I realize this article will be controversial. But school shooters are sending us a message, over 200 of them since 1999. A truly terrible and deadly one. One that has been repeated numerous times over the years. The first one I can remember happened in Texas in 1966, but that one did not follow the more recent pattern. That shooter, former marine Charles Whitman, was found to have a large brain tumor which was thought to have played a major role.
The more recent pattern is suicidal, anti-social and severely alienated youth, typically white lower middle to middle class, that have ready access to AR-15-like military styled weapons and have not reached 18 years old. One of the first that fits this profile and is widely known and remembered is the Columbine mass shooting in 1999. It seemed to inspire numerous other school shootings since then. Probably as many as has occurred have been prevented by being discovered beforehand.
violent “heroes” in recent films.
A fair question is, “What is happening in the minds of dysfunctional young people growing up in a society without a purpose or goal in life?” And why does it happen so much more frequently in America? As I’m sure there are young people in other countries who are social outcasts with suicidal tendencies. I believe the ready availability of military grade weapons and the emphasis on violence as an acceptable way to solve problems are among the main difference making factors. How many movies seen by millions have been made in recent years with a similar plot, where the hero(s) is actually a cold machine-like mass killer, made into a heroic figure by demonizing those he kills? Movie buffs among us should be able to list at least 20 almost without thinking, “John Wick” flicks being the worst in recent years, and it’s going on its 4th sequel.
The Republicans 50-year Plan in Response to the 60s
In the 60s, changing America and making it a more peaceful and just society were on the national agenda. Not of course on everyone’s agenda, but it did have an effect that influenced and touched almost everyone, pro or con. Society was indeed transformed to some degree and social and economic justice remained prominent and became subject to a 50-year plan counterattack campaign on the part of Republicans to challenge a progressive and humanist way of thinking.
Literally trillions of dollars have been spent by anti-reform corporate interests on behalf of this goal over the years, it was known as/publicly disguised as “A Contract for America” in the 90s, which in reality attempted to discredit every decent impulse and accomplishment the 60s — 70s made possible. Some will argue that progress made as far back as the Great Depression were also targeted.
The Republicans have finally reaped the benefits of these expensive efforts. Turning good into evil, right into wrong, progress into reaction, up into down and twisting the minds and hearts of millions in the process. Trump has often got credit/blame for this pathological turn around, but it was actually many years in the making and just pushed off the cliff by Trumpism. The latest refinement of this 50-year plan, always based primarily on appeals to racist and white supremacist voters, is their manufactured “critical race theory” attacks.
Strategic Weaknesses
“Contract with America” in the 90s.
It must be acknowledged that the Democratic leadership’s own long-term plans had some significant weaknesses. Most important, they never developed much in the way of their own independent national media apparatus to get out their message. Almost as important, they were satisfied to court progressive voters but did not embrace an overall progressive reform policy with real teeth.
They resisted leaning further left, perhaps they had become much too entrenched with the corporate classes on a leadership level. They stuck with endorsing Wall Street capitalism and remained focused on convincing mega donors that they were a more reliable party for capitalism.
Losing the Propaganda/Culture Wars
Belatedly, the Democratic leadership is finally realizing the gravity of the national situation, but has still not fully understood, or is not willing to recognize, that it is major sectors of the very same capitalist system which they have historically endorsed that is behind and is financing the fascist movement. This has led to a critical lack of appreciation for the need to openly push for essential, left leaning reforms to correct the rightward flow of capitalist society, Wall Street, tax rates and the economy. These policies should have been embraced years ago, and certainly can’t now be pulled out of a hat or reversed without a national messaging machine to support it.
While our young people mostly lack political consciousness as it applies to the extreme moral bankruptcy of the national Republican agenda, many have nevertheless been drawn into the GOP vacuum of moral and social depravity, unreality, conspiracy theories and white supremacy which has been fueled to the point of explosion.
With nowhere to go with their limited understanding of today’s world, some young people are driven towards a complete alienation from social and economic life. Towards hopelessness and suicidal thoughts and action, often linked to violence which is glorified in so many ways by both news and entertainment media. School shootings need to be understood as resulting in part from the type of morally starved materialist de-socialization the industrialized, impersonal and computerized society the corporate world has constructed, and not caused solely by some unrelated mental illness. Schools are targeted because it is a young person who is being/ or has become de-socialized and alienated and they strike out because schools become symbols of their unobtainable socialization and happiness. We actually see something similar happening with adults, although the targets of their rage and misery may be different. Such as with the equally seemingly incomprehensible attack by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas on a large concert that killed 60 and injured or wounded as many as 800!
Another Deadly Message
While media coverage often beats its breast in sham sympathy for the victims of school shootings, even as they benefit from higher ratings, it ignores another message emanating from our youth: the deadly effects of corporate sponsored destabilization which is behind the deaths of countless numbers of poor youth and young adults which exists side by side with national gentrification for only those who can afford it.
While school shootings are dominated by mostly young white middle class males, predominately school-aged black youth caught up in the severely destabilized inner cities, many in gangs, suffer a different but much more frequent deadly fate at the hands of gun play and poverty. It’s an issue often exploited by white supremacist elements who brag that blacks kill blacks many more times than police do. But the figures offered by these groups are badly distorted because America is still largely segregated. A similar thing happens statistically if you count white on white crimes. Most are committed against other whites.
as well as the fear of losing another loved one.
That is not to say that youth and street crime in the poorest black communities are not a serious problem. The victims of these crimes are many times more numerous that those from school shootings on a yearly basis. To that you can add the numbers of premature deaths linked to poverty conditions other than crime. The only media attention these conditions get is usually sponsored by Republicans around election time to instill white fear of black crime. Which sadly draws a typical “we are also going to get tough on crime” defensive responses from Democratic politicians who fear losing votes on the issue.
The problem is never attacked at its root causes. Which originate in poor destabilized communities all over America as well as the inner cities and are caused largely by poverty itself and the lack of access to quality educational schooling, material necessities and living wage employment. And are driven by the same capitalist system that is sponsoring fascism and creates both the super-rich and the extremely poor. Those deaths not caused directly by crime are caused in much greater numbers by the disproportional long-term health-related effects of poverty.
America Leads the World in Unnatural Deaths
If you’re poor, school-aged and black, you could be surviving day to day in a destabilized and unforgiving environment getting money anyway you can. A message America is structurally tone deaf to. A community where for all too many youths, getting a gun is a rite of passage and provides self-esteem — and very often an early death or a lengthy prison sentence. The only way you can earn money is often to possess one and sell drugs. It’s ironic that both too much materialism and the lack of it can lead to violence and killing. Truth be told, many more die from a lack of material things than school shootings. With the crimes being blamed on the victims of poverty rather than the cause. Yes, crimes committed by the poor, whether they be black or white, are spawned by the harsh environments in destabilized situations. Punishment, especially for black offenders, is swift and often draconian. America attempts to put a “black face” on crime even though 65% of all poor people remain white. The idea is of course to feed white supremacy and remind whites that as bad as their poverty may be, they’re better off than blacks, so don’t complain.
Young People are Facing a Grim Future
What guns will never provide are a sense of humanity and the moral values which accompany it. Nor does materialism, which while critically important for quality-of-life necessities, does not provide a direction or purpose in life beyond their acquisition. As our youth will soon discover, if they haven’t already, is that America’s future and their own, as well as the rest of the worlds, is grim. People my age will likely not live to see the worst of it. Precious little is being done or even in discussion on the pending collapse of our eco systems and our economies which will surely follow. Serious water shortages are already being experienced globally as well in America. It will only get worse. The producers of fossil fuels, mainly the U.S., Russia, and the Middle East producers, have a stranglehold on world politics, and intend to go down with the ship captained by authoritarian rulers like Trump and Putin, who are devoid of all humanity.
Like most of us, I dread the possible loss of the House and Senate to the fascists in the coming mid-terms. It seems as though the national media has “normalized” the violent and white supremacist rhetoric coming from the Republicans, which is going to be a hard road to overcome since most Americans still get their voter info from these biased corporate sources and not progressive ones. I just don’t think the huge advantages the Republicans have in money, media, and in voter gerrymandering can be easily overcome. We shall soon see.
School shootings and the number of unnatural and violent deaths in poverty-stricken areas will never be prevented without major social and economic reform. Of course, curbing access to military grade weapons and hand guns is part of the solution, but major reform will save a lot more lives.
(A few words on the poll below. Watched jury reaction after the Parkland school shooter got life instead of the death penalty. The families were understandingly very distraught, angry and wanted vengeance and a death sentence for Cruz.
It may start a movement to legislate a mandatory death sentence for school shooters who kill as Florida is already a death penalty state. How do you feel about such a law?)
Poll
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votes
Show Results
Do you think school shooters who kill (2 or more) should get a mandatory death penalty sentence if convicted?
31
votes
Vote Now!
Do you think school shooters who kill (2 or more) should get a mandatory death penalty sentence if convicted?
1 – No. I don’t believe in mandatory death penalties or the death penalty itself for that matter.
2 – No, not mandatory, but I do believe that mass murderers should be death eligible.
3 – Yes, they have forfeited their right to live.
4 – Only if it could bring back the lives lost.
5 – If it had deterent value, I’d consider it, but I don’t believe it does in these cases.
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