The Real Culprit
It has happened again. Another hate filled lunatic, Robert Bowers, has massacred a group of innocent people, this time a congregation of Jewish worshippers in their synagogue while AT PRAYER, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Once again we are repulsed by a savage and senseless act.
Unfortunately, it is all too easy to recall that there have been many such massacres in just the past few years. What follows is an abridged sampling.
On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof, opened fire inside a CHURCH in Charleston, South Carolina. Aiming at black Christians IN PRAYER. He killed 9 and wounded 1.
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 and wounded 53.
On June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson opened fire on conservative Republicans at a CHARITY baseball game, wounding Congressman Steve Scalise and three others.
On October 2, 2017, Stephen Paddock opened fire with automatic weapons during a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 59 people and wounding 422 more.
Although, I could easily go on, for the purpose of this discussion, I’ll stop there. All of this begs the question as to why such mass shootings continue to be a reoccurring nightmare.?
Simple minded people claim that the blame rests on lax gun laws. While I do agree that we MUST take further steps to make it harder for raving lunatics, terrorists and criminals to procure firearms, lack of stringent gun control, of and by itself, is not responsible for the murder and mayhem. Recall, for example, that one of the worst contemporary mass murders, world wide, took place a few years ago at the Bataclan Theater in the city of Paris, despite the fact that Paris has some of the strictest gun laws on earth. Or consider that the American city with the highest murder rate, Chicago, also has the nation’s most stringent metropolitan gun laws. So, unless and until every gun in America has been confiscated and destroyed, criminals and terrorists will always find ways to obtain guns and gun violence will continue.
Some individuals, amazingly, blame the gun violence on thier favorite scape goat: Donald Trump. This accusation would be laughable were it not for the fact that it is taken as gospel by many individuals in the media. Not only did the first two events listed above occur BEFORE Donald Trump took office, but there is an extensive history of mass murder in our country that has nothing what-so-ever to do with Trump.
Others say “extremist” groups are to blame, despite the fact that four of the perpetrators listed above were not members of any such group. Unfortunately, lunatics don’t seem to need “group support” to bring them to lethal action.
Some blame social media. However, while it is true that many of the gunmen listed above did have an online presence, there is no evidence that such a presence is necessary or sufficient to explain their homicidal sprees.
So if lax gun laws, President Trump, extremist groups and social media are not culpable, who, or what, is?
In my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, the real culprit, quite simply, is identity politics. In each of the above cases, the the shooter targeted a group with a specific identity. Dylan Roof targeted blacks. Omar Mateen targeted gays. James Hodgkinson targeted conservatives. Stephen Paddock, who’s case is, admittedly, more obscure, may have had religious animus and may have targeted Christians. And, finally, Robert Bowers targeted Jews. The common culprit? Identity politics.
Although the term, “identity politics”, is rather new, the phenomenon itself is ancient. The behavioral tendency that underlies identity politics, undoubtably, had its roots in the tribal nature of early human societies. Long before the existence of welfare states, insurance policies, and charitable organizations, the “survival of the fittest” imperative weighed much more heavily on the human psyche. Loyalty to one’s tribe or clan, was not just admirable, it was essential to one’s survival. And, going hand in hand with tribal loyalty, is animosity directed at “outsiders” from other tribes. So, even without a formal name, “identity politics” has been with us since time immemorial.
In contemporary America, however, identity politics has become nothing short of a crisis. Unlike prehistoric troglodytes, modern man has, at his disposal, better weapons that ever before. Today’s weaponry, in trained hands, can dispatch scores of victims in a matter of minutes.
Further more, human creativity has gone on to find new and exciting methods by which human lives can be taken: pressure cooker bombs, automobile rampages, even flying airplanes into skyscrapers. What won’t they think of next?
Next, contemporary society has become so irreligious that what ever religious qualms a would be mass murderer may, in the past, have felt about his evil plans, those qualms no longer seem to exist. Moral relativism bears its bitter fruit.
Further, the “victim” society we find ourselves in, encourages citizens to project blame for personal failures on anything and everything other than oneself. In such a society, it is very easy to cast blame on another identity group. And, as with scape goats of yesteryear, the next step can be slaughter.
So, for all the reasons above, identity politics in today’s America, is the true cause of the plague of mass shootings that we see, all too often, in the headlines and in newscasts.
What to do? Well, for starts, Americans need to change the way we think. Instead of focusing on what divides us, we must look to find common ground.
Next, we must not allow ourselves to be baited. We must not agree with Hilary Clinton when she says that we “can’t be civil” until “we win back the House (Of Representatives).” We must not follow the advice of Maxine Waters when she says that if we find “them” in a store, or a restaurant, or a gasoline station, that we should “form a crowd and PUSH BACK AT THEM.” We should not follow the example of Chuck Schumer and plan to take down our opponents “with EVERYTHING I’VE GOT”. We must not think like Madonna who “thought seriously about blowing up the White House.” We must not wonder, as Nancy Pelosi did, about why “there’s not UPRISINGS all over!” We must not join the cadre of celebrities that have publicly spoken about the beheading, maiming or murdering of President Trump.
We must, instead, ladies and gentlemen, turn away from identity politics. We must remember that we are not white Americans, black Americans, Christian Americans, Jewish Americans, conservative Americans, liberal Americans, straight Americans, gay Americans, rich Americans, poor Americans. We are, AMERICANS. As President Trump said in his Inagural speech, “If someone is truly patriotic, there is no room for racism.” Once we begin to see again that there is a common humanity in ALL of us, this plague of mass murder will suffocate without the oxygen of identity hatred.