Violence: Missing The Elephant In The Room

This morning, 27 people (possibly more) were killed on a school shooting rampage. A large number of the the victims were children.

Another mass shooting... more fucked up shit and more completely unnecessary death!

I will keep all victims in my thoughts. To perfectly honest, events like this one are always on my mind now. Increasingly often, I just go through the day expecting disaster to strike at any moment. I just can't ignore things. I am deeply responsive to the world, and it is impossible to do that without feeling heartbroken and deeply saddened very often, just as the social psychologist Erich Fromm said.

I know many people will likely disagree with the timing of what I'm about to say, but it's really the only way we can TRULY want to honor the tragically untimely deaths of all these shootings.

It is extremely frustrating how everyone seems to limit the issue to gun control. Gun control is just a symptom of a MUCH larger problem.

Take a good, long look at the USA.

It's an aggressive, vicious, and brutal empire. Among other things, it:
- glorifies militarism and war
- zealously worships cutthroat competition, egotism, and rugged individualism (a ripe environment for utter sociopathy)
- mercilessly vilifies and dehumanizes the poor and downtrodden, as well as pretty much anybody it decides it doesn't like
- ridicules or otherwise drowns out all who try to bring about beneficial changes
- consistently supports many of the worst dictatorships on the planet
- constantly invades and bullies other nations
- uses whatever means it can (military, economic, political, black ops, etc.) in order to not only gain more influence, power, and resources, but also to promote the pinnacle of the ideals of the age-old "free market" (read: glorified Social Darwinism)
- constantly lies about pretty much everything to its own people and the rest of the world

Is it REALLY just an unfortunate coincidence that this same empire also has one of the highest domestic rates of violence (particularly gun violence) in the developed world?

Furthermore, consider this: the nation has been cutting social welfare programs for decades, and poverty and social inequality has skyrocketed as a result. Social inequality is a huge contributor to psychosocial stress, which in turn is strongly linked to violence.

Starting to get the picture?

But nobody wants to address this issue. Because the moment you start doing so, you start talking about... *GASP!*... social change! OMG, we can't be having that! Then everyone will actually have to take some fucking responsibility and face the world of bullshit!

Getting Values Straight

I am well aware that many people, especially libertarians, absolutely disdain the very concept of government and how, past and present, people blindly and religiously worship and serve government. Believe me, in many ways, I myself am consumed with utter disdain for the state and what it does.

I also understand that people are extremely alert for any signs of Marxism, especially the sicknesses that led to the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and others. I am sympathetic, though I lost A LOT of tolerance and patience for this attitude, largely because of though the sheer paranoia, social destruction, and lack of progress caused by rabid anti-communist impulse.

But what all of these folks share is a common and severe lack of a crucial understanding:

Human cooperation, social services, collective action, and the very concepts of compassion and unity are NOT the same as the evils of statism and totalitarian dystopia! Those values don't LEAD to those nightmares; when utilized en masse, responsibly, and effectively, those values PREVENT them! They are NOT negative things at all! They are in fact extremely POSITIVE AND NECESSARY things!

So knock it off with the demonization of any type of action for the collective good and for as many human beings as possible! 

Furthermore, know this: by dismissing any form of large-scale cooperation and humane, compassionate solutions as "statism" or "Marxism", you are playing right into the hands of the biggest religion and cause of death and destruction of all: the free market. This form of economic and social order has existed in one form or another since the Neolithic Revolution. It is a completely self-referencing pattern of abysmal logic and zero relevance to our modern world that is little more than glorified Social Darwinism.

When you are making the exact same arguments and vilifying the exact same things that neoliberals like Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys do, you know you need to re-evaluate whether you're on the right side...