One of the fun things about having this blog is that it gives me the ability to type out my thoughts, and ideas, and know I won't ever be judged... mainly because no one reads this damn thing.

I started writing this entry over a week ago, inspired by some feminist, Anti-man post someone put on their Facebook wall. Yes, I know feminism isn't inherently Anti-man, but this one actually was. I try, and stay out of those debates on Facebook because they never end well, and it seems as though anytime a man tries to defend the position of men in those discussions he is either too dumb to realize he's being completely hypocritical, and proving the feminist viewpoint beyond any question, or if the man does have a reasonably good counter-argument it is ignored, often because of the words of the dumb man in reason number one continue to stop intelligent discourse.

So I abide, the feminist point, and usually say, "Yeah, you actually do make a point there. I'll do my best to not be that guy."

The struggle is however, that no one is perfect. Not man, not woman, not gender fluid, or neutral, or really anyone that can call themselves human. We have all been raised within certain social constructs, many of which have only begun being deconstructed in my lifetime, and in our society specifically, in very small pockets of education, and awareness. It is by no means a comprehensive change that is happening, so expecting men as an entire gender to act more responsibly, and women to not be defensive is unreasonable at this point. We have to evolve new constructs, and in generations, this will improve.

But since then, some whackado with an AR-15 decided to massacre a bunch of people in a church in Texas. So that has taken far more presence on my mind. I'll accept in the above, again, that the majority of men have it wrong, and the majority of women have it tough because the majority of men have it wrong. But in this moment, let's work on how we, as a society, can go more than a week without some crazy-ass mass murder happening.

I don't have the answers. I don't have a solution. It's not a gun problem, but it is a gun problem. I mean, other societies have guns, and this doesn't happen there, right? Then it must be a people problem, or a mentally-ill people problem. Well, other societies have people, even mentally-ill people, and guns, and this doesn't happen, so where does that leave us?

It's an America problem. Let's just make that clear. There's only one consistent variable in this equation, and that it happens more in America than anywhere else, and without checking the actual numbers, let's go with 100% of the time the shooter is male. I think that's close to accurate.

So let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Five centuries ago, a bunch of people who were being "persecuted for their religious beliefs" in England (yes, this is what folks my age were taught in school) decided to get out of dodge, got a rickety wooden boat, and set sail across the Atlantic to go live in the "New World" which was only inhabited by native savages who may or may not have wanted these pale-skinned visitors moving in with them to start with. To re-write this more accurately, these religious nut-bags who enjoyed burning, and hanging people for as little as using too much garlic in their bland, English cooking, were told by the government of England that they have to stop burning, and hanging people without due process under state law, and their religious beliefs didn't over-ride the legislation that everyone in England had to abide by. So they left to go to a land where they could make their own laws.

Guess what? These nut-bags battled with the Natives living here, killing many of them, and then based on the testimony of children, began executing people, mostly women, for witch-craft, in trials that really left them no way to truly win, or prove their innocence.

In other words, the European side of America was originally founded on the ideals of, "You don't agree with us? Then we don't like you, and we're going to kill you."

This pretty much hasn't changed. Selectively applying, or out-right ignoring human rights has been an American tradition since Christopher Columbus started murdering natives in the Caribbean Islands for not having enough gold to pay their new European oppressors for the right to live.

Fast forward a bit. The British living in America decided they were tired of the taxes they were paying to England, so they drafted the Declaration of Independence, (Why was John Hancock's signature so large?) and then when the English sent a bunch more military to quell the insurgency, they convinced the farmers they had to fight for their lives, gave them all guns, and told them to go kill British solders.

Viva Revolución!!!!!

Anyway, the American Revolution was a war. And a pretty awful one. But we came away eventually with the Constitution, which is cool, and the Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment, which gave everyone the "Right to Bear Arms." Why was that important? Because the government knew, eventually the British would be coming back, and when that happened everyone would need to stand up to them again. Also, for confidence sake, that the new government wasn't going to be tyrannical, the people could shoot at them if they became tyrannical. Honestly, the farmers just won a war against the British army, so it's not like the new American government could really out-gun them at that point.

As time moved on though, the United States found itself in more, and more conflict. While the weapons industry was part of the industrial revolution, musket loaders, and flint-locks were upgraded to jacketed bullets. Single load to cartridge load. Single fire to recoil fire, and eventually to fully automatic weapons. The "Wild West" was romanticized through legends of the criminals shooting their way through towns, hijacking trains, and stagecoaches, and of course on the other side, the law enforcers who stopped them. Dusty duels; quick draws in the center of town. Last man standing wins. Cowboys, and Indians, fighting for survival on the range, and in our lessons, the cowboys were always in the right, even though the reality was they were invading the lands of sovereign nations. The Civil War was a bloody, savage battle pitting Americans against secessionists, and it is still celebrated today through memorials, statues, and reenactments. World War I, and the horrors of it were followed by the Roaring Twenties, and prohibition, where street gangs, and organized crime did battle with law enforcement, and the Hollywood portrayal of these good-guys vs. bad-guys story lines became one of the biggest sellers for the movie industry. And then World War II, and the heroic Americans who "saved the world" fighting their way to victory. New camera technology brought the front lines home into movie theaters, and war era films are still a Hollywood staple. Eventually the Vietnam War was broadcast from the front lines right into our homes as technology rapidly expanded. We got live updates from the Middle East as war unfolded in the early '90s. We watched in real time as the World Trade Center buildings collapsed, and as air strikes ripped apart Baghdad a second time in just over a decade, and we now have the capability to have full access to all the violent horrors the world can offer right in our pockets, in high definition. And we will see it because.... ratings, and profits, rule over decency, and humanity.

As a nation we have learned these lessons:

If they're different, they can, and should be eliminated. If they've done you harm, killing them is a reasonable response. Violence does solve problems. Guns are fun. Killing is easy.

And then we sit back after incidents like Orlando, Las Vegas, Texas, and while some offer thoughts, and prayers, others argue about gun control, for or against... and everyone asks, why?

Why?

Is that even a legitimate question? Are we that short sighted? This nation, from its beginnings has done nothing but legitimize, and romanticize violence, killing, and guns. We now gather in larger numbers. Weaponry is easier than ever to get, to use, and to use quickly. And we've already learned all of these lessons:

If they're different, they can, and should be eliminated. If they've done you harm, killing them is a reasonable response. Violence does solve problems. Guns are fun. Killing is easy.

And some people, many people, lack every capability to feel empathy. To know right from wrong. To control their emotions, their anger, and their outrage. In the mind of the shooter, they all deserve it. And, after all, isn't that what we have guns for?

This has been centuries in the making. Every step we've taken as a nation has led to this: We have completely normalized gun violence, violent war, and killing as a reasonable alternative, and a solution to problems for a large portion of our population. And worse, as our technological capabilities can show us more information, bring it to us faster, and everyone now has a broadcasting device in their hand, our newest generations are growing up in a world that can completely desensitize them to all of it before they even lose all of their baby teeth.

Yet, we can still have arguments about the indecency of breast feeding in public places, or why transgender people should use the bathroom of their choice, or why homosexual marriages should be recognized by the government, because these remain the true horrors to the Puritanical minds that continue to halt our societal evolution, and perpetuate this attitude of, "Mass shootings? I guess that's the price of freedom..." and actually think the hero-complex argument of, "If everyone had a gun, there would be no shootings," is a legitimate answer.

Until it happens to them, of course.

So, how do we stop it?

I see a lot of my friends posting about this, with despair in their words; with energy that crumbles into sadness, horror, and helplessness. They ask, "How do we stop it?"

"Is this the new normal?"

"Why does America have so many mass shootings, especially when you compare it to other Western nations?"

And I think they feel that despair, and the sadness, and the helplessness because they know exactly what the answers to all of these questions are.

We can't stop it. It is the new normal. And, it is because of who we are.

People say everything happens for a reason. Usually this is in response to "why do bad things happen to good people," and they invoke some spiritual, or religious context to answer something that has no real answer. But the truth is there are consequences to every action. Things do happen for reasons. This isn't a "price of freedom," but rather, a side-effect of a freedom that has gone unchecked for too long. Reasonable, and rational gun control can be put in place to help curtail these things from happening, but unless we vote out the GOP control of congress in 2018, that is not, at all, even remotely going to be considered by our government. And November 2018 is a long way away.

We've had two major mass shootings, and a vehicle attack - all terrorism in their own forms - in the last three weeks. It's not going away, until the people in charge who not only watch it, and allow it, but prey on it, go away, and as a society, we start demanding better from our government, and media. What I have outlined is just one piece of the puzzle. Our history with guns, and violence, but things keep accelerating as our world changes, our economic divide becomes larger, people struggle more in society to get what they need. It all factors in, and we need to reform, and change so much of what we're doing as a nation.

America has been in love with guns since they battled for their freedom against an unmotivated British militia. The 2nd Amendment might still have its place in certain aspects, but it is not the law it was at the beginning of the 19th century. Things have changed, drastically. We were shortsighted in not changing gun control through the ages as guns changed, but we absolutely have to now.