There have been so many shooters going on killing sprees lately that it's hard to keep track of them all. A parolee kills four cops. Thirteen killed here, eight killed there, father kills 5 children, 8 die in a nursing home, and on it goes. There have been a litany of reasons, excuses and causes offered up, most having to do with jobs and the rough economy. The only common threads seem to be that all of the shooters were men, they all had guns, and their friends and family just "can't believe it". The media, the families of victim and killer alike, all of us, try to make some sense of it, we want to figure it out, explain it. In the end the only people who have the answers are the killers, and most of them aren't talking due to the fact that they are dead or Lawyered up.
Gun control advocates want to blame it on guns. While I'm no fan of gun nuts who think they need that assault rifle, or those 2000 rounds of ammo, or any of the other excessive firepower that is available, lack of tighter gun control isn't the issue.
The economy isn't the answer. During the depression, suicides were up, but there weren't cases of mass killings popping up in the news on an almost daily basis. The shrink crowd wants to blame it on all of these different stressers, wrap it up in a tidy package, slap a bow on it, and call it a day. sounds good, but it's bullshit.
The truth is these killers have had it in them for a long time, they just needed a nudge to bring it out. If it wasn't the economy, job loss, or divorce, it would be something else. Contrary to what we hear from friends and family members of the shooters, these guys were not "good people". A good person doesn't wake up one morning and gun down 3 or 4 cops, or a classroom full of people learning English, or their children. They don't think like most of us. Prison is full of these guys, so are mental facilities, and increasingly so is your workplace, the guy at the counter of your favorite cafe, the man standing in line behind you at the checkout.
The truth is that there are bad people in the world. I have my own theory on why we are seeing an ever increasing number of these multiple murders.
It's the cherry on the selfish act sundae.
Look, it takes a certain type of individual to lash out at innocent people in such an egregious way. Call it sociopathy, animalistic, deeply disturbed, whatever, it doesn't matter. What is unarguable is the selfishness of such an act. Think about it, what is more self indulgent than killing a group of people because you are pissed off, depressed, vengeful, feel hopeless, or any of the litany of horse shit excuses given for why "he did it". It seems like an ego driven crime. And what egomaniac could resist weeks long coverage, speculation, Nancy Grace special reports, and all of the other media spotlights focused on the crime and perpetrator? I think we are seeing a snowball effect. Someone kills a bunch of people, the media reports it, the next killer sees it, decides he wants some of that fame, he wants people to know he was pissed off, lather rinse and repeat.
I'm not buying the whole "He was a great guy who just snapped under pressure" bit. If losing your job, or home, or wife, or sanity, was all it took to turn a mild mannered human in to a rabid killer, we would be walking over bodies in the streets. The truth is there are killers walking among us on a daily basis. They don't need a reason that makes sense, rhyme, or reason. They all murder innocent people for the same reason, because they want to.
Gun control advocates want to blame it on guns. While I'm no fan of gun nuts who think they need that assault rifle, or those 2000 rounds of ammo, or any of the other excessive firepower that is available, lack of tighter gun control isn't the issue.
The economy isn't the answer. During the depression, suicides were up, but there weren't cases of mass killings popping up in the news on an almost daily basis. The shrink crowd wants to blame it on all of these different stressers, wrap it up in a tidy package, slap a bow on it, and call it a day. sounds good, but it's bullshit.
The truth is these killers have had it in them for a long time, they just needed a nudge to bring it out. If it wasn't the economy, job loss, or divorce, it would be something else. Contrary to what we hear from friends and family members of the shooters, these guys were not "good people". A good person doesn't wake up one morning and gun down 3 or 4 cops, or a classroom full of people learning English, or their children. They don't think like most of us. Prison is full of these guys, so are mental facilities, and increasingly so is your workplace, the guy at the counter of your favorite cafe, the man standing in line behind you at the checkout.
The truth is that there are bad people in the world. I have my own theory on why we are seeing an ever increasing number of these multiple murders.
It's the cherry on the selfish act sundae.
Look, it takes a certain type of individual to lash out at innocent people in such an egregious way. Call it sociopathy, animalistic, deeply disturbed, whatever, it doesn't matter. What is unarguable is the selfishness of such an act. Think about it, what is more self indulgent than killing a group of people because you are pissed off, depressed, vengeful, feel hopeless, or any of the litany of horse shit excuses given for why "he did it". It seems like an ego driven crime. And what egomaniac could resist weeks long coverage, speculation, Nancy Grace special reports, and all of the other media spotlights focused on the crime and perpetrator? I think we are seeing a snowball effect. Someone kills a bunch of people, the media reports it, the next killer sees it, decides he wants some of that fame, he wants people to know he was pissed off, lather rinse and repeat.
I'm not buying the whole "He was a great guy who just snapped under pressure" bit. If losing your job, or home, or wife, or sanity, was all it took to turn a mild mannered human in to a rabid killer, we would be walking over bodies in the streets. The truth is there are killers walking among us on a daily basis. They don't need a reason that makes sense, rhyme, or reason. They all murder innocent people for the same reason, because they want to.
I had a gun in my hand and I thought it would be real hard for me to pull the trigger on a live person. they would pretty much have to shoot at me first.
ReplyDeleteGood analysis, MM. And, I really believe our society as a whole is getting more violent by the year.
ReplyDeleteThe easy availability of guns sure as hell doesn't help. But more than that I think mental illness is a huge issue, particularly with these horrific mass killings.
ReplyDeleteIt's not mental illness per se. Psychopathology is actually classified as a personality disorder. As far as I've heard, it's not really treatable. Psychopaths never think there is anything wrong with them, though their intimates are often seem extremely stressed/depressed from dealing with the crazy &*() of living with a psychopath. Psychopaths are very often abusive and terroristic towards their intimate partners, but sometimes "present well" when they need to. They are very often extremely manipulative and charming when they want to be. People like this don't need guns. But they are so good at getting what they want. Like the murdering dad in Illinois who got unsupervised visitation, despite how may violations of the ex-wife's order of protection and how many threats against her life? I bet that woman in the northwest, who now has five children dead, had a terrible time getting out too. She really needed an enforceable OP and a gun herself. While his should have been taken away. But alas, that never seems to happen.
ReplyDeleteMan, I thought this was going to be about the multiple KCK and KCMO shootings.
ReplyDeleteMM CLEAN UP YOUR DAMN HOOD!
I think you are right, about everything you said in this post, Midtown.
ReplyDeleteTruth in Advertising: Another CNN inspired media whore killing spree! Film at 11.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that if we were all required to carry guns, this type of crap would stop. How many people are you going to shoot at when you know they are going to shoot back?
It's not guns. It's not the economy. It's not a lack of church going or any of a whole host of other things.
ReplyDeleteThese crimes have always happened. Maybe they didn't involve a gun or cover the same amount of geography. People a hundred or more years ago were much more isolated they didn't have the ability to hop in a car and drive to mulitple locations in an afternoon to shoot people. No, instead we were predominantly rural and small town. It was the farmer who in the depth of winter got "cabin fever" and killed his family with an ax. It was the frontier mother who put her unwanted newborn outdoors and allowed it to die of "exposure". It was the mule skinner, drifter, or cowboy who got drunk and shot a supposed cheater in cold blood over a game of cards. People committed murder all the time in the past, but if it happened more than one county over, we never heard about it. News of atrocious human behavior never made it farther than the delivery area of the local newspaper subscription. There was no 24 hour news cycle and internet connectivity with wire services broadcasting every dime store robbery to the entire globe. Now media producers scour the world to fill up their broadcast schedules with stories about anything and everything. We learn about crimes small and large within minutes of their happening, when a 100 years ago or even 50 years ago you would have never known the locales of these faraway crime scenes even existed.
Plus, this connectivity and media spotlight means nothing is swept under the rug. Where 50 years ago a small town sheriff may have had his suspicions about Old Widow Hubbard poisoning her husband for the insurance money but never acted on it because he didn't have the clear proof, now you have a CSI team being called in and Nancy Grace setting up a studio hotline to crucify the suspect on national television. The days of Andy Griffith and Barney writing off as suicide the sad, but suspicious death of Old Man Jenkins, who was found shot dead on his isolated farm with no witnesses are gone. Now because of the news hungry media, there will be a news van outside the farmhouse faster than pizza delivery asking the befuddled local authorities what their next step in the investigation will be.
So in short, it's the media just showing us the darker nature that's always been there.
So true...
ReplyDeleteI would like to add to your theory of the 'selfish act sundae' by adding that statistically suicide rates in the US have dropped, as mass shootings have risen. It used to be the crazy, depressed losers in our society offed themselves. Now, because there is NO sense of personal responsibility, they lash out and blame others.
Oh yeah! Gimme a pump shotgun and a bandoleer of shells, I'm gonna be one zombie gooshing mo-fo!
ReplyDelete