Fact is, mass shootings as we experience them are relatively new. Not that mass killings never happened in history, or serial killers never existed. \u00a0But mass shootings as we\u2019ve seen them for the last few decades is something without precedent. \u00a0At least in our civilization.<\/p>\n
Now, each time a mass shooting occurs, there will be one of two possible takes on the part of the media. \u00a0If it is a white American killing non-whites, then it will be entirely about racism and America\u2019s racist past. \u00a0If it is any other combination of people involved, it will be about gun control.<\/p>\n
Though, in reality, there is a third option where basic shootings are concerned. If it is white police officers killing a black man, then it will be about racist white cops killing blacks. \u00a0If it is any other combination of cops and people involved, we just won\u2019t hear about it.<\/p>\n
Which brings me to thinking, as I am wont to do. \u00a0My boys picked up on some things this year. \u00a0First, they noticed that during the Charleston church shooting, we knew nothing about anything except that the shooter had a Confederate flag. \u00a0And we heard a lot about racism in America.<\/p>\n
When a Muslim went on a shooting spree and killed several servicemen in recruitment centers, we hear nothing about Islam or anything really. \u00a0The media spent a few days asking what kind of sports he liked or what he was involved in. \u00a0But that was all. \u00a0Not even much about gun control. It was just dropped within a few days.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, a young child was shot and killed by police during a pursuit of suspicious circumstances. \u00a0The cops were black. \u00a0The child was white. \u00a0And yet not one news agency reported \u2018black cops kill a white child.\u2019 \u00a0In fact, when the photos of the police who were charged were released, that marked the last day the media even talked about it.<\/p>\n
Now, in terms of mass shootings, there are problems to be sure. \u00a0First of all, the idea that America has more mass shooting than anywhere in the world. \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t surprise me. \u00a0We\u2019re the third largest population in the world. \u00a0And we are the largest free nation (India being the closest to a free nation after us). \u00a0Certainly not China. \u00a0And brutal totalitarian states often have the benefit of low crime rates. But even with that, in other free countries we are starting to see an uptick in mass shootings.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t count mass killings around the world, most often in the form of bombings, and most often linked to that religion we\u2019re not allowed to talk about.<\/p>\n
In America, most shootings are by white men. \u00a0Asians have added to the count in recent years, especially in college shootings. \u00a0Blacks and the rare woman shooter make up a small minority of the cases. Though killings associated with that religion we\u2019re not allowed to talk about have been on the rise; even if, when they happen, we\u2019re assured by the media that the reasons must be some other reason than that religion we\u2019re not allowed to talk about.<\/p>\n
There is certainly a wider availability of a greater variety of guns than ever before. \u00a0But it\u2019s not as if more people proportionally own guns than a hundred years ago. <\/p>\n
So we need to look at more than just the solutions posed by liberal Democrats and their talking heads in the media. \u00a0For instance, take what my wife pointed out. \u00a0The first wave of shootings, mostly work place and general public areas like restaurants, were pulled off by middle aged white men. \u00a0Those men were basically Baby Boomer age. \u00a0Born in and around the 1950s. \u00a0The second wave, that began in the 90s, were mostly young men, usually white but not always. \u00a0That is, born in the 70s and later.
To me, that\u2019s worth looking at right there. \u00a0And yet, I have never heard anyone bring that up.<\/p>\n
The first part of my post, thinking about how the shootings are covered, should suggest that anyone with a half a brain should avoid letting the media dictate the terms for the debate. \u00a0After all, it\u2019s clear that the media is willing to ignore or suppress entire swaths of evidence, and even events, if they don\u2019t somehow conform to whatever it is the media is wanting things to conform to.<\/p>\n
The second point is that the problems are deeply rooted in things well beyond gun control. Sure, we can look at gun laws, if we are being realistic. We should be willing to look at all factors involved. \u00a0But if we aren\u2019t going to be realistic about the potential disease, why waste time focusing on a symptom?<\/p>\n
Might it be that there are some fundamental shifts in the world\u2019s basic philosophies and ideals that have caused this? \u00a0We\u2019re told that spanking causes kids to grow up and be violent. \u00a0Yet violence among young people in general is much higher than ever before, and fewer parents spank their kids than ever before. \u00a0Right there suggests, you know, the latest, hippest might not always be right.<\/p>\n
Other things, such as our abortion culture could come to play. \u00a0Also, the modern promotion of narcissism and hedonism, our porn culture, and the general disrespect mixed with self-righteous contempt for others on a massive scale might be the problem. \u00a0It\u2019s not as if our general pop culture promotes manners and respect for diverse viewpoints. \u00a0We were told that middle class, bourgeois manners were a lie and hypocrisy that masked violence and terror. \u00a0Yet having jettisoned those manners and customs, the most I can say is at least now we see the violence and terror.<\/p>\n
Or it could be that humans are simply a wicked lot, and no matter how we try to solve the problems, the problems find new ways to manifest themselves. \u00a0Where violence was once on a national scale, through military and arms, having reduced any notion of loyalty to religions or nations, where the loyalty is to me and my carefully hand-crafted demographic, the violence has turned to individuals doing violent things in place of the old force of arms. So it might just be that we\u2019re seeing the ages old violence and slaughter, that have defined human relations since the foundations of time, finding new ways to show themselves. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say we shouldn\u2019t try. \u00a0Every age has its evils and it\u2019s up to those people of goodwill to do their best to overcome those evils. \u00a0But doing that requires honesty. \u00a0To be brutally honest, it requires looking in the mirror and asking ourselves how much of the problems are we part of? \u00a0 It certainly doesn\u2019t rest on the modern pointing of fingers at everyone else. \u00a0And it might even mean we have to reject the Holy Father\u2019s assumptions that Fundamentalists are the cause of evil, conservative ways have to go and we have to get with the latest, hippest. \u00a0Because it might be that the foundations of the latest, hippest might, in the end, be more to blame for the violence than any gun law or red state Confederate flag. \u00a0I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
But if we really care about solving the problems and saving the lives, that\u2019s something we would all have thoughts and prayers for the courage to do. \u00a0It remains to be seen if we will. \u00a0If we are really serious about solving the problems, or horror of horrors, we only want to exploit them for our gains. \u00a0And if that is the case, we might have the actual problem right there.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fact is, mass shootings as we experience them are relatively new. Not that mass killings never happened in history, or serial killers never existed. \u00a0But mass shootings as we\u2019ve seen them for the last few decades is something without precedent. \u00a0At least in our civilization. Now, each time a mass shooting occurs, there will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n