[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

As an aside, Oregon is lately averaging as many mass shootings yearly as this country has had since its founding.

Oregon, more than most of the other states, lacks something unifying to gather around, to take pride in, and feel a sense of purpose and belonging to. As a result, we've got a higher incidence of purposeless zombies dulling their minds with drugs, or attempting suicide, or committing suicide by mass murder. Do these hopeless folk tend to use certain types of drugs or certain types of weapons to act out their despair? Sure.

A good friend of mine called me 10 years ago, and it was 10:45 pm. I remember where I was standing when I answered, and where my wife was sitting. It was days before Christmas. I drove to his house and he described the most horrific thing I will probably ever hear. Prior to calling me, he had cut the rope his sister had used to hang herself in the basement, carried her lifeless corpse upstairs, and uselessly called 911.

This time every year, I experience brief moments of paralyzing sadness. People with every material need should not be living in despair.

We don't need to outlaw ropes; we need to figure out how to build communities and families that are full of meaning and purpose. We need to care for the mentally ill rather than give them "freedom" on the streets.

The last Thanksgiving I had in the US was in Michigan. Around the dinner table, the discussion was about the recent school shooting that made the news. One person commented "they ought to arm teachers" and there was near universal agreement

Arming teachers isn't a smart solution, but understanding that nearly 100% of mass shootings take place in "gun free" zones is worth thinking about.

My thoughts on problems tend to focus on the origins of the problem rather than the symptoms of it. Mass shooting isn't the problem; it's the manifestation of other problems.

As absolutely horrific as mass shootings are, they still represent a statistical probability so low that one is unlikely to succumb to one, or know someone else who did. That's not to say the topic is unimportant, only that it's less important than discussing heart health, or ladder safety, or diet/exercise, or mental health, or the other things that kill the majority of people.

I'm well enough read in world history to know this period of "peace" is more the exception than the norm, even if US "defense" spending just prior to COVID reached levels near to the height of spending during World War II when adjusted for inflation.

I'm not thrilled by the size (as measured by taxation) of the US federal government either, especially on the war department. I also don't have a great solution for securing international waters so that commerce is relatively safe if the US were to massively shrink military spending. Perhaps nations would reduce global trade and become more isolationist once shipping becomes so dangerous and unprofitable?

Recently I've just begun to wonder where I'd go if the US experiment fails and the Marxists succeed in convincing the masses that arbitrary internal tribalism is more important than voluntary cooperation. I could move to another state, but if the Marxists are successful, independent states will be illegal. Marxism in the US is currently iterated as "woke" and "critical race theory", among others. There's practically no Marxist iteration our institutions of education don't like.

I remain hopeful that people will generally exceed 9th grade wisdom and understanding as they age. Reality has a way of demanding it not be ignored indefinitely.