It is evident, going by the demographics, this malaise is not race biased and it is an Equal Opportunity Decay. Three teenagers, black/white/brown (yellow and red were not represented), found no way to amuse themselves other than selecting a random jogger and gunning him down, murdering him in cold blood, in broad day light, in the middle a small town in Oklahoma… We’re not talking Chicago, or Detroit, or New York City, or Philadelphia, or Los Angeles, or Miami, or even Atlanta; we are talking Duncan, Oklahoma, Crape myrtle Capital of Oklahoma, path of the Chisholm Trail, population ~23,400; the type of town that is expected to represent all is good about the USA and now it will represent all that is gangrenous about the USA!
Now, there are already opinions out there that say this was caused by the violence portrayed in games, TV and the movies… BS! We manage to export that same violence to the whole rest of the world, and we don’t hear about this type of atrocities happening elsewhere as often as they happen here. There is also a set of opinions that says that it is that violence plus the availability of firearms… BS BS! Some other countries of the world may not have the same ungodly amount of uncontrolled firearms that the USA has on its streets, but they have other types of arms which are also lethal (remember that there were lots of people killed in this world before there were any firearms, and this is not an apology for the firearms issues we have, and boy, issues we have; but that’s the subject of another soap box stand!). Some others are pounding their chests arguing that, since all these three monsters came out of broken homes, single-parent households are the problem… BS BS BS! The current president of the USA came out of a single-parent home and there are many, many highly accomplished and remarkable people in the arts, sciences, politics, academia, military, and all other important walks of life and professions who came out of broken homes; my own father came out of a single parent home and he was one of the most remarkable, though unpublicized, men I ever knew. I’m not saying that a broken home is the same as a ‘whole’ home; what I am saying is that broken homes do not breed monsters.
Now, hang on to your pants because, at times, this may come close to home or may feel uncomfortable, but ‘it is what it is’… I’ll tell you what the problem is: it is the ‘me’ mindset. Why do I mean by that? Well, at one time, we decided we were going to take care of number one first; once we started on that path we started to drift more and more into that mindset and now we find ourselves caring about number one only; period! Look around and you will see examples, in all walks of life and in all instances, of what I am saying. It may reflect itself into simple things like “if it doesn't affect me, it is not my problem” and then one step further “if it is not my problem, there is no problem, is there?” Unfortunately, we have forgotten that it is the sense of community and our duty to care for our fellow men what makes us human; without that, we are just animals (like the three ones mentioned above). We have taken our ‘rogue individualism’ to an extreme that says ‘only I matter’. Just remember that in 1776 only few people paid taxes and, if we had had this attitude then (if it doesn't affect me is not my problem), we would still be flying the Union Jack…
We've no respect for human life, period.
Some of us claim to be the defenders of human life and proclaim that a life is viable since conception; however, once the child is born, who care is he/she eats? “Cut entitlements”, we cry (even though it may mean some children may starve to death); oh, but we defended them with all our might while they were in the womb… These people are all hypocrites!
Others say, we can kill them as long as they are not born (at times almost with a ‘who cares’ cavalier attitude), but once they are born, we teach them that regardless of their lot in life, they don’t have to ever worry about where the next meal is coming from because we will feed them for life; there is no merit on hard work and effort because all basic needs will be taken care of for as long as they live, even if they become animals (like the three above) and we choose to cage them for the rest of their lives (instead of killing them for their crime, as they squarely deserve) and we still will be taking total care of them in jail (food, medical, entertainment, education) at no cost to them for as long as they live… Another bunch of hypocrites!
We pound our chests and proudly salute the American flag and even shed tears when our soldiers return home being only shreds of what they used to be; oh yeah, they are our heroes but, for the life of God, balance the Goddamned budget and cut, cut, cut (who care if the vets don’t have a doctor to see for months or don’t have a leg to stand on, literally!)... The worst type of hypocrites!
I may sound a little cynical, a little bitter and a little dejected… Well, I feel cynical when I realize the wide gap between what we say we value and what we actually do value, the gap between the word and the deed; I am bitter about the horrible waste of human capital in so many ways all over the country that seems to be going on and on and has become the norm; and I am dejected that my choice of being part of once the best nation in the world, may be coming under self scrutiny…
Are we beyond repair? I don’t really know… What do you think?
I may sound a little cynical, a little bitter and a little dejected… Well, I feel cynical when I realize the wide gap between what we say we value and what we actually do value, the gap between the word and the deed; I am bitter about the horrible waste of human capital in so many ways all over the country that seems to be going on and on and has become the norm; and I am dejected that my choice of being part of once the best nation in the world, may be coming under self scrutiny…
Are we beyond repair? I don’t really know… What do you think?
