Imagine the strongest, thickest Coffee possible; having the viscosity of sludge. That is how my internet is running this morning, so most of the below will be without the usual detail, and probably very short. Sorry I poured no Coffee last week. I was in a class for a bit, and was unable to brew.
“Random” Acts of Violence:
Yesterday, there were two separate (but possibly linked) attacks on church-related facilities in Colorado within 12 hours. The first attack was on a missionary training facility and left two would-be missionaries dead, and two others wounded. The second was on the New Life Church (a so-called “mega church”; non-denominational, evangelical in nature) which ended with one dead and four wounded church-goers. The gunman in the latter was killed by a security guard. I never add dead perpetrators to the death toll because I don’t think they should be counted along with their victims. In the first event, the shooter, who was bearded and wearing a dark jacket, was trying to coerce the facility’s staff into letting him stay the night. They refused, and he pulled out his pistol and started shooting people; an understandable reaction to having been denied billeting. The shooter at the second event apparently just started opening fire on hapless church-goers. This person was also described as wearing dark clothing (a black trench coat, wouldn’t you know), but eye witnesses were unable to provide much else other than to say that he was firing a “big gun” and they couldn’t recall seeing facial hair. That’ll happen when someone is firing a “big gun” at you; you tend to forget details.
A side note on eye witnesses (for some reason I want to add hyphens to everything this morning), if you’ll indulge me. There is a 90% chance that any person shooting a gun into a crowd will be wearing a black trench coat. Also, that person will likely be shooting a “big gun.” This is to say that the gun will be at least 30 feet long, and will fire truck sized bullets. This is not meant to mock, only to suggest that eye witness accounts, so loved by our media for the “realness” of their story, are notoriously unreliable and in many cases worthless. I remember my father telling me stories about deer hunting. These stories, always experienced under the heavy influence of adrenaline, feature a cast of freakishly large animals, with antlers spreading out over a meter. Having seen a great number of deer myself, I know that his recollections of these events are tainted, and he’d likely admit as such. But that is what the mind saw. It is probably some sort of psychological defense mechanism. The dark, black trench coat clad gunman who wades through a crowded mall dealing indiscriminate death has been etched into our collective mind, and we fear him as our ancestors feared the big cats while on the savannahs. Except now we are in possession of rationality, which means we will react to our fears with irrationality. Wearing dark clothes, or heavens forbid, a trench coat while acting “odd” will net you an arrest, if that is, you’re allowed to even wear dark clothes or trench coats.
These attacks come after last week’s mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska. Also, in the week following the Omaha attack, two separate online threats to go on shooting sprees in Los Angeles have occurred. On Friday, some guy from Melbourne, Australia posted on a message board that he was going to shoot up a shopping center near Beverly Hills. I’m not sure how, if, or when he planned on leaving Melbourne for Los Angeles. Apparently they haven’t shopping centers in Australia suitable for shooting sprees. On Sunday, a senior at Loyola Marymount University threatened to go on campus and shoot students until police killed him. Both men have been arrested. These come after a college student killed 32 people on a campus last year, which came after other shootings, which came after another.
Why the violence? Experts blame everything from video games to violent music to lax security to the degradation of the family unit. I haven’t an answer. I don’t know why kids, people, do these things. What I do know is that the Church of Klebold and Harris, perpetrators of the infamous Columbine shooting, lives on, and attracts more and more followers every day. These two boys, twice on the cover of Newsweek, are worshiped by today’s “disaffected” youth. This worship and adulation turns into imitation, wherein this collective youth glimpses a chance at wielding power in powerless lives; gaining infamy from obscurity. And the list of victims will undoubtedly grow.
Word of the Day: Perspicacity (pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee) (noun): Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment. When it comes to today’s youth violence problem, I lack perspicacity. As do we all.
On This Day in History: Martin Luther burns a copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine (Arise, O Lord), Pope Leo X’s response to Luther’s 95 Theses and other writings (1520). This bull demanded that Luther retract 41 errors within 60 days, the time allowed ending on 10 December. Luther burned this bull and some volumes of Canon Law in Wittenberg, in present day Germany. While burning the bull, Luther is reported to have said, “Because you have confounded the truth of God, today the Lord confounds you. Into the fire with you!” On 03 January 1521, Leo issued the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, which excommunicated Luther. The story of Martin Luther has always interested me. It is one that, while happening, probably seemed rather insignificant, especially to most Europeans at the time. But the acts of Luther and others would change the world. These little turning points in history fascinate me.
“It’s gonna be like Doom man – after the bombs explode. That fucking shotgun straight out of Doom.” – Dylan Klebold in a 1998 video.
"It's my fault! Not my parents, not my brothers, not my friends, not my favorite bands, not computer games, not the media, it's mine." – Excerpt from Eric Harris’ diary.
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