HARD TIMES AND AMERICA KILLS

This story from The Christian Science Monitor sent by MrMR attempts to forge a link between hardship and mass murder. It leads with a certain logic…

“Four Oakland, Calif., police officers shot down. An Alabama man strolling a small town with a rifle, looking for victims. Seven elderly people shot dead at a North Carolina nursing home. And on Sunday, six people, including four kids, died in an apparent murder-suicide in an upscale neighborhood in Santa Clara, Calif. The details in all these cases are still emerging. In most, the exact motive has yet to be determined – or may never be fully understood. On a broader level, however, such incidents may be happening more often because an increasing number of Americans feel desperate pressure from job losses and other economic hardship, criminologists say.”

But then it continues…

“Social isolation is a huge factor in a country as large and transient as America, which places big emphasis on personal results. If you look at where many of these mass killings have occurred lately, they're in states that have lots of strangers, transients, and drifters, who don't have support systems to get them through tough times.” (Click here for more)

At this point the story goes off the rails for me. Great. Let’s marginalize and fear “strangers, transients, and drifters.” Let’s save the bankers and toss the autoworkers to the wolves. Let’s reject social safety nets and keep America safe from the evils of socialism. Let’s keep the people frightened and isolated because that also means they are powerless.

The secret word, once again, is Fury