Today, we had two shootings (as of noon) at college campuses, which makes it three shootings over the past seven days. The politicians who are jockeying for position of leader of this country keep spewing rhetoric, without focusing on the issue. Some have come out in favor of looser restrictions on guns, while others point a finger at mental health issues. Sadly, the majority is misinformed, surrounded by sycophants who wouldn’t dare go against what the major funders would approve of, regardless of the logic behind such ideas. Talking heads who worry more about when their coffer will begin to overflow and saying the most inflammatory comments on a national platform, only with concerns of causing waves to drown the public in circular logic.
We have had close to 50 mass shootings this year alone, which, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), a mass shooting is when four or more individuals have been shot during a single event without a cooling off period (FBI Reference). So, I guess by that definition, the shootings that occurred today may not have met the criteria due to the number of individuals injured in the events, but would we be any more alarmed if there were more people injured and/or killed in such instances? If so, what does that say about us?
I’m not going to pretend that I have an answer to such a complex problem. It’s easy to blame others, blame the guns, blame mental illness, rather than looking in the mirror as a society, seeing the monsters that we have created. We have lost much of the respect and empathy necessary for living in society, widening the space between “us” and “them,” when in reality, we are all humans. Yes, even those who have committed such atrocities, they too are human. We are a product of both nature and nurture, and the latter may need to be examined in regards to how we behave in public.
Looking at the profiles of those who have committed such attacks, there is an underlying trend that begins to arise. Many have cited in their manifestos that they feel as if they had been slighted and targeted by others in society, whether it be reprimanded for poor employment performance or being turned down for dates from the opposite sex, there appears to be an unjust sense of entitlement and an inability to behave like civilized adults, using cognitive reasoning skills rather than resorting to the use of a weapon.
Could some of this be due to a coddled generation? Perhaps kids being told that they’re wonderful, talented, and special, without actually performing to such standards? When confronted with views other than those held by such individuals, they don’t have the tools needed to handle differing ideas, violence outbursts are the result. Does this sound like a mental illness that many politicians keep pointing fingers at for the cause of mass shootings, or does it resemble the type of behavior that is applauded in politics, substituting the use of rhetoric that is based on lies, often shouted at deafening levels?
