It was on the afternoon of August 1, 1966 when Charles Whitman went into the tower on the University of Texas campus, Austin and proceeded to kill fourteen people and wound 32 with precise sniper fire. An autopsy revealed he had a terminal brain tumor that most likely resulted in his maniacal behavior. The same cannot be said about those who followed in his footsteps.
I am no psychologist and am not formally trained to diagnose our society as a whole. As far as the latter, who really is? But I have lived almost six decades and have acquired much wisdom during that time. Am I wiser than most? Probably not. However, I know it is more than 'guns' to blame for the sudden increase and outright rash in idiots who decide to kill as many people as they can as quickly as they can. Consider the following:
1. The removal of God, the Bible and prayer from our schools has not helped matters. Our children are taught...and not directly but by omission...that we are no more than physical creatures. There is a societal code to follow they are taught, but it lacks the spiritual morality needed to cause people to reflect on the long term consequences of their actions. If there is no final authority and if there is no hell or judgment in the afterlife...then there are fewer barriers to keep the floodgate of evil from being opened.
2. Dr. Benjamin Spock and those of his ilk that followed have done more to damage our children than any serial shooter. I grew up in a time when corporal punishment was the norm. When I got paddled in school, I remembered it. When I got the belt at home, I did everything I could do to make sure it didn't happen again. You can't be 'friends' with your children before you are a parent. There have to be rules and punishment to follow when they are broken. I was never beaten...but I was whipped. I am thankful my parents had lines that were not to be crossed. It made me mindful of societal lines and not just my liberty, but the liberty of others. You also can't start disciplining your children at the age of 12. You have to start at 2, or younger. When a child grows up thinking the world revolves around them and that everyone they come in contact with owes them the same obeisance they received at home, it's a recipe for trouble.
3. We have rapidly become a society of 'victims'. Nothing is your fault...you are accountable for nothing...it's always the evil of someone else that has brought misery upon you and therefore...they must pay. The only problem is 'they' are hard to identify...so the serial shooter just shoots anybody since all are to blame. Self estimation is a thing of the past. If I am poor, it is the rich man's fault. If I am unemployed, it is the employed's fault. If I drive a pitiful car, it is the Mercedes driver's fault. If my wife is fat and doesn't look like Beyonce', then that's Beyonce's fault. Rarely does anyone take thought that maybe their present condition is a product of THEIR past choices. Thus, when someone who has a screw somewhat loose in their brain, they snap and decide to kill all those who have made them the victim.
4. Let me call it 'Celebrityism'. People in our country worship celebrities. Why this is I haven't a clue. If I like your music, I listen to it...but I don't want to be your friend. If I like your athleticism, I'll watch you play...but I don't want to come over for dinner. If I like your movies, I'll watch them. But I don't want to be seen with you. Further, I don't want to be famous like them, or famous at all. But there are myriads and myriads of people out there who want to be famous. They want to put their personal stamp on the world and be recognized as someone 'special', someone important, someone to be remembered. Then, when that doesn't happen, and they can't be famous...then they opt for being infamous. In their twisted minds...brought on by celebrityism...by having their name and picture shown on national news stations, they will finally have become somebody, even if it's a hated somebody.
5. The church...the Christian church...is also to blame. The church has allowed its influence to be watered down and corrupted and silent when come under attack. The church is to be the preservative of our society, to keep it from spoiling. Yet, hard preaching has become a thing of the past in most congregations. Hard doctrine is almost extinct. Islam is the fastest growing religion in this country that was founded on Christian principles, and still we have people who want to defend it instead of rebuke it for what it has become. Don't wring your hands and shed your alligator tears over these recent twenty children who were slaughtered at their school. We, as Christians in this society, also have their blood on our hands for being so weak minded and so weak willed when it comes to our faith. If all you want to do is look at the pleasant aspect of Christianity, then how long has it been since you really took a good, long look at the cross? It isn't something that's pretty if you look at it for what it really was. Maybe if the Christians of America preached the blood and the gore of the cross with all the fervence of a fanatic, then perhaps there would not be so much blood and gore in that school in Connecticut. For when we get people to focus on the blood of Christ, they don't even allow a second's thought to enter their mind about spilling the blood of innocents. Yet, we would rather listen to the false prophets and teachers of our day, like Joel Osteen, who falsely claim that everyone's all right and everyone's going to be okay and that all you have to do is reach within to find the inner power to succeed in life. What hogwash and outright drivel with lots of spittle spraying out between their lying lips.
Yes, the list below was fifty years in the making by all of the above. Like it or not, and belive it or not. Get ready for more of it...because most of you will claim it's all blah blah blah. I bet the twenty sets of parents in Connecticut won't think so. But, it didn't happen to you...did it? So, go on about your business and have a Merry Christmas.
Oak Creek, Wis.: A white supremacist shoots six people and a responding policeman at a Sikh temple before shooting himself in the head in August 2012.
Aurora, Colo.: Lone gunman kills 12 and injures 58 at a July 2012 screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Oakland, Calif.: A former student at a Christian college fatally shoots seven people and injures three in April 2012.
Copley Township, Ohio: A man in a family dispute uses his handgun to shoot and kill his girlfriend and six others in August 2011.
Geneva, Ala.: Eleven victims, ages 18 months to 74 years old, are killed by a lone gunman in a violent family feud in March 2009.
Omaha, Neb.: A 19-year-old man shoots nine people at a department store in December 2007 before cops kill him.
Blacksburg, Va.: A student at Virginia Tech kills 32 classmates and wounds 25 before committing suicide in April 2007.
Red Lake, Minn.: A 16-year-old boy kills 11 people, including his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend, in a shooting spree in March 2005.
Columbus, Ohio: A deranged fan shoots a Pantera guitarist at a concert as he performs onstage, then fires at fans, killing four people in December 2004.
Wash., D.C.: Two deranged snipers go on a spree, killing 10 people around D.C. and Virginia in Oct. 2002.
Columbine, Colo.: Two senior students invade their school in April 1999, killing 12 students and one teacher and injuring 21, before committing suicide.
Killeen, Texas: An unemployed man drives a truck through a packed cafeteria and fatally shoots 23 people and injures 20 before killing himself in October 1991. (NOTE: Since Texas' enactment of a concealed handgun law, there have been no further 'public' rampages like this. Fort Hood was an army base with the act committed by an army major. Notice he didn't go out in public and try that crap.)
Jacksonville, Fla.: A man angry over a repossessed car storms into the agency in June 1990 and over two days shoots 11 of its 86 employees before killing himself.