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America's Mass Murder Addiction
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No other prosperous country not torn by civil conflict has anything like our volume of mass killings—Fort Hood and the shooting in Oregon are just the latest examples. Lee Siegel on America's shameful epidemic.
Nidal Malik Hasan may have shouted “Allahu Akbar” before his murderous onslaught at Fort Hood, but his actions were part of an American phenomenon that is a national emergency.
You had barely enough time to grasp what might have happened in the Cleveland home of convicted rapist Anthony Sowell, where police so far have found the remains of 11 women, when news came of Hasan’s massacre. Yet just as that terrible event was starting to sink in, the airwaves were burning up with reports of a shooting rampage in an office building in Orlando, Florida, in which eight people were said to have been shot, one—as of this writing—fatally.
It’s time to start asking ourselves whether our famous American freedom—in both its liberal and conservative formulations—is not actually a subtle form of dehumanizing tyranny.
More than health care, the economy, jobs, Afghanistan, Iraq, public malfeasance, private dishonesty, civil rights, disease or tainted food, mass murder is American’s primary problem and most fundamental shame. No prosperous country not riven by civil conflict has anything like our volume of mass killings. And yet for all of the fascination with mass murder in the media, in Hollywood—and among us—no politician will do more than pay lip service in condemning it. No journalist will crusade against it. No celebrity will take it up as a cause.
Nobody does a damn thing to try to stop it. Conservatives don’t want to make an issue of mass murder because then they would be confronted with the fact that nearly all of the massacres are committed by people using guns. Liberals don’t want to cry out about it because then they would have to address the fact that the violence of our entertainment—TV, movies, videogames, our proliferating apps—makes killing seem like just another strategy for coping with reality. If the utterly immoral legality of handguns and assault weapons puts killing within reach, then vicarious violence, sanctified by every corner of the entertainment culture, makes murder ethically and conceptually possible.
To be sure, mass murder happens all over the world. But it occurs at nothing close to the frequency with which it erupts in the U.S. And when massacres do take place in other countries, they are often the result of political conflict, grinding poverty, a culture of vendetta, or the deforming forces of an authoritarian regime—as in China, which seems to have more than its share of mass killings. Here, however, in the world’s sanctuary of freedom and prosperity, Americans are murdering each other, and their families, in groups.
• Jeff Stein: Military Bases are ‘Wide Open to Attack’Indeed, it's time to start asking ourselves whether our famous American freedom—in both its liberal and conservative formulations—is not actually a subtle form of dehumanizing tyranny. There is the economic anguish, of course, and the inability of our mad capitalism to slow down and care for its casualties. But neither Columbine nor the murders at Virginia Tech took place during an economic crisis. We have to start examining whether the general free-for-all of our economic system, and the pleasure-seeking ethos of our commercialism, and the ideology of immediate gratification that is corroding any type of respect for authority—we have to determine whether these "freedoms" are actually a tightening dog collar turning us all into rabid animals.
The news reports about Hasan’s massacre remind us that it was one in a stream of such events: 13 people gunned down at an immigration center in Albany last April; 10 killed in Alabama last March; 32 shot dead at Virginia Tech—eerily, Hasan’s alma mater—in 2007. Some reports recall the 1991 mass shooting in Killeen, Texas—right outside Fort Hood—in which 24 people were killed. The university in nearby Austin was once the site of the infamous Texas tower sniper, who in 1966 slaughtered 14 people on the campus after murdering his wife and mother at home.
But you don’t have to go back that far to get a sense of how shockingly common mass killings are in America. You don’t have to go back much further than the beginning of this year:
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crymeariver
Sadly I forgot about the 13 people gunned down at an immigration center in Albany and the women killed in the Pittsburgh gym. However I don't agree with your premise and mass murder of strangers is a completely different pathology from murdering family members. I know the media have to report on these mass murders however, their excessive coverage of the carnage and attention to the killers encourage the behavior to be repeated for attention.
Both the kids at Columbine and the guy at Virgina tech KNEW they would end up on t.v. and inadvertently glorified post-posthumously by the media. In the end, we remember THEIR names instead of the names of their victims. Other countries don't elevate mass murders in the same way.
khepri
I think you are onto something here. It's a toxic brew: total availability of weapons, a culture of perpetual war and "heroic" violence done to innocents abroad, and a media that ratchets up performances like these to national news events. Americans are no better or worse than other humans; but dangerous acting out such as we have seen is subliminally sanctioned by America's culture of death--death dealt to all those who oppose American hegemony in far flung regions of the world. Semper Fi.
Astronomer
I wish khepri would go into some detail about the "innocents abroad." The way I reckon it, the biggest mass murders in American history are foreigners striking a blow for either Emperor or Allah. From the Atlantic to the Urals mass murderers like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao have stacked their dead like cordwood. The whines of foreigners and their American appeasers should fall on deaf ears.
jenny6
I just read James Carrol's House of War. I think it is an important read. It speaks to your idea about "a culture of perpetual war", and also to your mention of violence done to innocents abroad, and also to your searching for answers. The world is a very complicated place these days. I'm just learning.
sickOFit
Every comment had a truth to it. I completely agree with the easy access to guns makes it easier to kill. We are looking so hard for a reason people kill, here are two more reasons. 1. How were they raised ? What was their family history ? Was there mental illness ? You know what I say about all that ? Boo hoo ! We all had a "bad childhoods " or some bad times. And mental illness ? They were able to pick up a gun, and make a CHOICE TO KILL. It used to be you had to hurt someone for them to hurt you back...Now it is a person they have never met, a baby, their own Mother ! When I was a a kid, you only heard of a child dying from a disease, NOW it's at the hands of their parents ! When I see a child in a store, I think to myself, how cute, will he/she make it to adulthood ? 2. WE MAKE EXCUSES !!! Where are the punishments? Why isn't our government keeping the law abiding citizens safe ? Why should we be afraid to live, we follow the rules ! WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIM ? We make so many excuses for the criminal. Why are these people not put away permanently ? Although it must be true, who is really afraid of committing a crime today ? What's the punishment ?! The criminal in most cases can go on with his life, but what about the victim...A LIFE SENTENCE ! I never said I had the answers either. It is how I feel.
sophia5
Some will point to Columbine as the beginning of this so-called " addiction. "
America definitely has earned a reputation for this kind of inhumanity,
but my first recollection of this kind of massacre actually did not occur in the U.S.,
but in (1996) Dunblane, Scotland, three years before Columbine (1999).
Dunblane involved the massacre of a Teacher and 15 of her pupils, many age 5.
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdENZegzKvA
And who could possibly forget,
only five years ago (2004) in Benslan, Russia
where . . 385 people, including 186 children, were massacred at the Beslan School.
picopallasi
Mass murder addiction. Hold on. Not quite. Instead of positing a few examples of anecdotes to stir the emotions, let's get a bigger picture with numbers.
Murders per capita: 0.042802 per 1,000 people
So first off, that's no addiction. It's .0042% of the population. Ok. In that number roughly 58% of the the .0042% are murdered with guns. Not an enormous gun problem in my opinion.
I would offer that most murders take place in inner cities where illegal drugs are sold via either gangs, turf war, etc.
And that conclusion is brought to me by the fact that the US is
the world's largest consumer of cocaine (shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean), Colombian heroin, and Mexican heroin and marijuana. So following the logic.
The most logical remedy is to make these things legal.
source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
nortonclybourn
No need to act until at least 5% of the population engages in mass murder.
picopallasi
That was an overall murder stat. MASS murder is an even smaller fraction. Keep it in perspective. Our highways are more dangerous, but this article isn't called "our highway accident addiction" is it.
aBigDeal
way to put words into pico's mouth. How would you act? take all guns away? even from the military and police? great idea!
Oh, you should outlaw anything explosive while your at it! Gas (even from your stove), fertilizer, pretty much half of all chemicals... yeah, let's go back to the stone age... a lot less violence back then.
ShinnKamiyra
Do excuse me if this comes off as a bit rude of my part, but I do believe your comment is quite irresponsible. To say that people should not act until at least 5% of the population takes part in something as abhorrent as mass murder is not only a reflection of your own lack of vision, but a reflection of how very little respect you have for those people whose lives have been destroyed as a result of these tragedies.
Ah, and for the record; if people really were to wait until 5% of the population participated in mass murder, that would accumulate to about 15,395,332 people at the current population estimates. If each of those people were to murder, let's say... three people on average, that would come to a death total of 46,185,998 people. In light of this, I hope you can take a moment to pause and reflect on the underlying horror of what you've said here. Thank you.
katiewon
Not only is it an addiction but an epidemic. Deadlier than any flu. It's about anger, isolation and hopelessness. Along with the media glorification of the event it's a problem that needs to be discussed. It is part of the healthcare issue because with proper identification and psychological treatment many of thse tragedies could have been avoided.
jaydeekay
I don't know...
These are mostly people that no one would have thought would have done anything like this. I'm pretty sure that these people would not go 'get help' anyway.
Sempronia
I'm wondering, too, if it's also an issue of broken taboo. I'm not exactly hitting the media glorification part, but what goes with it, the way in which an atrocity and its publication set the stage for other atrocities -- e.g. the killing of one's family being something no longer simply of nightmares, but with actual, well-publicized examples of it taking place. Does the frequency of publicizing make such an act more "acceptable" in the mind of a sick person because it is no longer taboo?
manticore1223
There may be some merit to that argument. Homosexuality and Interracial marriage used to be taboo. Once the media began to popularize it, it became more acceptable. There is no going back, IMO, though. You cant rewind a culture.
angelamdupont
The mental health issues of these people who commit these crimes never seem to be noticed with any amount of emotion and some effort to reach them to keep these things from happening until it is too late. Our medical treatment for mental health issues in this country is in dire need of review. Media may be part of the issue but it is up to the people who know these individuals to stop and try to do something about it before they kill other innocent people.
Mixpixlix
Yes, it is deadlier than any flu and apparantly infectious. There's no doubt that our culture of "me" has made narcissism a serious affliction. When people have no thought for others and demand immediate graftification to every whim, twitch and want, a culture is in serious trouble.
We also live in a time when everyone has rights but few accept the responsibilities that go along with those rights. And, mental health treatment is expensive, long term and out of reach of those who need it most.
However, people like Sowell are, in my opinion, a different species. A predator species and don't deserve to live.
lic2fly
I agree with your point on over-glorification, that's why the media never shows suicides. I would check my numbers on the flu. Regular flu kills approximatley 36,000 people in the US per year. Where's the call for epidemic status there?
CathiSmith
No-one talks about the "elephant in the room" with all these murders. All of the murderers were/are men. I would venture to say that this is not co-incidental. Maybe some of the problem has to do with a sense of entitlement, a feeling that one is not getting their just due. I wonder why few question why there are not more female mass murderers? Could it be that there is something right we are doing in raising our daughters--that we are not giving them the expectation that they are owed whatever these mass-murderers feel they are missing? Just a thought. Because only by analyzing what makes a mass murderer murder can we begin to correct the problem.
djanimaequeen
manticore1223
Seriously? You are comparing homosexuality and interracial marriage to mass murder? You're sick.
numonk
The murders or the drugs? Drugs don't kill people, people kill drugs by absorbing them and eliminating them through their bodies. However, people sure as fuck kill people.
What about hallucinogens? The only time hallucinogens scheduled originally as Schedule 1 are when an uninformed and unprepared person kills them self under the influence, often during periods of mental turmoil.
The most logical thing to do is mind your own fucking business, NOT the lives others choose to live on their own time, and NOT the deaths of anyone who is not consenting to their own death. Also, cite sources. That number is misleading by your own admission, ("I would offer that most murders take place in inner cities"), which is true overall but not necessarily by numbers pertaining to capita murders in different economic and geopolitical stratification.)
manticore1223
Admittedly, as well, adding as many stipulations and qualifiers as you can will muddy the waters to the point that no conclusion can be drawn.
thegeneral2
The best way to anger a Liberal is to speak logic, and I think what you (pico) just wrote says it best. Numbers prove it. But extreme left wing Liberals would still like to punish all of society because of .0042%. I have guns. Everything from Russian surplus sniper rifles to AK-47's. I've never once thought about going on a killing spree, or robbing a bank, or whatever. They're just fun to shoot. I also have a shotgun for home defense, and I hope to have to never use it. But the bad thing about gun control is, you only disarm the honest citizen. The gang bangers will still get guns, and the psychopaths could revert to butter knifes if it came down to it. What you have with violence, is a problem with no 1 solution. All we can do is continue to fight it. Good people need to stand up against it, instead of tolerating it.
billybob
I love shooting guns - but your argument is tired and flawed. The pro-gun / NRA lobby argues against the most common sense closures in loop holes for the purchasing of guns. There is no good reason that someone should be able to go to VA and purchase a .50 Sniper Rifle with no ID. This is bad for everyone, and is a clear terrorist threat. Anyone can go to these shows and buy whatever they want, but any attempt to shore up this loophole is met with the "they'll TAKE OUR GUNS!" argument. No one wants your guns. No one wants your freedoms. Sane people just want to make it a bit more difficult for the gang-bangers, and crazies to get their hands on weapons. So, chill out, and go back to your bunker.
hwacosta
Statistics are numbers. Life is not a number. One life taken for any reason, a murder, a homicide anything you want to call it, is a human tragedy. Drugs or differences in religion or anything else are not a bona fide reasons to kill. . A great woman Nobel prize winner Betty Williams recently said " Arms are for huging, not for killing" rather than trying to reduce the number of murders by legalizing this or that. We must educate the people to embrace the fundamental respect of human life.
pazobu
American freedom and liberality granted her citizens are responsible for the mass murders. I am amused when human right organizations and attorneys begin to plead for a serial killer on the death roll who has maimed families. I am equally amazed how generous we are in granting citzenship to enemies of our country. Or how else can one explain that people who openly heard Major Malik, a sworn American top military officer criticize his own countrys policy becuse of his religous inclination and refused to report else they would be seen as stereotyping their "Alquada colleague" in our Nation's uniform!
If we are short of volunteer soldiers, let us stop carrying the war against terrorist to other arears and get genuine Americans to deffend our home front.
marcus55901
I think the inner city assertion is not correct, though I agree with your conclusion nonetheless. It's easy to pretend the problem is somewhere else (inner city, another state, whatever) and overlook the constant drumbeat of husbands killing their wives or friends on farms, in towns, and cities all over the country. People in my idyllic little midwestern town are shooting each other over drugs, booze, family squabbles, etc., just like everywhere.
KicyMotley
I think this is more the result of human disconnect caused by lack of strong family support systems, technology, and too realistic portrayals of violence in entertainment. We have no empathy, love, or respect for our fellow man.
Some anger management wouldn't hurt either.
joepro
please, somebody, edit this article.
joepro
also: zgco.org
good response
Hotfrostins
Your attempt to link the problem to freedom does not work for me, simply because if it were the root cause we should have seen evidence of it throughout the entire American historical experience. I think rather more likely it is a culmination of many negative aspects of modern life into a combined symbiotic force, that is damaging psycholigically and leads to despair. Negatives like the transition of society from rural to urban centers where people lose identity and closeness with a social network, the ravages of all forms of drug abuse, violence in media and the endless exposure to it, the breaking down of family structure, long term effects of pollution within our industrialized environment, overpopulation zones,the quickness of people wanting status toys in our society and our need for satisfying it by buying material objects, the ingrained fear and stress of failure in a country where everyone is supposed to succeed. I am sure there are many more detrimental factors I did not list related to people becoming more isolated,more despairing and capable of violence while they become lost in sea of modern fast paced American diversity. I think multiple factors contribute to the killings we are experiencing, tyrany is not one of them, but evil does exist in this world and there are few simple explanations for these sensless slaughters . I do not see your link to the fact that we have rights to freedom.
loloo33
just wait when your country collapses, without money nobody cares.
Hotfrostins
It sounds as if you had money once and lost it and are wishing for everyone else in the country to experience your fate. Growing up with very little money can promote inner feelings of good from recognizing, appreciating and counting the real blessings in our lives. Having lost all your money or livliehood is surely devestating but a person can always try to rebuild from loss. While its normal to desire more and a better standard, for many people, having money is not the only measure of wealth or the thing that matters most in life. Every day is a gift.
rchaynes
Media reports revel in the "excitement" of these mass murders, making the perpetrators and victims "famous" for a while, interviewing them endlessly, replaying footage and only glibly reflecting on what went wrong.
If someone is even slightly unstable, an accumulation of these reports can get under the skin, and when their own going gets tough, they take that road of "mass murder," which is now well traveled.
Thanks for trying to tackle some of the dimensions of this issue so thoughtfully. I frankly don't know what the solution would be.
numonk
"Now" well traveled? Ever heard about the Crusades? Stalinism? The Precambrian?
Your assertion, along with the original botched and ridiculous 'story', is insane. Mass media did not recently exist. Mass murder UNDENIABLY has existed for millions to billions of years. This is similar to the reformed crackhead attempting to ban the sale of glass tubes to fight the use of crack. Illogical at best and painfully stupid, arrogant, and deconstructive at worst.
realmemory
All of the comments I have read here attempt to find logical reasons for random, illogical events. While understandable, it is futile to attribute cause and effect reasoning to individuals committing these actions. The media does treat mass murder with "excitement", but they are playing to an audience that craves this kind of excitement. There may be nothing one can do about the level of violence in our culture today -- from road rage to mass murder -- but one can live a life without violence at its core, and pass the concepts of that philosophy on to one's children. There is always a choice in what we watch, what we play, what we say, and what we believe.
Simkhe
All these murderers have one thing in common-- and if it were any other quality, everyone would be noting it: they are all MEN. The problem isn't freedom, it's our culture's violent, bullying ideal of masculinity.
Aranxa
Thank you for saving me to point this out.
numonk
...and for the mothers that microwave their children?
Nice generalization, exclude exactly half of the population?
SRPinPGH
Or the women who strap their children into the backseats of their cars and drive the cars into lakes?
Or chase their children around the house to drown them in the bathtub?
Or cut the fetus out of a woman's body because they JUST HAVE to have a baby?
munkie
Don't mind famous women you have done pretty large murder spree's themselves, for example Aileen Wuornos. Look her up, she and supposedly her lover killed 13 men.
MurrayAbraham
I don't buy the "video games and movies" argument, Canadians have the same and they are not affected by this disease despite a level of gun ownership comparable to the US.
I do however think you have a point when you say: "freedoms" are actually a tightening dog-collar turning us all into rabid animals.
The "instant gratification","proud to be stupid" and "greed is good" culture we cultivate in our country seems to make many forget that our individual freedom ends where the freedom of others begins.
mrnugz
gun ownership per 100,00:
Canada: 24000 US: 85,000
gun homicide per 1,000:
Canada .67 US 6.4
the numbers are in no way similar.
the disease is yours and yours alone.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
snakesonablog
To numonk:
The numbers are not similar.
Gun ownership per 100 (2007 statistics):
In the US 90.0
In Canada 31.5
Rate of Homicide (2006 FBI and Statistics Canada statistics)
In the US 5.7 per 100
In Canada 1.85 per 100
Rate of Homicide by Firearms (2006 FBI and Statistics Canada statistics)
In the US 3.4 per 100
In Canada 0.58 per 100
Those numbers are not "very similar".
Am-I-Dreaming
"The "instant gratification","proud to be stupid" and "greed is good" culture we cultivate in our country seems to make many forget that our individual freedom ends where the freedom of others begins."
Good point. These days, I encounter a considerable number of Americans who think their individual freedoms have, or should have, no end point, and those of others, no starting point. It's all about "my" freedom to do, not "your" freedom. Unfortunately, when everyone is speaking (shouting) and no one is listening, I think we're past the breaking point of civil society. Not a very pleasant place to be. Trying to raise children to be conscientious, tolerant, civic-minded, outward-looking citizens is more than a challenge these days.
Frenchmanaz
Mr.Siegel..Mass murders are, in part, a result of these other epidemics you list, most effecting being our economy and our health system.
Our economy because if you take note, when do many of these murderous rampages occur most often, when times are bad. Everyone is unhappy and having issues in their world and therefore that much angrier when out in public.
Many of these killers stories are wrapped in neglect, powerlessness and marginalization but the one factor that seems to ring even truer is that many of these killers suffered beyond the above and faced regular mocking by our society of self absorbed, selfish, narcissists.
Just the other day my wife's uncle, a junkie for life, who at 57 still lives with his own 90 year old mother, but who wouldn't hurt a flea and has a heart of gold. He doesn't walk out the door looking like a junkie ( meth face with the shivers ), but he does look worn.
We were sitting in his room the other day and he explained how many times he has found say a lost dog or whatever the reason, just basically being nice, middle of the day, plenty of witnesses, and was met with such scorn by so many that it broke his heart every time and only sank him deeper into his shell of self doubt and depression. We treat people like shit in America.
Even I, a 41 year old well groomed, nice looking man has faced similar circumstances. The " what are you talking to me for look " or the " Oh my God what are you going to do to me " or the best one yet ( most often exhibited by pretty ladies with the belief that every man on earth lusts for them ) that " you perv " look to which I respond with a good laugh and the though " you wish honey ".
Of course it doesn't only happen in America but hell if we ain't the most consistently mean and hateful to our fellow man.
You pick the killer and more times than not there is a history of that person being ridiculed and treated like shit, day in and day out.
Yes, en masse, America is one of the most generous, giving nations on earth, but one on one, day to day, not so.
Then there is the sense of complete lack of power to change things, which we see daily on TDB. Politicians and Corporations who fleece us and ignore the will of the people in favor of their own selfish gains.
Finally there is our wonderful MSM and their daily does of stirring hate and anger for our fellow man. I have lived all over the world and one glaring difference between America and ALL other countries is our news.
And lets be clear, the rest of the world has the same access to movies, music and violent video games that we do, so pull these out of the equation completely.
Stir all of this up and you get a nice steaming pot of anger. We are all, at one time or another, this close to losing it but most of us grew up in sane surroundings. Most of these killers did not.
A country where everyone walks the street singing kumbaya is not the answer but...
Don't even get me started on the guns thing. Guns don't kill people but they certainly are a convenient way for killers to stain the streets with gallons more blood than would be possible if semi automatics weren't as easy to buy as bubble yum.
I have much more to say but...not known for my brevity.
nortonclybourn
You're not known for your coherence or relevance, either. You will never be able to write a coherent and grammatical sentence in English, but I do appreciate that you use spellcheck.
MinorityReport920
I was reading all of this with a bit of skeptism however I must conclude that you make a really good point. Isn't it funny that the very first comment in response to your argument os doing the very thing you describe as the problem in our society. People lack respect, plain and simple. This day in and day out disrespect we lash out on one another may seem like torture to an individual already feeling isolated and mentally unstable. This along with the easy access to guns, both legally and unlegally, creates all these explosions of violence.
numonk
I agree with everything written here. You, sir, are not articulate on the internet but every topic you have addressed is an articulation with the day to day experience that many can relate to yet refuse to due to laziness and childhood indoctrination.
angelamdupont
Your arrogance and rudeness is exactly what the comment was about. It must be great to be the smartest person in the world so you have the right to put other people down.
kansasrefugee
I agree with Frenchmanaz that anger management may be at the root of these men's violence, but I wish to register an objection to his statement that such violence is explainable or justified because a woman rejects a man or questions what he is staring at her for or what his motives are.
Frenchmarz says "Even I, a 41 year old well groomed, nice looking man has faced similar circumstances. The " what are you talking to me for look " or the " Oh my God what are you going to do to me " or the best one yet ( most often exhibited by pretty ladies with the belief that every man on earth lusts for them ) that " you perv " look to which I respond with a good laugh and the though " you wish honey ".
This is classic narcissistic, male entitlement behavior. Frenchmarz has no idea what these women are thinking or what they mean by these looks; he is projecting his own issues onto them.
And there is simply no justification for violence in response to being rejected or questioned by a woman.
I suggest Frenchmarz look in the mirror when he criticizes self-absorbed, selfish narcissists.
claramj
I agree with you totally!
The fact is, when men have to worry about being raped by woman then they can complain about a woman not trusting them.
And I too have spent my whole life being treated like I had shit on me, but not once have I ever thought of hurting anyone because of it.
And though a great deal of woman have started killing as well, men still do more.
They are also most of the child rapists too, and child killers.
Though believe me it makes me just as mad to hear of a woman doing this as it does when its a man.
Its just in all these cases men do it more.
The fact is what no one here has brought up is religion, most serial killers are not just men, but devote religious nuts.
Mostly Christians at that, some also Jewish, so Islamic people are not the only ones that kill in the name of their god.
Almost every war ever fought was because of religion in some way or another.
People say money is the root of all evil, but religion came first, before there was even any money, even before people traded things for other things there was religion.
Right now that is the number one reason for the war in the Middle East, for the wars in Africa too.
Religion does nothing but keep us apart, even if we were all the same race, the same color, it wouldn't matter, if we still had religion.
Organized religions is what is killing us all.
Sure the bloody movies, and TV shows and video games don't help now a days.
But serial killer Ed Giens didn't have ether, but he did have a Bible preaching mother, who told him that woman were evil because god said so.
And he didn't kill using a gun ether.
Most serial killers don't use guns, knives are more personal for a serial killer, so most used knives, or their bare hands.
But lets face it, what happened at fort hood would have happened even if you took all our guns away.
Because he was in the army, one way or another he would have gotten a gun.
I only wonder myself if we would have heard of this happening if it had happened after he was sent to the middle east.
Or if they would have covered it up, who knows how many cases of this happening has been hidden form us, how many have been made out to be a mistake or done by the enemy.
How many times have we all heard of a soldier being killed by friendly fire, but its said to have been a mistake or a misfire?
How do we know that it wasn't a soldier going nuts instead?
Problem is we don't know, we just except the armies word on it.
I don't, I think they cover it up like they have many other things, they don't care what stress our soldier are under, there just numbers to them.
They ask for more troops, they get more, and more die, they ask for more, its like a game, like the soldiers are toys being moved around on a giant chest game, but where they can replace them with more when they lose one or one hundred.
But is USA the worse, no, is it the only one that don't care about their people? No.
The whole world is like this, this is the largest free and civilized country in this world, it is also the most populated.
So of course it has more killings, or so it seems.
But if you go and compare some of the smaller countries with us, based on its size and the population, I bet you would find there is no difference.
The whole world has to change, all the so called civilized countries all have too stop being so greedy, and selfish, and Narcissistic and start working together to save us all, and this planet.
Or we are all doomed!
munkie
Again i point out that men are not the only serial killers.
claramj
Munkie, I didn't say only men, I said mostly men, no doubt your a man, because a woman wouldn't read all of what I said and single out what I said about men.
Its really sad that men think they are so special that they forget about all of the info out there that's proof of what I said, about most of the serial killers.
And I did say most, not all, just like men are not the only ones who kill kids, or their family.
Woman do too, just like women can be just as abusive to their kids as men, my mom was.
But most of the killing of kids, an men and woman are done by men.
Forget about gangs, or war, I am talking about men going nuts and killing a bunch of strangers at a McDonald's and then killing himself, all because he wanted to kill himself, but wanted to take others with him.
This has happened time and time again, most of the time when a man decides to kill himself he takes ether his family with him, or strangers.
And yes its true woman do this too, most of the time its her own kids even, but mostly woman just kill their selves and no one else.
Its true there has been allot of woman killing, especially their own kids, and not always before killing them selves, sometimes just because she wants to be free of them.
It makes me sick and ashamed to be a woman when a woman kill, especially children.
We woman have spent so many 100's of years being butchered by men, I can't stand the idea of a woman going out and copying men, and killing.
Oh I know that woman have been pretty evil as well, as Queens have people killed for her.
But in most cases, even as Queens they had very little rights, not as long as there was a king.
And if the king died, if he had a son, he would be kings and ruler, even above the Queen, kinda odd isn't it?
Anyway my point is I know woman kill people too, but men seem to enjoy doing it much more.
So you men stop wining that everyone is picking on you, and grow up.
You sure as hell cant argue about who rape's the most can you?
But being a man you don't see rape as a big deal, but that's because you have never been raped.
I am lucky to have not, but its is something that I have to worry about for the rest of my life, because I was born a woman.
You men never have to, unless you go to prison, then maybe you will understand, but then most of you would be doing it to someone else too.
Enough said, peace!
Chuckv
Siegel is right that we have a problem, but hardly about anything else. First, he conflates serial killers with mass murders. They are entirely different people with entirely different methods. Serial killers get pleasure/satisfaction from their kills. They usually go to great pains from being discovered. Like the BTK killer in Kansas, then can even be well integrated into society. Killing is up close and personal--usually by hands, rope or knives. The Washington D.C. sniper was an exception to the last.
Guns are a necessity for the mass murderer. You can hardly strangle a room full of people. But nothing but a complete ban would keep guns out of the hands of people as desperate as Major Hansan. Regulating the sale of guns would make things more difficult and could well reduce the all over number of mass shootings.
Seigel blames our heartless economic system. Mass murders may or may not be under severe economic stress. Those who kill the boss who fired them and former fellow coworkers clearly were. But the children at Columbine, the teenager at Virginia Tech, and the major at Ft. Hood were all sheltered from the economy.
The only common thread linking all mass murders that I know about is that they all feel socially isolated for one reason or another. Isolation breeds hatred, anger and despair until they decide to commit suicide (or "suicide by cop") and take as many people with them as they can.
Our society may be uniquely isolating. We live in spread out suburbs, and even in cities most people live isolated in their apartments, not out on the street where they meet people. Do the overcrowded slums of the third world ever breed mass murders? We have no pub culture like the British. We move too often to put down roots.
I hardly know if I am correct, but it is my best guess.
dermutt
I'm British, we move a lot too, all over the world, luckily there are British style pubs all over the world, if we can't find one we open one, (bollocks to local colour) As for the propensity of Americans to mass murder....dunno, but an interesting point about US demography.
periscope
Mass murder in America is a combination of societal issues, individual mental issues and the easy availability of semi-automatic guns.
Drugs wars and job losses are the two biggest societal issues. We should legalize drugs and dispense them from government clinics. We would then reduce or eliminate the illicit trade and collect revenue from a trillion dollar industry. On the job issue we simply have to do whatever is necessary to get our economy back on track, including another stimulus package to promote infrastructure jobs and new local industries.
Mental health will always be a problem, but all we can do is try to detect dangerous people before they go off like a bomb. Very hard to do, and probably the least promising avenue of change.
Finally there's the guns which infest every part of America. Like other lobbies, the gun lobby has turned our lawmakers into cowards, afraid to pass legislation that will ban semi-automatics and gun shows, where even automatic weapons can be acquired.
Prognosis: More mass murders for far into the foreseeable future for America.
SimonSaize
this subject is re:occurring it has not altered much over the course of years- one reason is society has remained stagnant.
loloo33
This is a great article, but what's the solution?
periscope
Legalize drugs. Make all semi-automatic or automatic weapons illegal. And get the economy going again so that people aren't angered and depressed enough to commit simultaneous homicide and suicide.
All are tall orders, and probably not doable in America today, which is why we can expect more mass murders to occur, and just hope that by random luck, you or I aren't the next innocent victim.
loloo33
Thanks periscope.
manticore1223
I really didn't get the "legalize drugs" bit out of this, but whatever floats your boat.
munkie
Legalize drugs? I hope you are kidding, legalizing crack, coke, herion, acid, lsd would destroy this country. There alot of domestic related crimes over anyone of these drugs, so lets make available to anyone. Mothers have killed kids so they can go off and do drugs, instead of being a responsible adult and parent. Marijuana is a different story, no one has killed just to go off and do marijuana. The only deaths from marijuana, are deaths to dealing with dealers, or driving under the imfluence(should be regulated just like alcohol). For the making weapons illegal, should make exstention cords illegal because people use them for strangling people and for suicides. I persoanlly have a semi-auto pistol for home protection(I never wanted to have to use it, but if I do its better than being stabbed to death or w/e else someone wishes to do to me). On that not should we make knives illegal? Maybe we make radiator fluid illegal to, people poison other people and animals as well with radiator fluid.
crymeariver
-Stop giving mass murders so much press after their acts of evil.
-Stop the 24/7 coverage of their crime.
-Stop making them famous, say their name once or twice and then
referral to them as the monster who killed at location X.
-Only refer to the VICTIMS of the crime and the heroes who helped
others escape.
munkie
I agree 100%, maybe say their name once but after that refer to them as the monster/horrible person they are. Everyone has ups and downs, everyone has problems with the economy but we choose to not slay people for any reason expect self defense.
zsingerb
Before you condemn guns and the American culture for "mass murders" look up the statistics for Honor Killings. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000. I don't think we had 5,000 victims of mass murderers in any year in American history.
nortonclybourn
Boy, you set the bar low. We are less murderous than feudal societies. Too bad our health care is inferior to Slovenia's.
joycehelene
We value our freedom, but we do not use it wisely most of the times. We buy guns, spend more than we need, go into debt willingly most of the times, live beyond our means, we forget to save for the rainy day etc, we do these things because we have the freedom to do them. When the going gets tough a lot of us go into crisis mode and some do crack-up and some even carry out mass murders, I guess this is the price of freedom, we hate to be regulated and resent if we have our guns registered, if only we could self monitor our behavior before things are so out of control and we revert back to our primitive impulses.
ThinkAgain
Who exactly is "we"? We're talking about less than 10 nutcases out of a population of over 307 million. It's silly to suggest that the entire culture has an impulse control problem based on those numbers!
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