Rambo Versus The Kindergarten

My "favorite" juicy little detail from yesterday's shooting could be found anywhere, but this one is from the Daily Beast.

[Adam Lanza] wore all black and carried two handguns plus a .223-caliber rifle... When his dead body was found in the school, he was ... wearing body armor.

Body armor. You know, just in the case the kiddies were heavily armed. Just in case young Adam found himself in a firefight at an elementary school. Just in case he met fierce resistance.

There are lots of ticking time bombs like Adam Lanza in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. And why? Word on the street says that Adam Lanza was "developmentally disabled" but let me tell you something—we can see poor human development everywhere we look here in the United States. Heads buried in iPhones. Eating disorders. Ultra-violent video games. Glorification of violence everywhere on TV and in the movies. Rampant immaturity. Sometimes I despair that we will ever see an Adult spring forth from all this fantasy horseshit.

But above all, poor human development comes from unnatural isolation. It's literally every man for himself in America. The "you're on your own" message gets beat into everybody from the day they are born. There's precious little sense of togetherness. There's precious little sense of community. That's not the way humans were made to be made. Humans like big extended families, communal child-rearing, lots of togetherness all the time. As far as I can see, this Lanza kid lived in near total isolation in the normal dysfunctional, psychologically fucked-up household. That's how child rearing goes in the United States. Most American kids grow up to be normal, dysfunctional, fucked-up, so-called "adults" but a few don't—they snap.

And since Adam's undoubtedly mentally fit mother Nancy (52, now deceased) saw fit to keep a Glock pistol, a Sig Sauer pistol and a semi-automatic Bushmaster rifle in their happy home, all legally, 20-year-old Adam could be heavily armed when he became an enraged Rambo on a mission to eradicate those menacing kiddies at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

There will be calls for better "mental healthcare" but if you actually wanted to prevent this kind of mass killing, if your goal was to promote mental health, you'd have to tear down the whole of Amercan society and rebuild it from the ground up. And Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation—no help there.

But you know and I know that nothing will change, and this kind of slaughter is going to happen over and over again. And every time it does, Americans are startled from their usual torpor. In shock and horror, they ask What happened? Because they really don't know. They really don't know how sick the society they live in truly is.

 

Comments

[adam]

Thank you for pointing out that the craziness is a product of social isolation. I would add that being indoors too much is probably also at fault. In a sense, the other things like iPhone fixation and such are symptoms of the same thing.

It reminds me of reading "The Human Zoo" by Desmond Morris. Keep people in cages and of course they go crazy.

[Diogenes]

Your title is near perfect metaphor.
As always, you see and speak of the essence.
As always, I am much obliged.

[Dashui]

Police states have people informing on each other in order to keep everyone isolated. Extreme individualism is our way of controlling everyone.

[Paulo]

This is what I wrote to my family after I copied in Dave's column. (I work at a school and am an ex American for the last 40 years)

How can anyone understand this latest shooting in a US school? Here is a pretty good short summation IMHO. I thought this was worth sharing. Written by an American blogger. Canada is no different except that handguns are very hard to come by and automatic weapons are simply not available. We get the odd knife threat at our school, and occasionally we have a staff mtg before school where some angry native girls picture is shown around beacuse she has threatened some chick with a knife, but by and large we don't have to worry about some teen going home for Daddy's mini 14 because Daddy's can't own them here or they go to jail. Of course this all came about after Marc Lapine killed so many young women at Ecole Polytechnic in Montreal what? 20-30 years ago?

Gun control does work. It has to happen with stiff prison terms for violators. The problem is that the prisons are already overfull of poor minorities for drug busts....casualties from the war on drugs. Where is the reset start over button?

[Surfzombo13]

I found this posted in another forum and couldn't agree more.

"Gun control and mental health institutions are a stopgap. This culture produces violent, broken people because the culture itself is broken, predicated on and sustained by violence."

[Mark H. Burnham]

You're right to note that nothing will change as a result of this event. As long as it is legal (and profitable) for anyone to own guns designed solely for the purpose of killing human beings without demonstrating some kind of legitimate need, this will continue. "Our representatives" did nothing even when one of their own was gunned down. 20 dead children isn't going to motivate Congress. We live in a culture that glorifies violence and glosses over death. I'm 62 years old and this country has been at war with some group somewhere (inside and outside the country) the entire time. How can anyone expect this to change in a society that is truly mentally ill and armed to the teeth?

One other point. Have you noticed how sanitized all the coverage of this tragedy has been. Maybe Americans need to see what this classroom looked like when the first responders arrived. After vomiting perhaps they'd act.

[Joe K]

I disagree with the previous commenter. How do you explain people smashing a plane into buildings or Oklahoma bomber? Where is the gun there? Sorry, I'll trust my Founding Fathers before I trust your so-called wisdom.

Regarding Dave's comments, I think you hit a home run. This has to be one of the best articles you've written. I'm so sick of the violence non-stop on TV. Same with the games. Yes, the dollar rush and the competition for the latest gadget, car, etc. I will say I'm looking for a way out of this country. Not permanent, but a place to run to when the proverbial shit-hits-the-fan. Planning a trip to a foreign country in a few months (not saying, I don't want you there) and investigating costs/area. Doesn't pan out, no problem, will keep looking. I'm sick of locking my doors or worrying I didn't, leaving lights on in the day so they are on in the evening so no one loots my house, etc. I agree with a previous post that we shouldn't be locking everyone for a gram of pot or whatever, but I also think our penal system is too lenient and there should be punishment and work-not working out lifting weights so you can kick my ass next time around. Caning, as in Singapore, for white collar and all other criminals and work camps. Death penalty for those who 100% sure we have proof of murder.

Lastly, comments regarding lack of socialization. Go to Europe and see all the cafe's and folks socializing, having a drink and enjoying themselves. Nothing like this very much here. Hide in your house and watch your violence movie on the 55 inch flat screen. Before I end, there will be those who say, "Europe is falling apart!" So are we. Both welfare systems can work, but just for the citizens and both continents have let in too many folks that don't contribute to bottom line nor have interest in improving their respective countries.

More to say, but what's the point. Good luck. We will all need it.

[Ben]

@ Joe and Mark

lol you guys are crazy.

[elvinator]

it seems to me that a killed to wounded ratio of 27 to 1 is highly improbable.

[Chris]

I agree with atleast most of what you guys have to say. Nice to see some smart people out there on this subject. All I have to say is going to be something that's said alot already.

There is a clear pattern forming on random shootings, especially school shootings. These people who snap and kill for really no reason at all share something with eachother. Especially how they act before the shooting happens. Not trying to say that every shy kid who wears black clothes is going to always go on a shooting spree, I'm just trying to look more into why this keeps on reoccuring!