava, following a Slovak government meeting when a shooter whipped out a gun and let off five shots at point-blank range.
Yet, Cintula is understood to have founded an anti-violence movement in his hometown in 2015, claiming ‘every normal person rejects violence. Our goal is to unite people, preserve peace and restore democracy.
‘It is very difficult because no one trusts anyone anymore. The world is full of chaos and hatred.’
And somewhere along the line, this guy decided to preserve peace and fight back against chaos and hatred by shooting a gun at people. Pal, I’m pretty sure you’re doing nonviolence wrong.
Finally, it’s clear that we’re not just in an era of older presidents, prime ministers, and world leaders. We’re in an era of older would-be assassins, too. Baby Boomers, man, they just won’t get off the stage.