Killer Instincts: America's Fascination with Guns and Victim Mentality

It's another sad day for all. Another media circus. Capped by another public address from Obama, but this time looking more languid and defeated than ever. From a President who was just hoping to slide into home base next year awaiting cheers to now see a home crowd at each other's throats. What's going on in America? and is this truly a First World Problem? 

In his speech, Obama rightfully recognizes the routine of it all. The media feeding frenzy that inevitably circles, masticating on every last morsel of information, in order to justify the bands of 'round-the-clock news stations that normally distribute nothing more than up-to-the-minute live updates on the gender status of Caitlyn Jenner. The programming from here on out will be a no-brainer. Every gun incident invites an expert panel debate about gun regulations. Obama lamented on the American populace's  white knuckle grip on their firearms even in the face of senseless tragedy. Mass shootings are not uniquely American but like everything else, they seem to do it best.

Serendipitous although inharmonious, this week's episode of  Black-ish was also about gun ownership. While the family was divided on the matter and made representative claims on both ends, the show failed to fall on either side of the fence, which in and of itself is telling of the current climate on this topic. However, while gun ownership and regulations are certainly key factors, it's almost missing the point.

The media and public are quick to disregard the shooters as outliers and mental cases that cannot be predicted or tamed. But is this an acceptable explanation? Many will support a media blackout on profiling the killer in order to deny his last wish to become infamous and prevent others from copy-cat crimes, but does censoring a problem make it disappear? Is there a balance that can be reached?  and can the news just report on the facts without being sensationalists? 

The identity of the shooter is irrelevant, however there is insight in finding out the beliefs he subscribed to. Most notably, the foreshadowing Beta-uprising thread in 4Chan he posted to hours before his egregious final act. These groups who identify as Beta males see themselves as social outcasts and hold a deep-seated contempt for normies (functional members of society) who they believe push Betas to the outer brims of society.

In truth, trying to approach this issue with any empathy is a tall order. Whether it be difficulties finding a date or their general feelings of otherness, these are plainly trivial matters born from a world of privilege. On the other hand, to broadly disregard this group as mental cases is to distance anyone from accountability.  We need to as a society, examine more closely the world we live in and how easy it is to cultivate disdain among peers. 

Although the internet democratizes knowledge, the structure of social media creates Echo chambers where like-minded individuals collect. It essentially provides corners of the web that serve as nothing more than self-righteous reverberations that stomp out any inkling of contrary opinion. In these circles, false and misinformation cycle and breed until we get masses of people believing in Anti-vaccination, Chemtrails, and countless other certifiably false conspiracy theories. 

In addition, we need to scrutinize our media as entertainment. Culturally, we're so fascinated by villains that we even want our heroes to be antiheroes. We sit our kids in front of screens from our pockets to our homes without challenging them to digest what they have seen and what it all means. All our movie and TV stars are now more accessible than  ever. Their carefully pruned and manicured lives inundate our live feeds until we're sick to the stomach. It's easy for youth to feel out of step when no one is willing to show themselves in times of weakness. As more and more life experiences play themselves out in the digital world, the more skewed they become. We look to cement our good experiences and memories  so much that we don't know how to cope with pain and anguish. 

There's many factors at play here and I'm not purporting to have any answers. It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child and I believe there's truth in that sentiment. We should be more invested our own children and others. The sad thing is that in our world of perpetual paranoia, everyone is so paralyzed by threats of kidnappings and child molesters that we can't even help ourselves or our neighbors. For the general public who are "good", we are always a victim and thus we peer out into a world of infinite potential suspects. Alas, good intentions be damned, your problem is your problem until it ends up knocking at my front door.