Massacres - Nothing Darkly Comical

57 Dead in Eight Mass Murders
"The American dream is a nightmare, and the land of opportunity is but a cruel joke," said James Alan Fox, of Northeastern University, who has been dubbed the "dean of death" for his analysis of mass murders. "The economic pie is shrinking to the point where it looks more like a Pop Tart and some feel all they're getting is the crumbs. There's a combination of feeling despair and hopelessness at the same time as a certain degree of anger and blame."

Other crime experts caution against drawing such conclusions.

Who are these “other crime experts” and who are they trying to kid?
The support systems in our country have been eroded until there is little or nothing left. No extended family. No unions. No government support. No help for many if not most. No place to turn. But most of all — no hope.

“Most of these mass murderers share one trait: a traumatic event such as a layoff, divorce or separation that sets off an internal rage and a desire for revenge.”

“Consider the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a 45-year-old electrical engineer whose life swiftly turned sour last fall. His wife divorced him and he lost his job and his beloved dog, Saki. On Christmas Eve, Pardo dressed as Santa Claus for a holiday party hosted by his ex-wife's parents at their home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a Los Angeles suburb.

Pardo rang the bell, swung open the door and opened fire on the party guests with a semiautomatic handgun before dousing the home with gasoline and setting it ablaze, authorities said. He killed nine people, including his ex-wife, before taking his own life.”

This was an obvious act of insanity. The act of a man pushed beyond his limits, his limits of endurance.

It’s easy to blame weapons, but they’re just the tools. We have to go after the cause.

There are two factors that have to be resolved.

1. Before the economic crisis more and more of the assets of America were being held by a smaller percentage of people. More and more of our citizens were slowly being pushed to the edge of the abyss. Our government, thanks to Bill Clinton, even fudges the unemployment numbers to obfuscate the true depth of our nation’s problem
Once the economic crisis hit, a huge number of our people were pushed into free fall. Pushed beyond their endurance. And many have no place to turn. No place to land.

2. When people are hopeless, they become desperate to salvage something. Anything. And at times it can be their 15 minutes of fame. We may not think we’re glorifying these mass murderers, but anything put on a mass media (most especially television) is being glorified.

Where does this end?

Jessie Jackson is calling this pattern, “Domestic Terrorism.” Why doesn’t he call it what it truly is? A cry for help. There are lots of people, more every day, who are reaching this breaking point. Most don’t snap. Most soldier on and accept their fate.

If we don’t stop it, I guarantee the next step is open class warfare. Why should the mass of people who have been run over by the bus of demorcracy and capitalism even play this game.

How long will they play?

What percentage of our population have to stop playing the game to destroy America?
People will quit the game and attack the system when they don’t believe they have any hope of surviving.

In your mind extrapolate eight mass murders into 8,000. 80,000. Where would it end?

The solutions?

1. Reach out and help someone. Anyone. It’s time for random acts of kindness. Food banks everywhere need support. Let’s stop the barbarity and refuse to bail out the bankers and insurance companies that are running roughshod over our world. Let’s bailout the people who are living in tent cities. Let’s bail out the people who are about to lose their homes. Let’s bail out any American who’s hungry. Not because these people have guns. Let’s do it because it’s the right thing to do.

2. Mass murder is an act of insanity. Do not put acts of insanity on television (or any mass media, even the very blog article you’re reading is guilty of this). If we televise infanticide that’s what we’ll get. If we televise terrorism that’s what we’ll get. Let’s televise random acts of kindness. Let’s televise people in tent cities getting their homes back. Let’s televise Americans getting jobs. Let’s televise hope.