Uh, No. Rep. Dingell, Democrat from MI, started all of this. Even after Regan was shot, Dingell tried to kill the Brady Act. Anyhow, NY Times has a huge expose this morning on how Dingell supported, funded and used the NRA, growing it into the behemoth it became. A Democrat.
"John Dingell was comfortable with firearms at an early age: When not blasting ducks with a shotgun, he was plinking rats with an air gun in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, where he served as a page. " Who shoots rats in the Capitol Building at age 18 or so? A psychopath, that's who.
After one of the many mass school shootings in the USA, I read a discussion of mass shootings here, then in Germany and then in other countries. What I learned is that a lot is known about who does this, but not a lot about prevention. Of course, lack of access to guns somewhat mutes this, although in Germany there have been knife attacks and crossbow attacks too. Still, their tighter gun laws, make it harder to have a gun at hand to fulfill these fantasies of suicidal-homicide. I have read that shootings have gone down, and I would say that an more hopeful outlook on the economy and some stability may contribute to this. Humane is human is the mantra that helps to live by. I think Biden represents this.
Your use of the phrase "indiscriminate killing" is most unfortunate because your entire article lists statistical evidence which points to the contrary. The killers are almost entirely male and white people who believe their downward socioeconomic trajectory is caused by the machinations of whom? Women, Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Hispanic immigrants, children of successful middle/working class Americans (or what is left of them). This is most certainly not evidence of "indiscriminate killing." Both serial killers and mass killers follow easily identified patterns in their self appointed tasks. Tasks which are intended to Improve society. Listen to them; they say it outright. Then they act accordingly.
You are most perceptively correct when you point out that this is a social class phenomenon exacerbated by inequality. It is furthermore a phenomenon traceable to our distant past.
The most famous and admired public figure in Wallachian history is the 15th century aristocrat Vlad Tepes. Today there are cities named after him. His nick-name was Vlad The Impaler. His father's name was Dracul. His killing exploits (without the use of firearms) makes our mass killers look like kindergarteners.
The celebrated 15th century French aristocrat Baron Gilles De Rais ( Marshal of France and the brains behind Joan of Lorain-Arc) tortured, raped and killed so many children, in so many unimaginably devilish, bloodthirsty ways that he literally filled the basements of his estates with the bones of children from the surrounding countryside. The Baron De Rais was so prolific in his mission of death that some French villages were deprived of an entire future generation of citizens.
Both Dracula and De Rais had a stated mission: to kill members of an uppity class of people whose economic position in society was, in their view, marginally improving.
Now, please allow me to say that I love to read your stuff and almost always agree with it. But here your explanation is lacking historical context, provides no Sociological/Psychological nexus underlying your statistics, and finally, your logic flirts with contradiction.
Hard to find fault with the logic of this chapter. However, it gives readers the impression that it was TV Cowboy Reagan who decimated the middle class. While Reagan got the ball rolling, it was Clinton who engineered the export of millions of manufacturing jobs overseas - much of it to China. Clinton is every bit a neolib capitalist.
It is not likely that all the lost jobs will eventually come back home and the middleclass will reform. Members of Congress will have to set aside their personal greed to kill Citizens United before that happens.
Financial insecurity and poverty cause much stress and anxiety, which over a long time can cause health problems both mental and physical. There is too much me and to little we in America. The Atlantic conveyor belt is predicted to stop between 2025 and 2095. That means that most babies born today will experience much more suffering even. I am definitely pro-choice and lean towards sterilizing all humans until we become civilized. The human race had a chance to either use their brains or lose their brains. Either this fate has been genetically or environmentally caused. Only changing the environment children were raised in could have brought about different results. Even now almost all humans are still in denial
What about RELIGION, Thom? You've nailed the Supreme Court, the Republican Party, and the N.R.A. What keeps the Baptists silent? And the Catholics? If the churches can pose as the so-called "moral authorities" of society, why are they not leading the outrage against today's real demons? Thank you!
Neoliberalism Drives Inequality; Inequality Drives Mass Murder
Uh, No. Rep. Dingell, Democrat from MI, started all of this. Even after Regan was shot, Dingell tried to kill the Brady Act. Anyhow, NY Times has a huge expose this morning on how Dingell supported, funded and used the NRA, growing it into the behemoth it became. A Democrat.
"John Dingell was comfortable with firearms at an early age: When not blasting ducks with a shotgun, he was plinking rats with an air gun in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, where he served as a page. " Who shoots rats in the Capitol Building at age 18 or so? A psychopath, that's who.
After one of the many mass school shootings in the USA, I read a discussion of mass shootings here, then in Germany and then in other countries. What I learned is that a lot is known about who does this, but not a lot about prevention. Of course, lack of access to guns somewhat mutes this, although in Germany there have been knife attacks and crossbow attacks too. Still, their tighter gun laws, make it harder to have a gun at hand to fulfill these fantasies of suicidal-homicide. I have read that shootings have gone down, and I would say that an more hopeful outlook on the economy and some stability may contribute to this. Humane is human is the mantra that helps to live by. I think Biden represents this.
Your use of the phrase "indiscriminate killing" is most unfortunate because your entire article lists statistical evidence which points to the contrary. The killers are almost entirely male and white people who believe their downward socioeconomic trajectory is caused by the machinations of whom? Women, Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Hispanic immigrants, children of successful middle/working class Americans (or what is left of them). This is most certainly not evidence of "indiscriminate killing." Both serial killers and mass killers follow easily identified patterns in their self appointed tasks. Tasks which are intended to Improve society. Listen to them; they say it outright. Then they act accordingly.
You are most perceptively correct when you point out that this is a social class phenomenon exacerbated by inequality. It is furthermore a phenomenon traceable to our distant past.
The most famous and admired public figure in Wallachian history is the 15th century aristocrat Vlad Tepes. Today there are cities named after him. His nick-name was Vlad The Impaler. His father's name was Dracul. His killing exploits (without the use of firearms) makes our mass killers look like kindergarteners.
The celebrated 15th century French aristocrat Baron Gilles De Rais ( Marshal of France and the brains behind Joan of Lorain-Arc) tortured, raped and killed so many children, in so many unimaginably devilish, bloodthirsty ways that he literally filled the basements of his estates with the bones of children from the surrounding countryside. The Baron De Rais was so prolific in his mission of death that some French villages were deprived of an entire future generation of citizens.
Both Dracula and De Rais had a stated mission: to kill members of an uppity class of people whose economic position in society was, in their view, marginally improving.
Now, please allow me to say that I love to read your stuff and almost always agree with it. But here your explanation is lacking historical context, provides no Sociological/Psychological nexus underlying your statistics, and finally, your logic flirts with contradiction.
But in the mean time
Keep on trukkin
Gerald F. Dobbertin Ph.D
Hard to find fault with the logic of this chapter. However, it gives readers the impression that it was TV Cowboy Reagan who decimated the middle class. While Reagan got the ball rolling, it was Clinton who engineered the export of millions of manufacturing jobs overseas - much of it to China. Clinton is every bit a neolib capitalist.
It is not likely that all the lost jobs will eventually come back home and the middleclass will reform. Members of Congress will have to set aside their personal greed to kill Citizens United before that happens.
Financial insecurity and poverty cause much stress and anxiety, which over a long time can cause health problems both mental and physical. There is too much me and to little we in America. The Atlantic conveyor belt is predicted to stop between 2025 and 2095. That means that most babies born today will experience much more suffering even. I am definitely pro-choice and lean towards sterilizing all humans until we become civilized. The human race had a chance to either use their brains or lose their brains. Either this fate has been genetically or environmentally caused. Only changing the environment children were raised in could have brought about different results. Even now almost all humans are still in denial
What about RELIGION, Thom? You've nailed the Supreme Court, the Republican Party, and the N.R.A. What keeps the Baptists silent? And the Catholics? If the churches can pose as the so-called "moral authorities" of society, why are they not leading the outrage against today's real demons? Thank you!