I'm finally ready to talk about the Sandy Hook thing but it's not really a thing I'd normally discuss on this blog. You see, I like to stay on topic and keep all of my posts about Autism and Asperger's Syndrome - and Sandy Hook is about neither. Still, I guess there are some things which need to be said.
In case you don't know, Sandy Hook is the latest in a number of school shootings in the US. In many ways, it's being considered the "worst" because of the number of victims involved and their young ages. In truth, whichever shooting affects your own family is always the "worst". There no ranking. All of these "crazy gunmen" incidents are bad.
Over here in Australia, where among other things, we have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world, we're constantly shaking our heads at our US cousins who are ruled by powerful gun lobbies under a constitution which was written more or less to close to a period of war. Getting rid of the guns won't solve the problem. We still have gun violence but it's much reduced. Of course, since all of our borders are ocean, it's also much easier to patrol Australia.
When incidents like this occur, all eyes turn towards the perpetrators rather than to the victims. We spend time scratching our heads and trying to "profile" the killer as if this is just another episode of CSI. We look for patterns even when there are none and we try to pin these tragedies on minority groups because then we can say, "that person wasn't normal". We can convince ourselves that we're not all cold blooded killers waiting to snap.
I'm here to tell you that there will always be people like this in the world and that they won't necessarily fit a given profile. Even worse, although sometimes it's an illness, the truth is that we as a society are often responsible for them snapping. Merciless bullying can often cause people to snap as can media exposure which makes these killer famous. History has shown that there are plenty of killers and regardless of the availability of weaponry or the manner in which society locks up those deemed to be mad, the killers will often remain undetected and will strike when the time suits them.
There is no profile. These killers are normal people in abnormal situations.
This brings me to the reason I've posted this here. A number of people have seized upon the idea that the gunman had Asperger's syndrome. They've suggested that several other gunmen may also have had it. They've decided that this is a common thread even though it's simply not true. Many of the other shooters and possibly this one do not have Asperger's syndrome. From here, it's a small step from panicking parents who ruin their children's lives with fear to calls for genocide. I've seen posts on Facebook recently suggesting that people with autism should be locked up or even randomly set on fire.
It underscores my point nicely. We're all killers. There is no profile and as evidenced many times in our history, the human race as a whole is always only one small step away from madness.
It's time for us to stop profiling and to stop looking for minority groups to pin the blame on. It's time to tell the media to stop contributing to the problem by sensationalizing the news and by publicly profiling killers. It's time for better gun laws, better services and better support for people who may be depressed or otherwise excluded from society. There is no one solution to the problem but many small steps which will help us make the journey.
In the meantime, we need to remember that tragedies are about victims, not perpetrators - and there are many victims. The victims of this latest madness are the students and teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. They are the families and friends of these people. They are the children who are unfairly labelled as a result of mad profiling and they are the communities which are ostracized because we want to pin the blame on a minority.
Let us not make any more victims. Let's remember the victims we already have and then pick up our lives and move on from this tragedy. Let's show some human spirit and do the best we can to reduce he likelihood of further incidents while ensuring that we don't infringe upon each other's freedoms.
Together we can make a difference.
Comments
Makes me sad.
Amy
Although I know that my view on this may not be popular and many will not actually think about what I'm actually saying - There is no evidence that Howard's gun buy back has made a difference to the incidence of violent crime and, in fact, crimes involving guns have increased in incidence in Australia since the buy back, not decresed.
Neither do I believe that the current knee-jerk reaction calling for tougher gun laws in the US will make any difference. The reality there,too, is that despite the increase of gun ownership,crime involving shootings has actually decreased as numbers of guns per capita has increased.
The cause of tragic incidents such as this is not the possession of guns (though personally I see no need for people to own assault weapons and such) but the conditions in society which cause people to feel hurt, neglected, demeaned, frustrated, abused, confused or whatever. It is those issues that we need to tackle.
In no way do I think that we should blame any minority, either those with Asperger's syndrome or any other. The person with whom I have the closest empathy and "soul" connection in all the world is an Aspie.
However, something in the order of 4% of the population in western society, have psychopathy. This does not mean that any or all of them will go out and kill people or commit horrible acts. However, it does mean that they are unable to feel shame or conscience in the way that most of us do and therefore, if they are put into stressfull situations *and* have a personality that has a propensity to violence, they are more susceptible than most others to commit an extreme act.
I think it is important that we recognise that and ensure that the programs and people are available that can support people with that condition to live the 'normal', productive, and responsible lives that most people, with or without any sort of mental health issue, do.
So, whilst I fully agree that "blaming' a particular group in society is entirely inappropriate, I also feel that, in some way, we have to be careful not to create a situation that denies those who need it, the *appropriate* recognition and help.
I sincerely hope that I have made my point clearly enough not to be misconstrued.
If anyone reading this feels that I am trying to blame those who have AS or blame those with Psychopathy or anyone else - I assure you that I'm not, quite the opposite, I believe that we are all "normal" whatever that is, but that we are all different. Some of us, just as do those with physical illness, need help with mental illness - I just want to see that recognised rather than those people being ridiculed, reviled or put down. :)
Gavin, if you feel that I have a valid point and you can put it better, please do so. If you don't feel I have a valid point then please just don't post and no hard feelings...
Thanks for posting this, there's nothing more I feel can be added, only to be learned from.
But it is amazing that no one offering easy fixes mentions who is going to pay for it. That all this is happening at the same time as the so called Fiscal Cliff here in the US seems to add more to the discussion. Thanks for saying what a lot of us are feeling. You do it very well.
Yeah, this is rather disturbing isn't it?~?
Indeed.
It's likely that some of the people blaming autism do so because Lanza was a white man. If he had been black or Latino instead, then they'd just blame his racial minority instead of looking for another minority like autistics to blame.
It's *also* likely that some of the people claiming that Lanza was innocent (claiming it's because he couldn't help it because he had autism) also do so because he was a white man. If he had been black or Latino instead of a man in their majority group, then they'd call him the murderer he actually was instead of looking for excuses like autism for him.