We do have a culture problem
Republicans always say we have a culture problem when Americans are slaughtered. They are right.
We do have a culture problem
More death today. More mass killing. More bullets ending lives.
I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with Republicans at this moment. I never agree with what has become of the Republican Party. But, I’ve been thinking a lot about recent events and their reaction to them and think they may be on to something.
After every shooting Republicans are quick to defend guns and say that the real issue is that we have a “culture problem.”
Yes. The culture they have created is exactly the problem.
They always say they don’t believe we need more laws to control the proliferation of guns across our society. No, according to Republican dogma we need to address the ‘culture problem’ that is producing these killers among us.
Oddly, the latest wave of killings really does support their thesis, but not the way they think it does. Yes, we have a culture problem. The problem is the culture of violence, hate, racism, and fear produced by the Republican Party, the gun industry, NRA, and the extreme right wing propaganda machine pouring their bile into the minds of millions of Americans daily has created a culture of slaughter and that’s exactly the problem.
Knock…knock…BOOM!
As I write this there is a manhunt unfolding in Texas for a man who killed five of his neighbors after they asked him to stop shooting his AR-15 in his front yard after 11:00 PM at night. He walked up to their house and killed most of the family including an 8-year-old child.
It’s yet the latest in what has now become an every single day occurrence when we turn on the news or open social media. Yet another new horror has unfolded to demonstrate how far our nation has slipped and how close to the precipice we sit.
In Illinois:
An Illinois man using a leaf blower on his property was allegedly shot and killed by his neighbor this month, becoming the latest in a string of shooting victims purportedly targeted while doing everyday tasks. William Martys was found dead in his Antioch Township driveway around 7:35 p.m. on April 12 with a gunshot wound to his head, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. He was declared dead at a local hospital.
In New York:
A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a young woman who was in a car that mistakenly pulled into his driveway in rural upstate New York, authorities said.
In South Florida:
Two Instacart shoppers making a grocery delivery to a home in South Florida had their car shot at after they ended up at the wrong address last week – an incident that police say didn’t lead to criminal charges. The homeowner who opened fire, a 43-year-old Southwest Ranches man, told police he shot his 9mm handgun at the car after it ran over his foot, and he feared for his life and the lives of his children, according to an incident report from the Davie Police Department.
In Kansas City:
Black teen Ralph Yarl was shot twice, in the head and arm, after going to the wrong home in Kansas City, Missouri, to pick up his younger brothers.
Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, told police he fired at honors student Yarl, 16, out of fear last week. But whether Lester will ultimately claim self-defense in court has yet to be seen. The case raises anew questions about race relations in the United States.
The magical phrase
It doesn’t take analysis or expertise to see the connections to all of these recent shootings and many more. A toxic stew of fear of others and the constant pounding of the idea that we should defend our home and all it takes are those magical words “I feel threatened” and a gun.
It’s like something out of Harry Potter but more monstrous. Instead of the killing spell: “Avada Kedavra!” one just has to say the magical words: “I feel threatened.”
Annoying neighbor? He came at me when I told him to stop…I felt threatened. BOOM!
Three women in a car? They were sitting suspiciously in their car…I felt threatened. BOOM!
Grocery delivery drivers trying to figure out the address? They were fleeing and ran over my foot…I felt threatened. BOOM!
A black teenager at the door? He was reaching for the door handle...I felt threatened. BOOM!
How did we get here? What led to a culture where every argument, every interaction, every moment is a potential life and death situation to be solved with the flash of a muzzle and a bleeding victim?
It’s simple and Kansas City shooter, Andrew Lester’s grandson, Klint Ludwig laid it out clearly:
“But in the last five or six years or so, I feel like we’ve lost touch,” he said. “I’ve gotten older and gained my own political views, and he’s become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line. I feel like it’s really further radicalized him in a lot of ways.”
Ludwig said his grandfather had been immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.”
“And then the NRA pushing the ‘stand your ground’ stuff and that you have to defend your home,” he said. “When I heard what happened, I was appalled and shocked that it transpired, but I didn’t disbelieve that it was true. The second I heard it, I was like, ‘Yeah, I could see him doing that.’”
The Toxic Stew of Death
We are here because the Republican Party, gun industry, NRA, right wing media, and all of their influencers have been feeding a steady stream of hate and paranoia into our society. Every moment of every day there is a constant flow of excrement poisoning us against each other and then offering the semi-automatic solution.
They broadcast terrifying images of crimes that are just minutes away from making you the next victim. You need a gun.
‘They’ are coming to take away your rights and your freedom. You need a gun.
There is a civil war coming and they want to take over our country. You need a gun.
The government is going to crush you. You need a gun.
This drumbeat of violence is working. Weak-minded and scared men are solving every problem with a gun. What used to be an argument, an angry interaction between neighbors or strangers that should sound something like “Fuck you!”…“Fuck you!” as they walked away has now become -
“Fuck you!”…”Fuck you!”….BOOM!
Rabid wolves
We have a culture problem and it’s not that kids are coming out as gay or transgender. It’s not that less people are going to church. It’s not that we don’t say prayers in schools. It’s not that we have more fatherless families. It’s not that people are on government assistance.
No.
The culture problem is that a vast network of hatred has infected much of our society with the belief that their strength lies in a gun and their role is to use them to kill.
There is a ridiculous theme that the right-wing, gun nuts embrace. They call themselves ‘Sheepdogs’ as an allusion to the supposedly strong alpha dog that guards the sheep from the wolves. They picture themselves as brave defenders of the weak ready to spring into action to save others. It’s all a fascist fantasy. It’s an excuse to eagerly kill other Americans.
The ‘Sheepdog’ has become a rabid wolf that is eating us all.
We have a culture of violence. We need our leaders to stop the insanity. We need reasonable gun control laws passed now. 84-year-old angry men should not own a weapon that can shoot a child because he can’t see well in the dark and believes every black man is coming to kill him.
We can’t stop these monsters, but we can damn sure disarm them.
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A depressing--but very accurate--description of our increasingly dystopian and violent society, Mr. Wellman.
That “I feel threatened “ line is so often used by the police as well.