Why Murder?

I was perusing another blog -- something I've had precious little time to do recently -- and I came up on a post regarding the rash of spree killings recently. The post is linked to here, if you'd like to take a look.

The author's premise is that one could be mingling with the next nutcase to snap and kill a gang of people. While that's certainly true, I think its the causes for this seemingly inexplicable rise in mass killings, many occurring in "America's Heartland," this idyllic place of peace and tranquility, different than the violent cities.

As the author states, almost daily, we have "a tragic reminder that something is wrong today, and that things are not how they used to be."

While they chalk it up to a new deviant subculture, I'm not so certain it's not just plain old irresponsibility that has led us down the primrose path. I see a simple, if subtle reason for the increase in wanton, seemingly-random violence in this country.

I think it's due in large part to increasing polarization -- hate speech, demonization, and a near fascist phobia that is developing -- along with a paradoxical reduction in personal responsibility.

For the last decade or more, there has been an undercurrent in this country that says to many of these disaffected killers, "you're under attack, from race-traitors, niggers, wetbacks, women and others who want to subjugate you." And along with that, there's the subtle suggestion that the so-called victims are not the cause of their own issues. Their personal culpability is removed. They are, in their minds, blameless, because our collective culture has made it OK to not take responsibility for one's own life and actions.

The paradox comes in that such incessant blame being placed on externalities gives people excuses to blame others for their personal flaws. Since you can't get a good job because of blacks, you refuse to focus on your lack of training and education for a particular job. Mexicans are taking up valuable space in hospitals and schools. And the list goes on. So, you're not responsible. "They" are. "They" are you enemy. "They" need to be punished.

"They."

But what about "you?"

Examine the most recent killings:

Guy with a arguably tough start to life walks into a mall, kills nine. The trigger: he lost his job at McDonalds (of all places), and his girlfriend broke up with him. They did it to him. What about his accountability to himself?

Man kills four in Colorado religious community, seemingly at random. Later its determined that he was kicked out of an evangelical training center before his rampage.""You Christians brought this on yourselves," he said in some posts he made to an online forum. But what did he bring on himself?

20-year old cop kills18-year-old girlfriend and friends in Wisconsin because she broke up with him. What did you do to precipitate the break-up? Were you mature enough to carry a firearm?

These are weak individuals who want to externalize their own faults and failures, until they can no longer tolerate the "causes." Then they lash out. In most cases, they are simply disaffected people who feel somehow entitled to wreak havoc because of perceived wrongs, at the hands of the victims. Most of the time, the victims don't even know they've been targeted.

I'm willing to bet that once you dig into the backgrounds of these recent killers -- the mall slayer in Omaha, the religious shootings in Colorado, and the cop in Wisconsin that executed his ex-girlfriend -- and you'll find individuals who felt entitled to something, and like spoiled children, they threw a temper tantrum when they didn't get it.