Never Underestimate The Stupidity Of Idiots...Unknown Author
- The reaction to mass shootings is very predictable. After the incident, the most reasonable among us ask that we pray for the victims. But, as soon as the condolences are over, the media, the political class and citizens start peeling off into their ideological universes.
- The progressives start demanding more gun control while completely neglecting the responsibility rests with the shooter. Conservatives---rightly---place themselves under the umbrella of the Constitution and the Second Amendment. On the other hand, the media---largely progressives themselves---can't wait to assign blame to conservatives.
- We've witnessed this pattern over and over again. After the shooting in Colorado, Brian Ross of ABC News, immediately went on the air and speculated the shooter was a member of the Tea Party. CNN's Piers Morgan, as he always does, proved himself to be an idiot. In this recent case, he still has not retracted his claim the shooter at the Naval Base used an AR-15 after the story was proven to be bogus. The media couldn't wait to find a conservative or Tea Party connection to the shooting of Rep. Giffords in Tuscon in January of 2011. After the Ft. Hood shooting we saw the media raising the "crazed vet" myth. In fact, in that shooting, they withheld the fact that Hassan was an Islamists fanatic even though they already knew he was. In that case, we later found out how political correctness in the Pentagon might have been directly responsible for Hassan's murder spree (they knew prior to the shooting of his Islamist predisposition as did the FBI). All of these incidents also show how the media tries to assign motive without having all the facts.
- And with the Navy Yard shooting, we are again witnessing a rush to judgement to advance a political agenda---as always focusing on limiting our Constitutional right to bear arms by coming up with all kinds of excuses why Alexis murdered 12 innocent Americans.
- Just as disturbing, pundit after pundit reported the false claim that mass shootings have become more common. According to James Fox, professor of Criminology at Northeastern University, mass murders occur less often than we think. He points out correctly, in the 1980's, there was a period of post office shootings, hence the term arose "going postal." In the 1990's, there was a barrage of school shootings prompting many in the media to declare the nation was facing a new epidemic. This week, in the LA Times, David Horsey actually wrote, "Mass shootings have become as constant as the weather."
- It's becoming more clear that there were major systemic breakdowns in the Navy Yard shooting from the obvious mental health warning signs exhibited by Alexis to his criminal background to perhaps a breakdown in security at the Navy Yard.
- One fact is again certain: another mass shooting took place in a "gun free zone" in a city that has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. It took place on a military base that requires security clearances. Yet, this shooter was still able to murder 12 people.
- All the while, the media will keep focusing on the gun not on the systemic breakdown so evident in this tragedy or the individual. {Allow me to put on my behaviorist hat that's been hanging on my hat stand for several years now. Most of these mass shooters tend to be single men---usually young. They tend to portray themselves as victims. And they tend to have some anger management or associated mental health issues. They become withdrawn and isolated from others. None of these in and of themselves make a mass shooter. Put them all together---and you can almost predict problems arising in the future}.
- James Fox wrote in USA TODAY, "In the coming days, we'll surely learn more details about Alexis' troubles...The frequency of mass shootings should be kept in perspective lest we become a nation that constantly fears for its safety and over-responds to the risks."
