Mass Murder; Getting To Root Causes

SO FAR THIS YEAR there have been 389 mass murders in the United States. Gamblers in English pubs are likely doing a lively trade taking wagers on when the next will occur, and how many will die. On this we can all agree: before the end of this year, there will be more, perhaps even a sufficiently murderous one to inspire coverage in the mainstream media, which reserves its attention only for the most gruesome, the most sensational, for entertainment value, the very best. The very nature of the media coverage should serve as a warning sign; these nightmares are, in a sense, nothing more than an additional few minutes of additional morbid entertainment for we the American entertainment addicted, a few million dollars more of commercial value for the vast media corporations which feed us whatever we seem to want, whatever advertising sales and ratings analysts indicate if currently en vogue among the consumers, who spend trillions of dollars annually on entertainment, making their wishes and preferences paramount, and thus highly scrutinized. The advertising you see on this web page, the advertising you see on Facebook, the advertising you see on the outfield walls of televised major league baseball games are not really there; they are ephemeral, designed specifically for you, according to what extensive, detailed research and analysis has revealed about your personal tastes, and likely future purchasing habits. If this does not alarm you, it should. American mass murders, whether we accept this fact or not, are part and parcel of the package. The notion, widely circulated, that the killers are lone wolves with mental problems, and nothing more, is true, yet absurd, in that this convenient explanation leaves out almost all the underlying reasons for ongoing national nightmare, which, upon cursory reflection, are right before our eyes. Nations, like people, who are emotionally proud and brave do not like to admit their weaknesses and sicknesses. So it is in America. We do not take kindly to the idea that this epidemic of violence is in fact but a symptom of far deeper, fundamental characteristics of our culture, which have always existed, and if not altered through direct action will only continue festering, gifting us with a never ending torrent of blood. Ours is a nation founded upon violent conquest, extermination, slavery, and the lust for wealth. That undergirds all else, and cannot be dismissed. These fundamental values have never changed, and are prominent in our current behavior, domestic, and foreign. We hardly need mention the tragedy of American foreign policy, wars of aggression, and our occupation and exploitation of foreign lands worldwide. Excellent scholarship has well documented all this. Interviews with veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan attest to our ongoing violence and anger, turned outward. We turn it inward as well. Our grotesque economic and social inequality are more extreme than at any time during the past one hundred years. Even the successful among us are not satisfied, and you hear their anger on any talk radio program. America's mass murder nightmare is a result not of random behavior by a few deranged people, but rather, the direct result of the fundamental nature of American society, in which we all participate. To the extent that we deny this and refuse to work for the fundamental change that we so desperately need, we are guilty.