Wouldn’t life be perfect if the answer to the mass shootings in the United States were so simple as it’s all Trump’s fault. Or it’s all the fault of the gun industry. Or it’s all the fault of untreated mental illness. Unfortunately, it’s not so simple, try as many of the media talking heads would like us to believe.
Those who say it’s all Trump’s fault have an agenda. They despise him with every fibre of their being, want him out and are hoping that this may be the path to finally rid themselves of him. We will remind you of the beyond words school shooting in a Newtown Conn elementary school, when 25 children were murdered by a white man. That was in 2012, way before Donald Trump’s time.
There are those who say it’s the fact that in one hour people can buy a gun with some kind of pathetic background check. Here’s a headline: Switzerland has the most guns per capita and when was the last time you heard of a mass shooting there?
As for mental illness, that’s a big part of it, but one cannot hang this whole issue on their backs. No, the answer is much deeper and much more complicated.
We, as many, have read reams of articles and watched endless news cycles on what is happening. Only one article has resonated with us and it has to do with the general malaise of many people living in the United States. It came from Ben Shapiro’s website. While leaning to the conservative side, he’s fair and calls out his own when necessary.
“…we have become a country filled with numb, detached, and desensitized people. Mass shootings are the ultimate manifestation of that detachment.”
The young men who are carrying out these heinous acts are lonely, sad, angry, detached and alone. This is not an excuse, it is a fact. They stopped viewing themselves as part of society and eventually seek to stand out in their own, very sick way.
Why are they so detached? Because they spend hours and hours alone on the internet going to both gaming sites filled with violent games and the dark web. Neither place is healthy. Neither place promotes socialisation.
And finally, we too, are detached if we can watch or listen or go online and see pictures of randomly murdered people and then go on with our day. We have become desensitised to tragedy.
What’s the answer? Much of it lies with being part of a community, which following one’s religion comes with. Any religion. Having someone to confide it. Having someone or somewhere to go to when things start spiralling out of control. Having others in your community notice that you are not yourself and reach out to you.
Strict gun laws will not stop young, angry, lonely men from obtaining firearms. A pill will not solve the problem of mental illness. Everyone, most obviously young men, need people around them. They need to feel like they belong before they become so disengaged from society that no one notices them until they surface and murder tens of people.