Pure Evil or
mass sins? Mass murder in Los Vegas. Home of the free, land of the disconnected. Oct
1, 2017:
The horrific
carnage we just witnessed in Las Vegas will never be stopped with sensible or even
draconian gun control measures. The time
and resources we spend on these are wasted.
It keeps us from addressing the systemic root causes of any mass murder. This bloody incident highlights the cost of a
warped mental perspective spawned by a lack of empathy/compassion for human
life or a bent mental frame reinforced by real or perceived injustices.
News reports
highlight Stephen Paddock slaughter as “the largest mass shooting in US modern history”. This is true.
But we easily forget that guns
are not the only or even the most horrifically destructive means of mass murder
in the US. Increasingly other easily
affordable means are available to every U.S. citizen and increasingly every
human on earth. And most, like guns can
never be effectively banned.
Note that
Mr. Paddock had a pilot license and owned two aircraft. And, according to investigators he had ammonium
nitrate in his car. Now think Timothy
McVeigh with a rental truck killing over 150 people and al Qaida’s use of
airplanes in killing thousands. Or, the loan
wolf terrorist attack in Nice France that killed 80 people using a rental truck
without explosives or firearms.
Paddock was
not a gun nut. He had no military or criminal background other than his father,
a professional bank robber who was once on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. Stephen Paddock was supposedly a multi-millionaire
gamble/speculator. Obviously he never
speculated that his wealth could benefit others in great need, or be used for
more unselfish ends.
President
Trump called his assault on concert goers an act of “pure evil”. “Evil’ however is not a useful word. It certainly feels good say it but it has
limited prescriptive value. ‘Crime’ or ‘sin’
however, does. These terms offer some effective preventive measures to
consider once we get past the grieving for those who were killed or wounded. Why
sin? It was Mahatma Gandhi who once postulated the seven
sources of sin. Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience,
Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity,
Religion without sacrifice,
and Politics without principle.
It appears that Mr. Paddock struck out
on most. And so do most of us. Our culture encourages these sins and we have
great difficulty in resisting them.
Someone once postulated, “how
healthy can we be if we are well adjusted to a profoundly sick society?” And I’m going to go way out on a limb here
and suggest the root cause of mass killings by any technical means is our ‘American’
culture of individualism and “America first” -- a worship of selfishness without
much consideration for the pledge that we have all given before our U.S. flag of “Liberty and justice for all”.
Few Americans are moved to action
by whatever empathy they may have when US military forces accidently mass
murder innocent people while conducting our nation’s 16 year war against
terrorism. We call it collateral damage
and view such murders as acceptable in using force to maintaining our own
security. We dictate to other nations what
weapons they are allowed to have and threaten them with lethal sanctions or annihilation
if they don’t bend to our will. When our
corporations are linked to exploitive business ventures or corruption that
results in lethal poverty, poisoning, prostitution, or support for murderous
regimes. Too few Americans turn to boycotts
or urging their U.S. Representatives or Senators to vote against such crimes or
introduce legislation to prohibit them.
Holding generals, soldiers or CEO’s accountable for such violations of
fundamental human rights? Just not a
priority.
Some claim that we are a
Christian nation. But looking at most
people’s check books it would be hard to identify those who actually walk Jesus’
talk. That whole “do unto others” thing
is more of an ‘eye for an eye’ reaction than a ‘love your neighbor’ or ‘forgive
those who tress pass’ commitment.
Bottom line: So don’t be surprised if sensible gun laws
are passed and the mass killings don’t subside.
Or, if draconian gun laws pass and the killings accelerate.
It should be a “Self –Evident” “Truth”
that all people are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable
rights. And, that real peace and sustainable
security is not a function of disarming people or having more or better armaments. The imperishable human desires for maximum
freedom and security are a function of justice.
In a religious sense, “the Golden Rule”.
The surprise of Mr. Braddock’s
family to his horrendous crime/sin could reflect the disconnect that exists
within their family, and perhaps our own, and beyond to our local and global
neighbors. I’m not sure what it will
take to change this. To reconnect us to
our better selves. So far, it appears that only massive pain and
suffering even get us close to looking at alternatives to the status quo. I could be wrong, but reality suggests
not. More gun laws are not the answer. A culture that discourages sin and insists on laws
that enforce “liberty and justice for all” could be.
Imagine a US
culture with a profound respect for all human life and God’s creation that sustains
it. A culture of fewer sinners, led by a
President and policy makers that walk our national pledge of “liberty and justice for all”.
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