We all have our own opinions and I am not begrudging reporters for having them too. I have mine too. Don’t begrudge me mine!
Of course the mainline media, the big media elites, say that there is a political solution. Ban long guns and make sure those who purchase them have background checks. This has worked very well in Chicago which has no gun violence. (Italian sarcasm).
This morning a commentator for CNN derided the political system that won’t ban guns. We need laws and politicians won’t pass these laws. Thus CNN blames Republicans.
But would any of these big news media reporters do an investigation into the facts that they might well be a root cause of these mass shootings and the fascination with guns and killing people in a barrage of bullets?
1. Look at all social media forms of entertainment, from video games to movies and TV shows, especially those that are now streamed. I watched an episode of the 4th season of Stranger Things, and there was a home invasion by government officials, using machine guns and the bullets were flying and the agents massacred. It was all very exciting to watch. Real entertainment. and this show is geared to children and teenagers. One middle school child said God D… and the others cuss up a storm. They do that, I know, but do media giants need to glorify it?
2. Mental illness is the cause too along with being “nones” with no higher authority in people’s lives, their truth the ultimate truth and no scrupulosity as it come to moral laws and civil law. The “non-binary” creature who demands that the pronouns this creature used for “them” are “They and Them!” Can this kind of identity be a sign of mental illness? Will the media reporters name it for what it is, mentally ill and disordered and in need of serious therapy and healing?
No there are laws against that, so let’s blame the politicians.
By the way, the media hoax that the nightclub shooting was a hate crime against LGBTQ+++++ was the original and immediate meme of the majorly news giants. Then they found out the one who killed is non-binary, self described as such and demands the pronouns “they and them”. And the media is working hard to respect their identity and demand!
So, as far as I can see it, the media is a big cause of gun violence in our country, enabling, inspiring and motivating the mentally ill to take action, the kind of action they watch on the various media platforms. It is thrilling for them. And yet, the media can’t call out the disorders of humanity, which infects their sexuality too.
Not all mentally disordered and insane people resort to gun violence. Sane people do too when they are morally malformed and encouraged to act out by the violence depicted on social media platforms which glorify it and make it into entertainment.
30 comments:
Mental illness? Nope.
"It is critical to understand that mental illness is not the cause of gun violence. The United States has similar rates of mental illness to other countries but much higher rates of gun violence. The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. is nearly 25 times higher than other high-income countries and the firearm suicide rate is nearly 10 times that of other high-income countries. Overall rates of gun deaths are 11.4 times higher in the U.S. as compared to other high-income countries."
https://efsgv.org/learn/learn-more-about-gun-violence/mental-illness-and-gun-violence/
Do we, then, just arm everyone and pretend we're living in the Wild West with only our trusty six-shooter to keep us safe? That's what many on the pro-gun side claim. But Americans already have more guns than anyone else in the world, yet this is where the gun violence is the greatest.
"Among 64 high-income countries and territories, the United States stands out for its high levels of gun violence. The US ranks eighth out of 64 for homicides by firearm (age-adjusted). Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, two US territories, rank first and third on that list. Firearm injuries tend to be more frequent in places where people have easy access to firearms, according to findings from the 2018 Global Burden of Disease study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)"
I have a friend who was an Orthodox Priest and he would say that the only decision he would make was what tone to sing it in.
John, I think you intended this for the Clericalism post and the Modern Mass as highly clerical in terms of him making all the choices because he is superior to a Mass that doesn’t allow choices.
So, FRMJK, you are saying that mass shooters are not pathologically compromised that all of them are sane in particular the two from this week?
Father Kavanaugh is ignoring people murdering each other by the bushelfull as a sign of mental illness and a mentally sick society as a whole and claiming our society is no sicker than any other.
hahahahaha!
Rather than look at the root causes of this violence (the society rotten to its core and raising totally messed up kids), he prefers to attack the preferred weapon of these messed up empty lives, and to leave everyone else defenseless against the depredations of the insane and the predator.
My suggestion is Father Kavanaugh needs to go to the Bronx, Queens, and Chicago, and preach his message, and be sure to notify his next of kin before doing so.
Well the mainstream media is having a tough week because neither mass shooter fit their preferred narrative: In Colorado it was a non-binary whatever it is and in Chesapeake a Black male. Hence both stories will be memory holed shortly just like the BLM supporter who mowed down children and grandma’s in Waukesha last year. But the Left still prays to their favorite felon, St. Floyd!
Fr. McDonald I think you know why Fr. K does what he does in the words of John Nolan he is a berk
Meanwhile, Father Kavanaugh will protest against the incarceration or execution of these murderers, saying it is not their fault, but that they were driven to this insanity by a sick society, in short, saying the murderer's could not help themselves because they are insane. Father Kavanaugh needs to pick one and stick with it and not cherry pick whichever is convenient to his latest social cause. I suggest he do deep penance and conversion of heart for his whiteness as a constructive starter.
Bob,
That was comedy gold! You could have thrown in St. Louis, Philly, LA, Houston, Memphis and any number of Democratically controlled cities! Without guns, these crazies would use knives, bombs, or whatever it takes. The MSM refuses to point out the number of crimes that are prevented or mitigated by a good guy with a gun. Agenda Uber Alles!
Fr. ALLAN McDonald asks, "So, FRMJK, you are saying that mass shooters are not pathologically compromised that all of them are sane in particular the two from this week?"
Then Bob chimes in, "Father Kavanaugh is ignoring people murdering each other by the bushelfull as a sign of mental illness and a mentally sick society as a whole and claiming our society is no sicker than any other."
Both comments miss the mark, substantially.
First, is it a pathology? There is the possibility of pathology, but it seems to me that it is often used to by-pass the matter of "disordered desires" that are the result of sin. I don't think it is helpful or accurate to speak of "pathology" when it comes to the matter of disordered desires. Second, I am ignoring nothing nor am I attacking "preferred weapons," nor am I saying our society is more or less sick than others.
"Messed up empty lives" gets us closer to what I thihnk is the root cause of violence in general. Without committment to true and lasting values, people's lives can become "empty," leaving them to search for meaning in a variety of destructive ways including violence and dominance, drugs and sexual addictions, accumulating possessions and wealth. The difference between our country and other countries is not whether mental illness is present in a segment of society, but the availability of weapons.
Bob, as for leaving people defenseless, you are trusting the wrong source of protection. When Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by John Hinckley on March 30, 1981, there were at least 50 heavily armed and highly trained agents protecting him. Did there guns and training protect him?
Bob, I will not protest against incarcerating those who are convicted of these heinous offenses. That is simly not true. I will protest executing them for a variety of reasons, not the least being the Church's teaching that all human life has dignity and is to be valued.
Fr K except you vote for the Party which contradicts what you are saying. They LOVE killing the innocent unborn even voting to provide funding for abortions during the pandemic. Add hypocrisy on steroids.
Father Kavanaugh, I think thou dost protest too much, to where you lose track of what you protest. You protest the penal system inordinately incarcerates blacks, while at least until recently blacks were committing the majority of crimes in the USA,and while you say you are for incarceration of murderers. You jump on the gun as the problem, when the majority of murders in the USA are black on black violence from the totally messed up culture they embrace.
Now society as a whole embraces these non-values as values, which IS insanity, and all you want to tag is an inanimate object as the root cause where if that object is controlled, the violence will end. No, it won't. There will be knives, hammers, axes, automobiles, which automobile you of course do not want banned as you own and use one, same as a lawful gun owner.
Father McDonald, I have used a gun twice to defend myself and others. Never had to fire it either time, had enough of that in the Army, but the guns were used to disarm aggressors threatening death to others. You never read of the millions of times guns have been used in exactly that way. You should read Prof. Gary Kleck's studies on such uses.
Sorry, Bob, you're wrong again. You said above, "Meanwhile, Father Kavanaugh will protest against the incarceration or execution of these murderers,..."
Never said it, never would.
Let me make it clear for you. I believe that murderers should be prosecuted. As much as you need to caricature what those who do not share your beliefs actually say and believe, that's your creation, not my words or thoughts.
You've created a straw man thinking it "proves" your point. It only proves the weakness of your argument.
Yes, there is racial bias in policing, prosecution, and incarceration. That is a societal sin and an individual sin which continues to rip apart our national fabric.
Now, about those 50+ heavily armed and highly trained security agents that could not protect the President of the United States.......
Father Kavanaugh, If you were serious about stopping the majority of gun violence, you would agitate for blacks banned from possession of firearms. But, we cannot have that, can we? Why? Because it would lead to the law abiding blacks being defenseless, to include defenseless against the odd white violent nutcase. This logic works other races, too.
Take that away and you are left with a police force which only arrives in time to put yellow tape around bodies, and the violent offender perhaps captured, is then immediately released back into the general population....but you are never so outspoken about that, either.
You ignore the failings of your own vocation to bring people into union with God, wonder at the violence, and then go for low hanging fruit on which to pin the blame, an inanimate object, because that is far easier than dealing with root causes.
Most "gun violence" and most mass shootings are drug/gang related and committed by people of color against people of color. They are mostly committed in democrat run cities with strict gun control. Violence is greatest where legal guns are outlawed. Most libs like to say "it would be like the wild west if we allowed more guns." But the actual wild west - as opposed to the hollywood version - had far lower rates of violent crime of all types. Half the states in the country allow constitutional carry; if us gun owners were a problem, you would see it outside of gun control/gun free zones.
Bob,
I hope you now realize you are dealing with a leftwing Democrat operative masquerading as a Catholic priest. In another era he would have been burned at the stake. Enjoy!
"Yes, there is racial bias in policing, prosecution, and incarceration. That is a societal sin and an individual sin which continues to rip apart our national fabric."
BULL.
More black people in America are arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated because MORE BLACK PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES. And that's not because of race. It's because of culture.
Between 1965 and 1969, illegitimate birth rates for blacks and whites were nearly the same, with a slight edge for black people. 68 percent of white mothers were married and 56 percent of black mothers were married. After 5 decades of government policy that encourages and even rewards women for getting pregnant without a husband, those numbers are vastly different. In the 1950's a black child was far more likely to grow up in a home with a married mother and father. Today, about 36 percent of black children grow up with married parents. You can dance around this all you like, but there is no denying that there is a direct link between growing up without a father and criminal behavior.
When I meet black people from foreign countries, they are almost a completely different species than black people who grow up in America. The culture of black America is sick and we are too cowardly to stand up and say so. Words like "motherf_cker" and "baby mama" or "baby daddy" have all become mainstream and it isn't white people who made them so. For all the "creative poetics" of rap, the biggest selling "music" from that genre is filled with obscenities and glorifies criminal behavior.
We have let the black culture in America--no, we have ENCOURAGED the black culture in America to get more violent, more hostile to Christian values and more vulgar and hypersexualized than we might ever have imagined in 1965. Why? Because white people have been bullied by political forces with an interest in maintaining the status quo into staying silent. We're too yellow to stand up to bullsh_t organizations like BLM because they might call us "racists" (never mind their naked racism against all things anglo-saxon).
The empty cry of racial bias in law enforcement is utter nonsense. Please stop trying to sell that big lie here.
Jerome, the American Bar Association knows better than you.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/public-service/racial-disparities-criminal-justice-how-lawyers-can-help/
Butm, of course, you will claim to be more knowledgeable then the Bar Association...
The Economist knows better than you.
https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2008/05/12/race-and-incarceration?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclid=CjwKCAiA7IGcBhA8EiwAFfUDsWCM3-kSWv7O_IQV7i8UBX1qNniPYrMILnTYp0exw8Q9ElSNZ18q4BoCVu4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
But, of course, they can't know anything...
Forbes known better than you.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredcouncil/2022/05/23/despite-post-floyd-era-promises-limited-gains-in-racial-equity/?sh=139caad54eed
Heck, even Police Chiefs know better than you.
https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/addressing-implicit-bias-in-policing/
But, you'll dismiss them, too.
Jerome:
“The empty cry of racial bias in law enforcement is utter nonsense. Please stop trying to sell that big lie here.”
I do not pretend to understand all the complex causes involved, but I am reasonably confident that the disproportionate representation of African Americans, especially African American males, on the receiving end of our criminal justice system cannot be explained reductively by a simple, single narrative, whether that narrative be “it’s due to bias” or “it’s due to culture.” I strongly suspect that, like the proverbial elephant, both you and Father Kavanaugh have emphasized different aspects of a much more complex truth.
The following source would seem to provide significant support for the bias part of the elephant:
https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2022/08/UN-Report-on-Racial-Disparities.pdf
Can you please share some relevant sources for the culture part of the elephant.
Sophia Here: Jerome Merrick @ 11:10 A.M. AMEN!!! And add approximately 50 years of Affirmative Action and now DIE (Diversity, Inclusivity, Equity). Yes, there was a HISTORY of anti-Black,/other POC racism. But now increasingly over the past 50 years, the only Institutionalized racism we have is anti-White (especially non-LGBTQ+++ Christian males), anti-Asian discrimination. It is not even subtle, it is being proclaimed in the admission policies of Prestigious Universities, Professional Schools, the hiring and promotion policies of Corporations, Airlines (even pilots!), the Military, and the Biden Administration-to give a few examples. A society cannot survive let alone thrive with this absurd policy of replacing meritocracy with identity factors and tolerating/excusing crime based on similar factors.
While "dismiss" might be a bit extreme, (just as the arrogance of "they know better than you!") these establishment sources (the ABA, Forbes, Economist, etc.) all have an interest in maintaining the status quo of the "conventional wisdom" of perpetuating white guilt and blaming ourselves just because 14% of our population has a problem controlling themselves.
I've been listening to this narrative since I was in the 3rd grade and I have witnessed incredible changes in race relations in America. In spite of that, it is obvious to anyone with their eyes open that no matter what gains are made in race relations in America, it will NEVER be enough, because there is an industry supported by the need for grievance and that industry DEMANDS that we always have something to whine and complain about when it comes to race. You wanna wallow in the guilt and pay your hard-earned money in reparations? Go ahead, but I'm finished with this garbage. It's a slick, overused canard that has played itself out and worn out its welcome. "Oh, please, don't even THINK I might be a racist" (or biased, or bigoted, or prejudiced or whatever) is what drives all of this. I'm done with it.
As far as some "relevant" sources that fly in the face of the Blame Whitey Establishment:
https://www.creators.com/read/walter-williams/05/15/the-true-black-tragedy
https://www.city-journal.org/html/black-family-40-years-lies-12872.html
Excellent interview with Thomas Sowell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGUi7ezxcTk
https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and
https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-analysis-of-out-of-wedlock-births-in-the-united-states/
And for a look at Black Culture alone:
https://www.city-journal.org/html/how-hip-hop-holds-blacks-back-12442.html?wallit_nosession=1
Mark - I don't think there is one answer to the question.
The denial of racial bias, however, is a common tactic used by those who, like Jerome and Sophia, want to believe that such bias is either 1) a figment of the imagination and/pr 2) a think of the past, and/or 3) now directed primarily against those who are not black. I suspect is it used, consciously or not, primarily to maintain their own social status
Making the absurd claim with no evidence to support it, as Jerome does, that, "...the ABA, Forbes, Economist, etc.) all have an interest in maintaining the status quo of the "conventional wisdom" of perpetuating white guilt and blaming ourselves..." is also symptomatic of denial. What interest do these organizations have? What evidence supports such a claim?
There being NONE, Jerome makes puffs up his chest and announces his grand exit: "Go ahead, but I'm finished with this garbage. It's a slick, overused canard that has played itself out and worn out its welcome." This isn't an airline terminal so there is no need to announce departures.
Once again, Father Kavanaugh lamely attempts to put words in my mouth. I have never denied racial bias. In fact, I defy anyone here to show me ANY nation where such bias does not exist. What I DO deny is that there is some sort of overall bias in the arrests and prosecutions of criminals.
Our "respectable" legacy media outlets and public institutions all have a vested interest in supporting this crap because they are all either terrified of being labeled as "racists" or else they risk losing government funding for not towing the party line. And face it, there is probably NOTHING so terrifying to most people than having THAT label thrown at them. Society will forgive ANY sin--heck even sexually accessing children is gaining a creeping acceptance--but racism has replaced Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit as the one sin that will NOT be forgiven. If you want to be "cancelled" and have your professional career destroyed instantly, just get accused of racism. You really see this among our indoctrinated young people, most of whom speak with naive certitude about the injustice of racism, "white privilege" and the "ongoing struggle"...most of which they learned about while trying to stay awake in their Social Studies classes. They casually speak the F-word without a qualm, but recoil in horror at the "N" word--the new intolerable word that has replaced it. Yes, racism is worse than a casual disregard for the sacredness for where life begins according to our enlightened morality!
Racism is a terrible thing. It happens. But I think many of us are also in denial. The most liberal "unbiased" among us are often the most racist among us, all the while denying it and virtue-signalling their utter lack of prejudice. Yeah.
I can't think of one person I know who isn't disgusted by racial prejudice or who isn't embarrassed that part of our history includes slavery. But a very loud element has seized upon this opportunity of perpetual grievance and taken it places where it should never have gone.
I actually wish my chest WOULD puff up a bit, as the pushups aren't paying off at all. And my departure, which I won't announce again, is from the sham and mental dishonesty of the race grievance industrial complex.
I would add one more point to my previous exercise in verbose blather: I don't see one other person here wiling to comment or admit how toxic, destructive and sick the culture of black America has become. And don't go lumping that into meaning that I believe ALL black Americans are toxic, destructive, etc... But even black Americans who grow up in stable families have to contend with the embarrassing legacy that the "ghetto culture" of violence, illegitimacy, contempt for the law, boasting of criminal activity, oversexed attitudes with no respect for women, disgusting rap lyrics, etc... I have well educated black friends who have to cope with that kind of embarrassment on a daily basis. They shouldn't have to.
And lest someone accuse me of "blaming" black America, I think we should admit that it is WHITE America that enabled this toxic culture. The majority of gangster rap music is purchased by middle-class white kids. It was white Americans who encouraged all of this by making people like Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy rich, instead of challenging them to use their talents in a less vulgar way. And you could even accuse white English teachers of being cowards when they don't correct their students into using actual verbs when they hear them say, "I be..."
No one wants to deal with it. No one wants to confront this problem. And all our conventional race "dialogue" and initiatives aren't going to do a damn thing until we do.
The status of "the culture of black America," as you put it, doesn't result in "racial bias in policing, prosecution, and incarceration."
Before you go down the "blacks commit more crimes" rabbit hole, get the statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and then compare the policing, prosecution, and incarceration procedures and rates of 10 Black and 10 white defendants. Do blacks and whites get treated the same by police? Do blacks and whites have the same level of legal representation. Are the sentences given a convicted criminal comparable?
Yes, you denied the reality of racial bias in policing, prosecution, and incarceration. The reports I cited, which you dismissed out of hand because, of course, anyone who disagrees with you has a sinister agenda and is wrong, show the bias clearly.
The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation continues to be a burden in many ways to blacks. We told them, "Get land and you'll be fine after slavery," then it was taken away. We said, "Vote" and mobs of whites attacked many and killed many who tried to do so. We said, "Get elected to public office and you'll change the laws," and then whites drove elected blacks from office. We said, "Gain wealth" and then drew red lines around black neighborhoods that kept banks from making loans. We said, "Get out of the ghetto" and the same red lines came with housing covenants and restrictions.
The "sickness" that leads to the disgusting and vulgar lyrics in music knows no color boundary, whether that is in the creator or the buyer. The disrespect for law knows no color barrier. The vast majority of "oversexed" attitudes of little or no respect for women are in white culture.
Culture is in need of healing - not black culture, not white culture.
Well, one point I CAN agree with is that the general culture of western "civilized" society IS sick, regardless of race. I was merely pointing out how impossibly degrading and destructive to its own people the black subculture is in the U.S. and, again, that in many ways, white people have enabled it. That said, the whole enterprise has gotten worse--a lot worse.
Jerome:
Thank you for the links to the sources on the “culture” part of the elephant. I have read all of them thoroughly except for the last one, which I scanned, and I have not yet watched the Thomas Sowell video. I will return to these two sources to complete the process later. I did find the items very illuminating and learned some very useful insights from them.
By the same token, I hope that you read the sources that Father Kavanaugh linked, especially the last one on implicit bias, as well as the source I linked, which is a comprehensive treatment of systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system. If you haven’t, please do so, because you may learn from them that there is indeed still racial bias in the criminal justice system. And one cannot dismiss these sources as protecting some kind of vested interest in perpetuating the “myth” of continuing systemic discrimination and bias. After all, one could just as easily dismiss your sources, or at least some of them, as protecting a vested interest in the free market and smaller government ideologies intent on curbing federal government intrusion and spending. And I am sure you would regard that as unfair, as would I. If I have learned one thing over the course of my life, it is never to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
So, between them, all these various sources well describe both parts of the elephant (and doubtless there are still other parts too). And surely both parts must be addressed to find a comprehensive solution. Recognizing the existence of a more complex problem is the easy part, however. Finding the solutions is more challenging, no?
As food for thought regarding some possible solutions, here is an example of an initiative attempting to find practical solutions in policing—and one that a friend and colleague of mine at the law school was instrumental in bringing very recently to our community in Middle Georgia:
https://strategiesforyouth.org/
Sophia, who I believe referenced her expertise in psychology and working with troubled youth on an earlier thread, may want to weigh in on this initiative, too, given the premise about the undeveloped teenage brain upon which it largely rests.
More generally, city and county leaders have adopted a broad-based strategic plan for combating violent crime:
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/macon-violence-prevention-strategic-plan/93-516ced99-ffcb-4dab-9ff5-5e66094ea0bd
And then there is this gem from then Superior Court Judge Verda Colvin (now on the George Supreme Court):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7MIuqqWIvQ
This remarkable judge did not know she was being recorded. I doubt that anyone can watch this video and not be profoundly moved.
Georgia, not George, Supreme Court.
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