Another senseless shooting involving the targeting of children has occurred and Americans want answers. What can be done to stop these murders? What is causing them in the first place? When did society become so violent and life so expendable?
Many have argued there are a multitude of contributing factors. Start with the lack of treatment solutions for the severely mentally ill. After decades of deinstitutionalization brought forth by the promise of a cure for psychosis through neuroleptic drugs, the mentally ill remain a noticeable segment of the population, often committing acts of violence. Another challenge is that a quarter century after Columbine, schools remain soft targets with inadequate security measures. School committees designating their campuses as gun free zones have proven to be ineffective deterrents. The issue itself has devolved into a dichotomy debate between politicians looking to serve their own agendas. Democrats, who constantly embarrass themselves with their ignorance of guns, blame the guns themselves. They also blame Republicans for not repealing the second amendment, which they believe would solve the issue as they envision criminals promptly turning in their weapons, not wanting any unfair advantage over a disarmed population. Republicans may focus on preserving Constitutional rights, but neither side is brave enough to ask the right question.
Why is this happening now? Our parents had rifles. They had mentally ill people. They had zero school security. Why then, did they not have school shootings? One theory is they had certain advantages over modern society that went a long way in preventing these shootings from happening in the first place. Here are a few: Church. They had a broad based, community-linked morality system in which Judeo-Christian values were constantly taught and celebrated. These values included the sanctity of life. Perspective. Our parents recognized their privileges of freedom and relative comfort because they were taught the plight of the previous generation who endured the Depression and WW2. They were thankful for what they had due to their parents’ sacrifice. Discipline. There were behavioral standards of decency and respect that were expected, no excuses. Stepping out of line of this value system meant being unmistakably corrected. Tough love was widely practiced in a way you rarely see with children today.
The youngest generations can lay claim to none of these essential intangibles. Modern secularism leaves a vacuum where religion-instilled family values once were. That is not to say that organized religion has a monopoly on morality, but few members of the selfie generation can pry themselves away from Instagram and TikTok long enough to study the Stoics to any meaningful degree. Gratitude for freedom and wealth has been replaced by feelings of guilt as children are being taught their history is evil. Standards for respect have been relaxed over the years as children now address adults by their first name and punishment for misbehavior just means being deprived of their latest technological gadget for a brief period.
As a society, we have strayed far away from the values of the Greatest Generation. Strong men and women created good times. Unfortunately, those good times have created weak men and women who cash the check of the freedom and opportunities afforded by their ancestors while paying no respect to how that check was written. Instead, they foster ideas that encourage weakness and resentment. These ideas create a society defined by its nihilism and narcissism.
Nihilism is the absence of guiding principles that give your life meaning. For the past two generations, the internet has replaced both the church and parental figures as the resource to seek answers. Wisdom has been substituted with sterile Google search results. Interpersonal communication now means email and text messages. Disinterest in having children has risen dramatically. Recently, government prescribed Covid measures did a phenomenal job of squashing what remained of human contact and warmth, teaching our children that hugs and handshakes are reckless actions. Put simply, when life has no meaning, it has no value. Abortion advocates once argued for its safe, legal and rare use. Now it is celebrated as a sacrament of female empowerment to the point leftist politicians cannot even oppose late term abortion, lest they be seen as attacking women’s rights. What message does this send to young people that adults cannot even agree that a viable baby in the womb should be protected by law? Without humbling and guiding principles that cherish life, as well as a belief in something larger than ourselves, the individual is left to feel little about the miracle of life and see himself as the center of the universe.
Narcissism is the obsession with oneself that makes empathy impossible. It creates a culture of victimhood where self-pity and self-importance replace integrity and only the most superficial people are revered. Recent generations have not known true adversity, so they invent challenges to claim oppression. They orchestrate hate crime hoaxes. They claim offense to everything except the most sanitized, hyphenated language. They equate words with violence which in their minds justifies retaliatory physical violence. Their fixation on identity prevents healthy, merit-based development of self-esteem. Pride in skin color or sexual orientation has replaced feelings of pride one should only receive from accomplishment, a critical element in the process of transforming a child into a useful adult. Emphasis on identity has reached such dangerous levels that acceptance of identity is demanded no matter how absurd the claim. Failure to participate in the self-delusion of others is tantamount to a rejection of their basic human rights, again, justifying violence. It is all unchecked, unholy, society-corroding narcissism and to spend any of the little time we have together consumed in this nonsense only cheapens the value of that time and mocks the gift of life given to us by our Creator.
In the end, there is no quick and easy solution to this problem as it has been decades in the making. However, as we have seen family, respect, gratitude and morality become less of a priority, we have also simultaneously seen mass killings rise. It is becoming more and more evident that the further we drift away from our traditional values that support life and liberty, the more we can expect senseless tragedies like Nashville to continue happening.
