Of the 27 Deadliest Mass Shooters, 26 of Them Had One Thing in Common

[DKW 86 7,410]

Of the 27 Deadliest Mass Shooters, 26 of Them Had One Thing in Common

Suzanne Venker’s recent opinion piece on FoxNews is very, very important, because she points out that almost all of the most recent deadly mass shooters have one thing in common: fatherlessness.

She begins by pointing out a tweet after the terrible shooting in Florida last week. Actor and comedian Michael Ian Black began a series of tweets in this way, “Deeper even than the gun problem is this: boys are broken.”

Venker goes on to describe how his “tweet storm” strayed from the truth:

Unfortunately, Black quickly veered off course. “Men don’t have the language to understand masculinity as anything other than some version of a caveman because no language exists…The language of masculinity is hopelessly entwined with sexuality, and the language of sexuality in hopelessly entwined with power, agency, and self-worth…To step outside those norms is to take a risk most of us are afraid to take. As a result, a lot of guys spend their lives terrified…We’re terrified of being viewed as something other than men. We know ourselves to be men, but don’t know how to be our whole selves. A lot of us (me included) either shut off or experience deep shame or rage. Or all three. Again: men are terrified.”

Mr. Black is not the first to attack masculinity and suggest it’s at the root of all evil. Indeed, the phrase ‘toxic masculinity’ has become boilerplate language in America.

It’s not a hard sell, either. After all, it is boys and men who are typically to blame for violent acts of aggression. Ergo, testosterone—the defining hormone of masculinity—must be to blame. But testosterone has been around forever. School shootings have not.

Mr. Black is correct that boys are broken. But they’re not broken as a result of being cavemen who haven’t “evolved” the way women have. They’re broken for another reason.

They are fatherless.

Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes.

Fatherlessness is a serious problem.  America’s boys have been under stress for decades.  It’s not toxic masculinity hurting them, it’s the fact that when they come home there are no fathers there.  Plain and simple.  Add that to a bunch of horrible cultural trends telling them that everything bad is good (gang culture, drugs, misogyny, etc.), and we’ve got a serious problem on our hands. 

Venker goes on to explain that of CNN’s list of the “27 Deadliest Mass Shootings In U.S. History, only one was raised by his biological father since childhood.

“Indeed, there is a direct correlation between boys who grow up with absent fathers and boys who drop out of school, who drink, who do drugs, who become delinquent and who wind up in prison,” she writes.  “And who kill their classmates.”

This problem can’t be solved by any policy, or any sort of gun control. It is time to have a serious discussion about the degradation of our cultural norms.

[DKW 86 7,410]

FACT: We have 330M Weapons in America today. Last nite 330M Weapons and their owners did nothing wrong. Writing legislation conserning those guns will help, no doubt. But the real issue is likely to be one we will have half the nation denying even exists, yet when you look at the facts, it is very telling. 

FACT: Almost all of us on this board grew up in High School with guns in backpacks, in the cars, in the trucks in the parking lot. Guns freaking everywhere. No one was committing mass shootings. Guns are not the issue. Never have been. We have a cultural issue. Boys that grew up not having a clue what acting like a real man looks like and taking their clues from rap music, movies, and video games. 

[I_M4_AU 7,760]

The number of teachers in American schools are overwhelmingly female which would mean these fatherless children have little or no contact with a “father figure” they desperately need.:

According to the study, led by the University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Ingersoll, the nation has witnessed a “slow but steady” increase in the share of K–12 educators who are women. During the 1980–81 school year, roughly two in three—67 percent—public-school teachers were women; by the 2015–16 school year, the share of women teachers had grown to more than three in four, at 76 percent. (From 1987 to 2015, the size of the teaching force increased by more than 60 percent, from about 2.5 million to about 4.5 million, according to the recent report, which helps explain why the field tipped further female despite the rising number of men in the profession.)

One effect of the gender imbalance could be that younger students have fewer opportunities to interact with positive male role models. “As a black male teacher, sometimes I feel like a unicorn,” said Charles Jean-Pierre, a D.C. Public Schools art and French teacher. He said the black male teachers he had as a child of immigrants in Chicago motivated him to embrace his passion for art and become a teacher himself. “I think it’s important for students to experience joy, nurturing, and compassion from men … Male teachers embody hope and love for many students who do not see that on a daily basis [from men] in their homes.”

It appears that America doesn’t place a high value on education or teacher status which could be the reason more men are not in the field:

Unlike in many other countries, in the United States, teaching has long been seen as a relatively low-status profession. In 2018, a survey of people in roughly three dozen countries asked respondents to rank 14 different professions—including teaching, medicine, law, social work, and website engineering—by each career’s perceived social status. On the one hand, survey participants in the United States gave teachers a middling ranking, and tended to liken them to librarians; respondents in countries such as China and Malaysia, on the other hand, put teachers in first place, analogizing them to doctors.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/02/the-explosion-of-women-teachers/582622/

There is a lot of pieces to the puzzle.

[toddc 13,194]

    I definitely agree with the fact fatherless boys aren’t taught what it means to be a man. My father taught me to respect women and to be chivalrous towards women. Chivalry in no way disrespects women, but rather shows respect.

    Another part of the problem is that boys are desensitized to murder, violence, etc through playing violent video games, watching violent movies, and listening to music that glamorizes these things. The same people creating these games, movies, and music say that they don’t have this effect when testifying to congress. Yet these are the same people who create ads and commercials that get people to act a certain way using sex, influence, and prosperity. Can’t have it both ways!

[SaturdayGT 719]

  Seems like Ive read somewhere that most of the mass shooters were on some sort of prescribed Antidepressants. I remember several years ago, I tried Welbutrin to stop smoking. Welbutrin is also prescribed for depression. After a week or so while on it,  I noticed I was saying things to people things  I would normally bite my tongue. I noticed my sense of humor faded away. I had to stop taking it because I felt like I was becoming a real Jerk!...I know being a Jerk and being a heartless gunman shooting up people are two way different things, but it just seems to me that if somebody is borderline of just completely loosing their minds and the only thing stopping them is a thread of sympathy, some of these meds may push them over the limit.  I also notice that the doctors offices always screen for depression at physicals. A least my docter does anways,...but the questions are almost like " Do ever get sad, if so how often? A) always,  B.) Often C) rarely ever D) never." ...you select C - rarely ever and its like "You should talk to your doctor and see how prescription strength Saddenal can help you!"...I mean they really want to push these prescriptions, and Im not sure some of the pharmaceutical companies are too excited about doing any research on the correlation between these drugs and these shooters either.

[homersapien 11,347]

We sure do seem to have a hellava lot more psychological problems that other developed countries.

What a BS thread this is.

[DKW 86 7,410]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

We sure do seem to have a hellava lot more psychological problems that other developed countries.

What a BS thread this is.

Well Dr Freud, I apologize it didnt meet your standards. I will say that so far no one has said anything untrue. So, I guess, you mean that this thread doesnt meet with someone's preconceived notions?

[alexava 6,972]

You point to the cause as being fatherlessness! The numbers seem legitimate. I didn’t read all of it and certainly didn’t research it. I’ll concede it’s correct and agree. Boys absent a father have more chance of problems. 

You however are for keeping the most lethal guns available AND against abortion?

[SaturdayGT 719]

Whats the most lethal gun, what's the least? 

[alexava 6,972]

6 minutes ago, SaturdayGT said:

Whats the most lethal gun, what's the least? 

The most leathal are the ones being used to kill 9 and shoot about twenty more people in 30 seconds. The ones with no other legitimate use. None

[japantiger 4,051]

9 hours ago, alexava said:

The most leathal are the ones being used to kill 9 and shoot about twenty more people in 30 seconds. The ones with no other legitimate use. None

Fake news.  

[DKW 86 7,410]

10 hours ago, alexava said:

You point to the cause as being fatherlessness! The numbers seem legitimate. I didn’t read all of it and certainly didn’t research it. I’ll concede it’s correct and agree. Boys absent a father have more chance of problems. 

You however are for keeping the most lethal guns available AND against abortion?

I actually see a real need for discriminating with the higher ROF and Higher Capacity Weapons. (So no Brainiac, I am totally against "most lethal guns" whatever the hell a term that ******* squishy can be defined as.) 
Background checks that compare to a Mental Illness & Criminal DB would seem obvious.
Adding an extra 10 years to sentencing on any crime involving a gun. 
Giving PDs freer reign to confiscate guns seems obvious too. Seems one shooter had had the PD called to his home what 17 times?
The DB should also track house calls, crimes, etc. Lets allow the NSA to openly and Secretly (undercover officers) track 4CHAN?, 8CHAN?, and ALTRIGHT Groups as well. In short, LETS ENGAGE THE BAD GUYS. Writing 1001 Laws that are primarily aimed at Responsible, Healthy, Never Done Anything Wrong, and Have No Association with the Higher Probability Groups People would seem to be an magnificent waste of time to most.

Writing Laws that are aimed at normal everyday citizens and do nothing to address the Bad Actors is just political masturbation. However that seems to be exactly what some whack jobs are obsessed with doing. You have to wonder at the people in this world that are OBSESSED with regulating those that have no record of doing bad things and likely will never do anything of an evil or criminal nature. They would rather go through the amazing ly high cost of regulating 330M Weapons that are doing nothing illegal and never will yet balk at the thought of going after real criminals and real issue.

FACT: The taking of the life by firearm has far higher numbers in major cities than Mass Shootings and we hear almost NOTHING about correcting that. 
FACT: The numbers of dead by firearms is ALWAYS suspiciously inflated by those doing the talking by including the number of suicides by firearm. That number is well over half of the deaths by firearm numbers and is always ;lumped in as a way to over dramatize an already admittedly bad issue. Can you trust anyone that would lie like that however? Of course not. They have to have ulterior motives if they are aggressively exaggerating numbers like that. Facts are that until just recently, despite all the "most lethal guns" hoopla, death by firearm is pretty constant.

And to your second question: Yes, I am against the taking of Innocent Life in any fashion, in any way, by anyone. 
I am against the taking of Innocent life by Semi-automatic weapon, Roundup, and by Forceps and a Surgical Suction Device...

 

[johnnyAU 3,630]

Not only fatherlessness, but lack of role models/mentors in school, workplace etc...However, the most important is definitely at home. 

 

[homersapien 11,347]

15 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Well Dr Freud, I apologize it didnt meet your standards. I will say that so far no one has said anything untrue. So, I guess, you mean that this thread doesnt meet with someone's preconceived notions?

It's funny how some try to find excuses for middle class white guy terrorism but have unconditional condemnation for Muslim terrorism.  You didn't see anyone speculating about the childhoods or mental conditions of the 9-11 terrorists - whether or not they've been on antidepressants, lacked a father figure, etc.

Terrorism is terrorism. 

Failing to recognize that has been the problem with our approach to domestic terrorism from the beginning.

[homersapien 11,347]

11 hours ago, SaturdayGT said:

Whats the most lethal gun, what's the least? 

They are all lethal of course if you consider one shot. 

But military rifles are designed for maximum lethality, such as having quickly detachable, large capacity mags and high velocity small caliber ammo - which is not suited for hunting as much as inflicting maximum shock trauma wounds to the body.

[kevon67 2,368]

21 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

FACT: We have 330M Weapons in America today. Last nite 330M Weapons and their owners did nothing wrong. Writing legislation conserning those guns will help, no doubt. But the real issue is likely to be one we will have half the nation denying even exists, yet when you look at the facts, it is very telling. 

FACT: Almost all of us on this board grew up in High School with guns in backpacks, in the cars, in the trucks in the parking lot. Guns freaking everywhere. No one was committing mass shootings. Guns are not the issue. Never have been. We have a cultural issue. Boys that grew up not having a clue what acting like a real man looks like and taking their clues from rap music, movies, and video games. 

Geez where did you go school.............any person that plays GTA 5 and thinks its ok to walk the streets and pick people off with a Street Sweeper likely lost touch with reality..........video game has nothing to with that imo...........skoal and pocket knives in school were common.......never did I see guns in book bags.

[alexava 6,972]

5 minutes ago, kevon67 said:

Geez where did you go school.............any person that plays GTA 5 and thinks its ok to walk the streets and pick people off with a Street Sweeper likely lost touch with reality..........video game has nothing to with that imo...........skoal and pocket knives in school were common.......never did I see guns in book bags.

Me either. In trucks in the parking lot absolutely. Never in class. 

[alexava 6,972]

2 hours ago, japantiger said:

Fake news.  

You’re on fire with this. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

6 minutes ago, alexava said:

Me either. In trucks in the parking lot absolutely. Never in class. 

The only time I know of a kid bringing a handgun to school in his backpack was one particular genius trying to sell it...in middle school, prior to Columbine. He got caught, and was of course expelled.

After Columbine we were only allowed to bring our backpacks to school, and they had to go directly into our locker until the end of the day. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

8 minutes ago, kevon67 said:

Geez where did you go school.............any person that plays GTA 5 and thinks its ok to walk the streets and pick people off with a Street Sweeper likely lost touch with reality..........video game has nothing to with that imo...........skoal and pocket knives in school were common.......never did I see guns in book bags.

Despite the fact that researchers haven't been able to scientifically show a correlation between games and an increase in violent behavior by the person playing them, people continue to push this stupid narrative.  And there have been tons of studies done on this.  Antonin Scalia even pointed this out during a 2011 Supreme Court case.

[SaturdayGT 719]

15 minutes ago, homersapien said:

They are all lethal of course if you consider one shot. 

But military rifles are designed for maximum lethality, such as having quickly detachable, large capacity mags and high velocity small caliber ammo - which is not suited for hunting as much as inflicting maximum shock trauma wounds to the body.

   You are correct, I was originally thinking a handgun such as a .45 or 9mm, which has bigger bullets would be more deadly, or have more knock down power. I asked a guy here at my work who knows this stuff inside and out, he basically said that anything out of a rifle will have more velocity, even if its the exact same round even such as like a 9mm.  So no argument from me here.

[alexava 6,972]

2 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

I actually see a real need for discriminating with the higher ROF and Higher Capacity Weapons. (So no Brainiac, I am totally against "most lethal guns" whatever the hell a term that ******* squishy can be defined as.) 
Background checks that compare to a Mental Illness & Criminal DB would seem obvious.
Adding an extra 10 years to sentencing on any crime involving a gun. 
Giving PDs freer reign to confiscate guns seems obvious too. Seems one shooter had had the PD called to his home what 17 times?
The DB should also track house calls, crimes, etc. Lets allow the NSA to openly and Secretly (undercover officers) track 4CHAN?, 8CHAN?, and ALTRIGHT Groups as well. In short, LETS ENGAGE THE BAD GUYS. Writing 1001 Laws that are primarily aimed at Responsible, Healthy, Never Done Anything Wrong, and Have No Association with the Higher Probability Groups People would seem to be an magnificent waste of time to most.

Writing Laws that are aimed at normal everyday citizens and do nothing to address the Bad Actors is just political masturbation. However that seems to be exactly what some whack jobs are obsessed with doing. You have to wonder at the people in this world that are OBSESSED with regulating those that have no record of doing bad things and likely will never do anything of an evil or criminal nature. They would rather go through the amazing ly high cost of regulating 330M Weapons that are doing nothing illegal and never will yet balk at the thought of going after real criminals and real issue.

FACT: The taking of the life by firearm has far higher numbers in major cities than Mass Shootings and we hear almost NOTHING about correcting that. 
FACT: The numbers of dead by firearms is ALWAYS suspiciously inflated by those doing the talking by including the number of suicides by firearm. That number is well over half of the deaths by firearm numbers and is always ;lumped in as a way to over dramatize an already admittedly bad issue. Can you trust anyone that would lie like that however? Of course not. They have to have ulterior motives if they are aggressively exaggerating numbers like that. Facts are that until just recently, despite all the "most lethal guns" hoopla, death by firearm is pretty constant.

And to your second question: Yes, I am against the taking of Innocent Life in any fashion, in any way, by anyone. 
I am against the taking of Innocent life by Semi-automatic weapon, Roundup, and by Forceps and a Surgical Suction Device...

 

I am not against normal use guns. I have about 20 of them. Guns that have a legitimate purpose. Gang bangers in major cities have been killing each other for decades and sometimes innocents get caught up in the crossfire. These bangers will get these guns one way or another. They will continue to kill each other. I am not concerned for myself because I don’t associate with them to have a beef that makes me a target. I’m rarely to never in a place to be in a crossfire. The concern is with the crazy or very soon to turn crazy loading up with a gun designed for war, body armor, unlimited stacks of preloaded, high capacity magazines and no concern for their consequences. In the big picture of overall numbers or statistics it’s small. Until you find yourself hunkered down under a table praying some crazy bastard runs out of ammo, you probably won’t care. I’ve seen this enough that I do. 

[Mikey 16,545]

6 minutes ago, SaturdayGT said:

anything out of a rifle will have more velocity, even if its the exact same round even such as like a 9mm. 

This is correct. The roughly 3X velocity that's common from a rifle bullet makes the projectile's effect on its target become a whole different and more lethal animal. That's why the first question law enforcement guys ask a bystander is "Did you see any long guns?" Typical modern body armor will defeat a handgun shot. Not so with a high-powered rifle bullet.

 

[DKW 86 7,410]

2 hours ago, homersapien said:

It's funny how some try to find excuses for middle class white guy terrorism
1) BS. I have never said one word on any forum here to excuse "middle class white guy terrorism." EVER. Show us where. 

but have unconditional condemnation for Muslim terrorism. 

2) I have done nothing but condemn terrorism whether it be White, Christian, Israeli, Muslim, Antifa, etc. Again you are clearly out of your mind. No one was talking about any of this.

You didn't see anyone speculating about the childhoods or mental conditions of the 9-11 terrorists - whether or not they've been on antidepressants, lacked a father figure, etc.

3) No, I referenced one article on MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE US ALONE. That was the sole topic at hand. 

Terrorism is terrorism. Failing to recognize that has been the problem with our approach to domestic terrorism from the beginning.

4) Agreed. Now if we just had a topic about Terrorism to attach these random talks to...

This is the kind of brainless Whataboutism you do 24-7. In a thread dedicated to domestic mass shootings, terrorist or mental illness related, you have introduced 2-3 red herrings. WTG Homey!  

Thanks for playing.

 

[DKW 86 7,410]

2 hours ago, kevon67 said:

Geez where did you go school.............any person that plays GTA 5 and thinks its ok to walk the streets and pick people off with a Street Sweeper likely lost touch with reality..........video game has nothing to with that imo...........skoal and pocket knives in school were common.......never did I see guns in book bags.

I attended High School in Florence, AL 1976-1980