Ace makes an interesting point today, almost offhandedly while discussing a different angle… which is often… indeed, in my experience, usually, how such points are made. Even he admidts this is off the cuff on his part. He speaks of how we may have gotten ourselves into this through our oh-so-Politically correct leanings toward non-judgementalism:
There’s a a downside to nonjudgmentalism, of course. Our brains are wired to make snap decisions about people in all regards, but particularly as regards (naturally) sex and death. We know instantly if someone is a likely romantic prospect. We also know instantly if someone is a likely threat.
The fact of the matter lunatics — florid lunatics, “quiet loners,” etc. — aren’t usually able to hide the fact that they’re touched. But our country has a culture — positive in many ways — of making no judgments about people based on looks or the vibe they give off, or, rather, at least not sharing such forbidden judging-a-book-by-its-cover thoughts with others. Especially not someone in a position of authority. We’ve been conditioned since infancy with thousands of morality plays that just because someone seems weird doesn’t mean they are weird. Or bad. Or dangerous.
The trouble is that weirdness has a pretty high correlation with badness and dangerousness. If someone has a dysfunction that prevents the normal sort of interaction and empathy with one’s fellow human beings, well, that’s not likely to be a person that’s otherwise well-adjusted. The very fact of his socio-psychological defect probably isolates him, and makes him angry and resentful in his isolation.
That weird kid you knew in third grade who everyone thought was psycho? Well, there’s a pretty fair chance he was a psycho.
Almost as if in answer, we have situations developing in other parts of the country. NY city, for example:
The sister of a Queens woman killed in a triple murder-suicide yesterday says the shootings could have been prevented.
Police say they received a 911 call from a house in Cambria Heights just before noon yesterday, with the caller warning that if police didn’t come soon, something terrible would happen.
Police arrived to find the caller, Sonia Taylor, her wheelchair bound boyfriend Arnold Lawson and home health aide Syndia Brye shot dead. Taylor’s son, Jimmie Dawkins, was also found dead with self inflicted gunshot wounds.
The victim’s sister says Taylor had been complaining to police about her nephew’s mental condition.
“My sister pleaded to the Police Department. My sister even called the internal affairs when they wouldn’t cooperate, but no one wanted to cooperate. No one wanted to get the crazy boy – the boy who was obviously suffering from a mental disorder. No one would get him out of the house,” said Annette Taylor. “He was threatening my sister. The internal affairs wouldn’t do anything. She exhausted every method, and nobody did anything – until this tragedy happened.”
Now, mind you, this murder-suicide was going on while the folks down at VT were still trying to dig themselves out of THEIR situation.
Have we, with our multi-cultural, don’t judge, don’t fight back, let the government take care of your defense, etc attituide, brought this upon ourselves? I know it’s not a popular question to ask, but in light of recent events, it doesn’t make sense to NOT ask such a question.
Tags: BitsBlog, Social Issues
