From what I’ve seen, the dominant narrative about the perpetrator of the recent shooting in Las Vegas is that he probably had a gambling addiction, might’ve been badly in debt, kept to himself, and didn’t really settle down anywhere. Notable, IMO, is the insistence that “he didn’t have any political or religious affiliation.” And of course there’s the “lone wolf” narrative – all very typical, sweep it under the rug, nothing to see here, just another shooting in the US. Argue amongst yourselves over gun control.
Oh and we’re not saying it was mental illness, but the whole narrative kinda implies it. Just saying…
I don’t buy it. Something about this whole scenario doesn’t feel right. There’s something we’re not being told.
Assembling an arsenal, sneaking it into a casino hotel room, that just so happens to overlook a country music festival … All that takes planning. I don’t believe he “snapped” – it must’ve been premeditated. Why would someone put time, energy, and resources into planning something like this? I don’t know, but usually it has something to do with bigotry.
And I’ve never heard of someone with an actual, professionally diagnosed mental illness doing something like this. When people are in crisis they may withdraw from social groups and activities, they may act in ways people consider strange, they may hurt themselves, and/or they may (rarely) pose a threat to someone else. They don’t open fire on hundreds of people.
I’ve probably said this before but I’ll say it again, we need to figure out why white men keep perpetrating unspeakable acts of violence. And we need to do something to stop it. Yes, now, before people forget about it or get swept up in the next atrocity. There’s something going seriously wrong in the US with how people think, how they treat each other, how they respond to tragedy. Everybody’s angry – and rightfully so – but the anger isn’t being used appropriately. We’re all at each other’s throats, or bonding in our hatred of someone or something, and white men are committing murder with impunity.
We need to stop it. Now.
a day with depression 