Another Horrific Shooting

After the horrific mass shooting yesterday, on July 4th, I feel a bit compelled to at least comment.  I am further motivated to do this by the really excellent essay I read today from David French.  You may or may not know of his writing, but frequently find myself nodding my head in agreement with his thoughts. 

His essay today is titled, "Finding the Lost Boys in American Life" and you can read it on his Substack site here.  As you can probably tell by the title, he very much focuses not on weapons, or security systems, or law enforcement response but rather on the young men perpetuating these unbelievable acts.  

He starts out by postulating that this cultural problem that has been festering for a long time really can't be fixed by policy or politics.  It needs to be fixed at the local level by people stepping up to confront unacceptable behavior and work to change it.  At at the same time stop young men believing that it is "their destiny" to snuff out so many lives.  

In quoting a couple of experts in the field (and there are experts in the field of why children arrive at a point where they will pull the trigger) he focuses on two things.  The first is the isolation and loneliness that some kids feel in unloving households and the second is a very interesting phenomenon about these events building on each other.  That it becomes easier to commit such a horrific act as more horrific acts occur.  The two books/essays quoted are well worth reading for further insight.

David arrives at a point of summary by saying this:

"Mass shootings have grown so common that we can now almost write a script. Is the shooter an alienated young man? Yes. Did he meticulously plan the shooting? Yes. Did he purchase the gun legally? Yes. Did he repeatedly broadcast his deadly intent on social media? Yes."

Who wouldn't agree with that synopsis?  It's almost become formulaic.  Whenever I've become involved in a conversation about this issue, I've advocated for stronger Red Flag Laws as one component of the solution.  But as he points out Red Flag Laws require "both knowledge of the law and a basic level of mutual care and concern."  Without those two components, then the laws won't matter.  It doesn't matter if there is a law but you're not willing to step up to question unacceptable behavior.  All of the guys who  have committed these atrocities broadcast their intent.  Was there no one who saw it?  Was there no one who felt compelled to report the troubled behavior?  We hear all the time since 9/11, "if you see something, say something."  Has that gone by the wayside?  

I think one of the most contributing causations is the change to what it means to be a boy or a man in our society.  It's everywhere if you look just a bit.  Some of the statistics about women overtaking men in college degrees and in professional ranks are one indicator.  That's not to denigrate women getting college degrees at all, but rather that the impact is resulting in an unintended consequence.  But it starts earlier than college.  I've been strongly against the Boy Scouts opening their ranks to girls because I believe there needs to be places where boys can be boys and girls can be girls.  There are differences.  And boys need to figure out how to be men from other men in a setting that lends itself to that.  That most schools these days have gotten rid of any vocational arts classes in a subtle way devalues some of the traditional vocations that attracted non-college bound teens.  But David says it better than me:

"...I’d say the “ideology of masculinity” is more dysfunctional than I’ve ever seen. It’s trapped between two competing extremes, a far-left version that casts common male characteristics as inherently toxic or unhealthy and a right-wing masculine counterculture that often revels in aggression and intimidation. One extreme says, “Traditional masculinity is toxic,” and the other extreme responds, “I’ll show you toxic masculinity.” In the meantime, all too many ordinary young men lack any kind of common vision for a moral, meaningful life. "

It's become not a problem of the next town over or the next neighborhood over, it's everywhere.  You may think you live in a traditional, safe area, but we are seeing it happen everywhere.  There are a lot of organizations out there who are trying to help.  One is called "Boys to Men".  Check it out here.  But that's just one of many.  David sums up the task in this way-

"There are too many fatherless children for any of us to content ourselves with mentoring our own families only. Until the lost boys of American life are found by men and women who care enough to intervene before their darkest days, the slow-motion riot will continue..."

We can talk about weapons or background checks or federal laws vs state laws or age limits or training or second amendment repeals or turn-in programs or any other technical issue till we're blue in the face. I support some of these things.  But until we address the tragedy of the young men who commit these acts and as a society resolve to put programs in place to identify and help them, we're spitting in the wind.  And we'll see it again.