As of this writing, there have been 37 mass shootings in the USA so far this year (according to the Gun Violence Archive – https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting). That translates into 62 dead three weeks into the new year, all by mass shootings. Almost 3 people a day. And there were also 159 wounded. Those are some crazy numbers…..
…..but they get crazier. The definition of a ‘mass shooting’ requires at least four people be shot and those numbers do not count the shooter who is often killed or wounded by police or by their own hand. Those numbers also do not include shooters who just shoot their spouse, friend, neighbour or co-worker so long as it is three victims or less. It does not count all the accidental shootings which number approximately 500 per year nor does it count the approximately 1200 people killed by police….in the line of duty, of course.
Mass shootings have become a category of social disorder all their own.
Bigotry, prejudice, discrimination and even genocide, of course, have a long history. They are mass social disorders, too. I will not attempt to present numbers but that is a major disfunction that has never been adequately addressed – hell, some societies and cultures still argue whether or not a mass killing qualifies as a genocide.
And we have modern social media disorders now. They have not yet been formally named. There are a lot of them from sexual predators to cons and scams, from lying news sources and propaganda to the simple liar on their dating site. Digital dysfunction writ large…but not in detail. This ugliness can get pretty sophisticated.
I.e. Lately, some You-tube (YT) channels are being dropped or ‘sabotaged’ off the air. The hosts are not saying why (not yet, anyway) but they imply it is a ‘hacker’ of sorts that has messed with the YT algorithm. David Pakman, for instance, has 1.6 million subscribers but is no longer ‘presented’ by YT as a suggestion and one has to go looking for his channel now. He is one of the few speaking out…why? Because he draws a lot of right-wing MAGA heat for his left-ish-but-factual broadcasts. He has been threatened. He suspects he is a target of right wing hacker politics but has no proof. He is being ‘somethinged’ nefariously on social media…somehow….in some way…..
The list of social aberrations, increased violence and hate of ‘others’, designer drugs increasingly lethal and the growing paranoia and anxiety people have of their cities and towns is all frightening enough in itself. Toss in mass migrations, homelessness, van-living, the internet and the increasing lack of respect for our government, institutions and civil servants and one might…maybe…kinda….think that there is a weird kind of revolution or even a war going on.
Maybe.
What I am saying is this: We might, at least, need to put a name to the at-large madness and all the little madnesses that go with it.
So many biological/medical diseases/disorders do not really have some fancy, intellectual Greek or latin-based name like Cancer, Polio or Diabetes. They are instead named by their symptoms. We have ALS, MSA, abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute cholecystitis, benign prostate enlargement, etc. The list is longer than the Greek-latin one. In fact, the World Health Organization now considers it ‘best practice’ to name diseases by their symptoms.
It might be time to apply that kind of thinking (naming) to what is emerging as a kind of mass social dysfunction (MSD) or psycho-socio political alienation (PSPA) or even social order atrophy (SOA). If, in fact, all the smaller social dysfunctions, disorders and psychosis are all somehow related wouldn’t it be helpful to capture it all with the right nomenclature?
I mean: is Armageddon, Apocalypse (both Greek) or Doomsday (old English) the best we can do?
Jus’ sayin’……
Our Off the Grid Home 
If memory of my first-year sociology course at university in Toronto serves, it seems that French sociologist Émile Durkheim got there first (circa 1897) in assigning nomenclature to social order atrophy (SOA). He coined the term “anomie”, meaning something along the lines of “normlessness or social instability caused by the erosion or absence of morals, norms, standards, and values in a society.”
I have not had much opportunity to resort to the term “anomie” since sitting in Prof. Doug Cousineau’s sociology class more than 50 years ago, but perhaps the time is nigh, or is already upon us.
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Best answer to any question I have ever raised save for a positive response to my ‘Voulez vous coucher avec moi’? Thank you. Anomie it is!
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There are approximately 380 million people in the USA
There are approximately 120 guns for every 100 Americans.
456 million guns for 380 million Americans (every man, woman, and child)
Approximately 45% of US households own one gun.
Surprisingly
This stat hasnt changed significantly since 1972….. 50 years.
Which means. Fewer people are amassing many more guns.
A friend of mine started buying guns 30 years ago. Rifles, shotguns, handguns, etc etc etc.
“For protection!”, was his answer when I asked him why so many guns.
At one point I looked around at his arsenal and asked him, “How many hands do you have?”
His wife started laughing.
She eventually convinced him to sell most of them.
So why are there so many “massed” murders in the US in the last decade ?
The internet and its explosion of ideas, conspiracies, etc.?
Video games that have become increasingly realistic and violent?
Inflation?
Crass consumerism?
People are “Mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.”?
After the slaughter of 20+ children at an elementary school in Sandy Hook NJ by a young teenager ( who took his MOTHER”S arsenal of guns from her house to the killings) and the circus of conspiracy theorists, nutters, and NRA activists demanding the “Right to Bear Arms” shot down any chance of reasonable gun legislation in the US……
The recent shootings at the Cali LA Dance club were unusual in that the gun man was elderly. He was 72.
95% of the time the massed shootings are young, single men between the ages of 20 and 30.
I’m thinking there is more behind his motivation than a “crazed gunman”.
I’m sure more info will come out soon.
Trying to render firearms in the US illegal or restricted is a losing proposition.
Perhaps restrictions of the number of firearms might be a start?
Either way.
If President Obama couldnt legislate a new Gun Control Act after Sandy Hook……
What will it take?
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It is not so much about any one symptom. Look at an obese person pushing 500 pounds…fat is only part of their problem. Dya think George Santos only problem is lying, Trumps only problem is grifting or Trudeaus only problem is stupidity? When you see a veritable smorgasbord of symptoms, you have, collectively speaking, a form of morbidity. Death coming on. Coming soon. That’s what I am seeing in all this disfunction….sumpn big coming to a theater near us all……woooooooooo…..
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Idiocracy
Has reached it’s zenith.
These are the “leaders” that will save us from Putin and Xi.
I feel safe….how about you?
Next up.
WWIII
Stock up on bullets, beans, bullion and bumwad.
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Whatever is coming, it will be big and ugly and affect us all! I am afraid there is not much that we can do about it, except being the drop on the hot plate. Might help if there is enough of drops. We are “prepping ” as much as we can, but will it be enough?
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Hey wimdegendt
If you’re thinking about “Off the Grid” how about becoming a Lighthouse Keeper in Canada on the BC Coast?
The Coast Guard is advertising for someone with mechanical skills and willing to live in a remote location.
They have various locations available.
Starts out at about $50,000 Canadian per year and they provide housing, food, training, etc.
PAID to live OTG!
Google it and then try and convince the rest of the family .
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Good idea, I will look it up. No Lighthouse on Read Island with a vacancy I suppose?
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I checked, only for Canadian residents 😉
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Justin Trudeau is ramping up immigration.
500,000 “new” Canadians wanted per year for 4 years.
Time to swallow the red pill and jump into the Matrix.
🙂
Paid to go OTG……..
And you get to avoid Europe’s inflation, invasion, and instability.
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