Is a Crisis in White Masculinity Leading to Horrific Gun Crimes Like the Sandy Hook Shootings?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/visions/crisis-white-masculinity-leading-horrific-gun-crimes-sandy-hook-shootings



My heart goes out to the families, children, victims, and all others impacted by the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton, Connecticut .

America's obsession with guns has played out its dark game once more. We are eating our young because so many believe that America is a gunfighter nation. For them, the "right" to bear arms trumps any reasonable legislation about restricting access to certain types of firearms. This most recent mass shooting, which will likely be the worst incident of gun violence in recent American history, is not going to cause a rethinking of the country's love affair with such weapons. Nor will the mass murder of 20 children and 6 adults by Adam Lanza weaken the NRA's hold on our legislators. The NRA and their clan will retreat back to a default position and rhetorical redoubt where "guns don't kill people, only people do."

These same ideologues, who in the 21st century remain some type of throwback premodern tribesman at the early dawn of human history, are utterly devoted to a fetish object of metal and plastic which they worship as a god. For them, the mass shooting of children in Newton, Connecticut will be a funeral pyre whose light they will read as spirits dancing in the shadows, beckoning to them that more guns equals less crime, and that school teachers--and perhaps even children--should be allowed to carry firearms in school. Magical thinking brings public policy solutions that are not grounded in common sense or empirical reality.

[BainsBane]

1. Why white?

There is a lot of gun violence among African Americans as well. Guns are equal opportunity killers, though the vast majority assailants are male.

[FreakinDJ]

3. I will offer a quess the MAJORITY of gun violence with Hispanic and African American community

A simple look at the inner city crime stats will make the writter of this article look like a idiot

[JI7]

6. those incidents involve people going after those they know

and for a purpose. of course so many innocent people end up being the ones shot and killed.

[undeterred]

30. Serial killers and mass murderers who kill for the sake of killing

are usually white males.

[DainBramaged]

14. Do you think only men of color commit crimes?

[BainsBane]

16. uh, no

I don't. How does "equal opportunity" mean just men of color to you?

I asked why this rash of gun violence is supposed to be about WHITE male privilege. It certainly has something to do with some very fucked up men who privilege their guns above human life, but those guns are wielded by men of all colors who kill people of all colors.

What do you find so funny about 20 dead children?

[DainBramaged]

17. I find your ignorance of the phrase 'men of color' astonishing.

read the link genius.


http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/04/21/weekinreview/20070422_MARSH_GRAPHIC.html

[BainsBane]

20. I don't know what your problem is

and frankly I don't care. The fact you have chosen to behave rudely rather than as a mature human being tells me you aren't at all interested in having a substantive discussion. I also find it quite bizarre you have chosen to react to my post rather than the person who alleged most violent crimes were committed by African Americans and Hispanics

[DainBramaged]

21. Meh

[Quantess]

22. None of my business, but

the only person I see using the phrase "men of color" is you.
Interesting link, BTW.

[Major Nikon]

19. If gun violence were as high among white people as it is among blacks...

The topic of gun control wouldn't be a subject of debate.

According to the FBI SHR data, in 2007 there were 7,387 black homicide
victims in the United States. The homicide rate among black victims in the United
States was 20.86 per 100,000. For that year, the overall national homicide rate was
5.30 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide rate was 3.11 per 100,000.

...

For homicides in which the weapon used could be identified, 82 percent of black
victims (5,743 out of 7,011) were shot and killed with guns. Of these, 73 percent
(4,204 victims) were killed with handguns.

http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide10.pdf

[Generic Other]

23. Most of the mass murderers have been alienated white men

It's not meant to indict all white people. It is just not the same sort of gun problem the African American community has had to confront. And it's not the same as the domestic violence cases that seem to involve every demographic.

It is a valid question to ask why these men do what they do.

[AlexSatan]

27. Really?

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre8bb017-us-usa-shooting-oregon/

[Generic Other]

28. Google it

90+ alienated white men. And two Asian guys with similar issues.

So yes, really.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

29. And don't forget this fellow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seung-Hui_Cho

[allrevvedup]

2. Wow.

Thanks xchrom, I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this until it's firmly established that this shy young adult was a vengeful, violent, sexually confused misfit, and then the official story will sit well. But at the moment it looks to me like it doesn't quite add up and likely never will.

[cali]

4. athough the author makes some valid points, particularly regarding

mass shootings being committed largely by (young) white men, the article misses the mark, I believe, when it comes to insisting that the perpetrators of these crimes are beneficiaries of white privilege. Trying to skew this politically, particularly this early on in the investigation, is grotesque.

[Kurska]

5. The vast majority of gun violence in the united states is minority on minority.

Whatever it is making people kill each other it isn't only a white person problem.

[DainBramaged]

15. WOW are you misinformed

Take a close look at this page, a real close look.


http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/04/21/weekinreview/20070422_MARSH_GRAPHIC.html

[Cali_Democrat]

26. Link?

[Democracyinkind]

7. It always struck me as odd that the "Falling Down" types are almost always white, young, males.

Sure, there is allot of minority-on-minority gun violence, much of it gang related. But when was the last time that a crib stormed into an elemtary school and went on a murderous rampage?

Not that I am convinced that the article has the answer - I'd tend to dany that. Still. It's odd.

[DCBob]

10. I think many white males who are struggling feel left out of American society.

There are programs to help minorities, women, immigrants, etc but seemingly nothing for white males. I think many feel society ignores them when in need and criticizes them when they succeed. Not an excuse but perhaps an explanation.

[raccoon]

11. Maybe the "Falling Down" types have a sense of entitlement that minority males usually don't. nt

[BainsBane]

8. The fact is this is about gun proliferation

Everything else is a distraction.

[Shankapotomus]

9. If people kill people then

what do they need guns for?

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. though recent mass shootings have not all been by white people

April 2012: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oikos_University_shooting , Korean-American
April 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre , Korean-American

And other mass shootings, with smaller death tolls:

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/22001395301054
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/08/police_arrest_suspect_in_overt.php

I'm not sure this can be put down to any one ethnicity. It is largely a 'young male' problem, though.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

13. I'm sick of this kind of racist and sexist garbage.

Many of us white guys support strong gun control.

[ananda]

24. Thank you for supporting strong gun control!

..

[Quantess]

18. The Virginia Tech shooter was asian.

The author's argument is not that convincing.

[Generic Other]

25. There are exceptions

but only a few. I am looking at Wiki which divides the numbers between mass murderers, school massacres, workplace shootings, hate crimes. White American males are disproportionately represented.

Do you really think that is an indictment of all white males? I don't. Not at all.

[ileus]

31. Yeah a 20yo goth geek oozes masculinity.

Does anyone know if this punk had a job or was attending college?


Sitting in your moms basement without a job and playing the x-box is a sure sign of a troubled youth. Do we know anything about this fuck ass yet other than his race?

[AnnieBW]

32. What if Adam Lanza Had Been African-American?

What if he'd shot up an inner-city school full of African-American and Hispanic kids instead of a picture-perfect New England town filled with white kids? Would there still be as much media outrage? Would we be having all of these discussions about regulating guns, or would we all be tut-tutting about the criminal element in our society?