Evil Is to Blame
Pay close attention to what gets blamed for the Newtown school shooting. Evil is to blame for these horrific murders and nothing else. Listen closely to the rhetoric over the coming weeks. How often will evil be named as the cause of the horror?
Not often, I suspect.
Some dispute the existence of conscious, deliberate, unseen evil. Perhaps that’s why blame for the murderous horror will fall elsewhere. Some consider the mention of evil in public discourse to be unseemly. Belief in pure deliberate evil can be inconvenient, because it includes other necessary beliefs.
Failing to name it evil lets evil flourish. If the sight of planes slamming into the World Trade Center towers wasn’t enough to comfortably believe in evil, maybe the horror in Connecticut will be.
Denial of conscious, deliberate evil makes it easier to deny the existence of conscious and deliberate good. If deliberate evil exists, then deliberate good must also. Otherwise human history would be one long ruinous loop of Stalin’s gulags and Pol Pot’s murder factories. Thankfully, those black times are broken up by goodness.
Evil seeks to destroy human life, human dignity, and even civilizations. Goodness and light offer an alternative. The sort of world we have is determined by what you and those around you choose. A man in Connecticut accepted evil.
Conditions, rough upbringings, or worldly objects are convenient explanations when evil manifests itself for all to see. Find any news account today and inventory what is being blamed for the mass killing of children.
But the systematic and deliberate slaughter of innocents is not a new story. It happened once before, after the arrival of an alternative way. It was also featured in the industrial scale eradication of European Jewry.
Spare no child of light, and usher in an age of darkness.
I have never understood why first responders are referred to as heros. Until today. I can’t imagine the horror. You are right, of course. It’s pure evil walking among us. God bless the families and friends of those slain. What a sad horrific day.
In Israel ,where Israelis live with the constant rational belief that there are enemies that want to kill their children, first responders are armed. So are teachers, custodians, bus drivers etc. Your leftist media would have you believe that Israelis deserve this.
The Sandy Hook school massacre arouses deep emotions in each of us, and I tried to contrast liberal and conservative diagnoses for how to respond here: http://clarespark.com/2012/12/15/sandy-hook-massacre-and-the-problem-of-evil/. My recommendation: look inside and see how your own defenses against incomprehensible terrifying events operate.
Evil is not to blame. Neither are the guns or society or our culture.
The shooter lacked that spark of humanity that allowed him to feel empathy. He was like a robot devoid of emotions due to his disability. He could not feel any remorse as he looked at each child and pulled the trigger. There was nothing there except anger at a world that did not understand him. He was angry at humanity which he believed is evil and flawed.
The shooter had a psychological condition he was born with and could not control.
Here we go: “He was like a robot devoid of emotions due to his disability.”
He knew the difference between right and wrong. End of story.
Amen.
Rod Blagojevich to be released from prison
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/12/14/rod-blagojevich-to-be-released-from-prison/
Christian, those who lead western discourse (leftists) are truly incapable of discerning good from evil, thus calling this cold blooded murderer the correct name – pure, unadulterated EVIL! If they did so, then the left would also have to admit some basic truths too – people do have personal responsibility, and EVIL people will always be able to acquire guns, regardless of gun control!
In fact, all that gun control accomplishes is to disallow law abiding, GOOD people from protecting themselves, and then they are not only at the mercy of EVIL people but also renegade leadership. You get the drift…
So, this blogger is more than ready for the beating in the direction of ‘we gotta get gun control done’, instead of dealing with core societal issues, issues which the left have zero answers for – other than total control!
http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/08/19/shoring-up-barack-hussein-obamas-second-term-plans-addendum-tobarack-hussein-obamas-deconstruction-plans-green-wise-via-the-economy-disarming-the-citizens-via-gun-control-commentary-by-ad/
And the left’s myopia also extends to their refusal to name the gravest threat of all to America – Islamism and Shariah Law. And this is why they have jumped on the ‘Islamophobia’ bandwagon, thus making sure that the root cause of Muslim rage – Islam/Shariah Law – never has to be dealt with. You know, see no evil, hear no evil….
I cannot understand the left’s defense of islamism. It is suicidal, and unfortunately, they are doing their best to portray those who raise alarm, as bigots (which they most certainly are not- just realists who are using common sense).
“…the root cause of Muslim rage – Islam/Shariah Law – never has to be dealt with. You know, see no evil, hear no evil….”
Actually, you are the evil root cause of Muslim rage because you define their shadow or unconscious self as they define yours. You see in them what you hate/fear in yourself as they do in you, and you project this self-hatred onto them. Islam is a religion of emptiness – there is nothing there that can be pictured, their only symbol being a black rock in Mecca. Draw a picture of Mohammed and you’re on their hit list. islam is the shadow of western Christianity that is replete with visual imagery and Christianity is the shadow of Islam. Two Bronze Age mythologies, one a blood cult and the other a martyr cult, seeking to destroy each other.
If the reports are correct, this will be the nation’s second worst massacre of school children surpassed only by the Bath, Mich. tragedy of 1927 in which a twisted man named Andrew Kehoe blew up his farm and the school killing 45 including 38 children, himself and his wife who he beat to death at his home. His suicide was performed by driving to the disaster scene at the school and exploding his car amidst a crowd.
Kehoe was the school board treasurer and plotted for months to blow up the Bath Consolidated School sneaking explosives in while pretending to do repairs.
The death toll at Columbine High School in 1999 was 13.
The first mass shooting in the U.S. occurred on April 9, 1891 when 70-year-old James Foster fired a shotgun at a group of children on the playground of St. Mary’s Parochial School in Newburgh, N.Y. causing several minor injuries.
For the next several decades — excepting the incident in Bath — school violence involved specific disputes rather than random attacks. That changed on Jan. 29, 1979 when 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire from her window with a .22 caliber rifle given to her by her father on children at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego who she “said looked like cows”. Two adults were killed and eight children wounded.
The shooting was the inspiration for the Boomtown Rats hit I Don’t Like Mondays.
Since then there have been at least 12 mass school shootings in which children were targeted just because they were children.
They can see no reasons ‘Cuz there are no reasons as the song says. Choosing evil does not mix well with choosing reason.
(from here)
Christian, AFK has a point but made it badly. It sounds as if the shooter is being relieved of some responsibility and I dont that was the intent.
No matter how much we celebrate the good there will always be deeply flawed individuals who celebrate and practice evil. Yes, the shooter knew right from wrong evidenced by his use of deception to get into the school. He may have been like a robot, but he clearly knew that what he was doing was wrong. He just didnt care or relished in it. It is so monstrous I cannot conceive of it.
Whatever the reason that someone chooses evil, whatever their flaws, they should be condemned and made to bear full responsibility for their choices and actions.
How does his use of deception prove he knew right from wrong?
What rot, you think that’s logic!
I’m reminded of the story about the guy changing the tire outside the asylum window who loses the lug nuts irretrievably, and the inmate tells him through the window to take one nut from the remaining tires and secure the fourth enough to get to a station. The tire changer wonders why he’s in there, and the inmate says, “I’m crazy, not stupid.”
Why should the ability to solve a tactical problem mean the shooter wasn’t mentally ill or insane?
Because deception implies premeditation and the knowledge that what you’re doing is wrong (why else are you trying to conceal it)? There is no justification for this act, so there is no argument that the deception was simply sound tactics used in a situation where force was justified.
C’mon Tom, I didnt say he wasnt mentally ill. In my opinion he was. That doesnt make him less evil. Discovering the cause of something doesnt make it not what it is.
Deception is an indication that he knew others would object, be uncooperative or stop him; i.e. knew it was wrong. Hang whatever words you want on it, it still is what it is. He knew he had to deceive people to pull it off. Courts use this all the time.
He was an evil monster whether he was mentally ill or not.
Deception does not imply a knowledge of good and evil, much less that you are on the evil side of it. It shows you can anticipate other peoples reactions to circumstances, nothing more. It does not mean you can either anticipate or give empathic significance to creating grief or terror.
When Major Martin washed up in Huelva, that was a very careful deception done co-operatively in the service of good. There is nothing of deception in and of itself which is good or evil, or even shows the intent for such. Deception is a tool, however often used for evil, or by the insane who know nought of such.
If he knew the grief he would cause and relished it, he was evil. If it never occurred to him and he was working out how to accomplish some emotionally sterile goal in reality he saw in his head, he was insane.
I have seen no hard evidence of either, and what I have seen is that he was damaged between the ears.
If I understand correctly you are positing that the emotional state of the actor determines if they are evil or not. If so, we simply disagree on the definition of the word evil.
If a murderer feels revulsion, joy, or nothing at all when he commits murder he is still evil in my view. He is equally responsible for his actions in any case. The remedy should be the same in all mentioned cases.
You cant blame a bear for trying to eat you, he is just being a bear. You still have to shoot him though.
“You cant blame a bear for trying to eat you, he is just being a bear. You still have to shoot him though.”
I’ve never said anything else.
“He knew the difference between right and wrong. End of story.”
He did? I don’t think he did.
In fact all evidence so far is that he did not.
Most people don’t do, consider, or even fleetingly think of doing such things, but yet I remember we are all sinners.
There was an unusual deficiency in this one, I suspect it was biological.
If true, then this circumstance does nothing to diminish the evil of the result. If false, it does nothing to magnify it.
Stick to the law, Mr. Adams, it’s what you know.
So, who put you in charge of what people can write about. I agree with Mr. Adams that evil is at the heart of this. In fact, is is not even worth arguing about because it is so patently obvious.
So where did I claim to be in charge, Kent?
That whole knowing right from wrong nonsense is exactly why we have as much crime and trouble as we do in this country.
It all started when a mentally retarded man kept pulling his neighbors’ clothes of the clotheslines and throwing them in the mud. He kept doing it and was eventually charges. But a slick defense attorney used his real disability and “he didn’t know what he was doing” thing to get him off.
So, throwing clothes in mud is the moral equivalent of gunning down 20 kids according to the law liberals have crafted. They can’t understand that the the clothes thrower might benefit from therapy while the shooter deserves prison or the death penalty. But again, they can’t make that leap of logic, so perhaps they need to be the ones getting examined.
Tom Perkins, There is nothing wrong with a professional lawyer discussing morality, outside of his professional capacity. The same would apply to a scientist expressing personal opinions regarding morality or religion. There is not anything wrong with that. As a matter of fact, many professional scientists, myself included, are religious. Science does not illuminate the question of the existence of God, but science is a human pursuit, which can be understood as an earnest and humble attempt to discover the secrets of God, with the occasional appearance of success in the pursuit. So it is entirely legitimate, and even quite courageous, for a professional lawyer to write about good and evil. If he is wrong in his analysis, it has nothing to do with him being a lawyer.
One which basis can you claim to know better?
“There is nothing wrong with a professional lawyer discussing morality, outside of his professional capacity”
There is if he doesn’t do it with some pretense of making sense.
Personifying evil as an entity or force detracts from the balance of culpability on the part of the perpetrator; some culpability is then the amorphous, unpublishable evil’s. This leads both to magical thinking and a search for scapegoats. This is unlike ascribing a crime to a person afflicted with mental illness–and violates the principle of Occam’s Razor to complicate matters beyond what facts require, and obscures the best avenues to reduce the problem, which are found in addressing the individuals amelioratively before, and interfering with the during, such acts.
Perhaps what he is fumbling for is that instead of “not guilty by reason of insanity” we should instead have a finding available to juries of “guilty but insane”. Okay, put me down for that. I may have taken Mr. Adams incorrectly, if I have, I apologize.
There is no evil in the world, which is not humanity’s and ours alone, metaphorically, and specifically that of those that do it knowingly–unknowing is no more evil than a hurricane or earthquake–it should be taken to Him that paid for it, and humble forgiveness for we wretched asked.
Which calling evil a force in the world detracts from; for better or worse, we are the force in the world. It seems to suit God’s purposes for free will and randomness both to exist.
That leaves us and rolled dice.
Do what you can, know your limitations.
I strongly suspect Mr. Adams doesn’t know his.
Mr. Perkins – the conclusions in my post are entirely consistent with the most basic Christian theology. I suspect you won’t find many objections to my post to people well versed in Christian theology. While I am not as conversant in Judaism, it too shares a view of good and evil consistent with the post. This theology can be distilled down to – evil exists, it influences humans, and sometimes humans freely choose evil. Suggesting that lawyers should only write about the law also seems a bit absurd, especially since you feel no restraint to opine outside of your (likely) profession here. It should not be so unsettling when one of the billions of people who share a world view consistent with my post write about how a well establish theology interprets world events. But perhaps therein lies your chief complaint.
Your use of the buzzwords “magical thinking” or “amorphous, unpublishable evil” leads me to infer things about your view toward Christian theology. In fact, you make it pretty plain when you say: “There is no evil in the world, which is not humanity’s and ours alone.” I think I read that in the Fountainhead. So I get your point, but at least come clean that is your beef and not that a lawyer happens to be writing about well established theology.
I recognize you concede that you may have “taken” me incorrectly. Indeed you have on one important point, for you overlooked the key sentence reflecting the importance of freewill – that the shooter chose evil. You somehow have converted the post as inferring that the shooter behaved like the central character in the Exorcist. This betrays a lack of understanding of the nature of how Christian theology characterizes evil. It manifests in subtle, small, pestering ways over time, not in some ghoulish outburst of froth and Latin. But again, I fully understand your core objection to the post, and on that score, we’ll just have to say I disagree with you, but am wholly conversant in the language of your objection.
Mr. Adams, please contrast this report with this quote from you:
http://news.yahoo.com/school-adviser-gunman-loner-felt-no-
pain-235416864.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CcE4s1QKj4A0YfQtDMD
“Here we go: “He was like a robot devoid of emotions due to his disability.”
He knew the difference between right and wrong. End of story.”
It would appear, if that report is not a fabrication, that he had no personal acquaintance with physical pain
I believe you are losing any pretense of justification for your implicit assertion–indeed, your jumping the gun assumption–that this was a normal enough person who chose to do evil, as if for the sake of evil. In fact, he likely had little idea of what he was doing, not any more than Frankestein’s monster knew it wasn’t a good idea to throw the girl into the river, to see her float like the pretty flowers.
” Suggesting that lawyers should only write about the law also seems a bit absurd, especially since you feel no restraint to opine outside of your (likely) profession here.”
I suppose I have not made clear a distinction which is key, here. I have no troubles with anyone having an opinion outside their profession, I have a problem with someone writing outside their sphere of competence.
Oh, you guess wrong again. I’ve read the Bible cover to cover, and far more than once. I’ve never read Ayn Rand, there are enough bad examples around I don’t need to read another one, I find Objectivists to be safer than Communists, but not less irritating.
I will edit a bit what I wrote before, and see if you can divine what I wrote:
“Your use of the buzzwords “magical thinking” or “amorphous, unpublishable evil” leads me to infer things about your view toward Christian theology. In fact, you make it pretty plain when you say: “There is no evil in the world, which is not humanity’s and ours alone.” I think I read that in the Fountainhead. So I get your point, but at least come clean that is your beef and not that a lawyer happens to be writing about well established theology.”
Well established theology spent over a millennia being fine with child rapists for kings, thieves for popes (and sometime the other way ’round), slavery and serfdom, and bloody war to enlarge the Body of Christ. I don’t think Christ would recognize most of what you are likely referring to as “well established theology”.
“I recognize you concede that you may have “taken” me incorrectly. Indeed you have on one important point, for you overlooked the key sentence reflecting the importance of freewill – that the shooter chose evil. You somehow have converted the post as inferring that the shooter behaved like the central character in the Exorcist. This betrays a lack of understanding of the nature of how Christian theology characterizes evil. It manifests in subtle, small, pestering ways over time, not in some ghoulish outburst of froth and Latin. But again, I fully understand your core objection to the post, and on that score, we’ll just have to say I disagree with you, but am wholly conversant in the language of your objection.”
No, claiming evil exists as an influence apart from individual decisions to knowingly undertake it is magical thinking, no Latin or 360 head turning required. You can’t really have it both ways.
Is the shooter solely responsible for his actions? Or does evil as a magical influence share culpability? If evil has an existence apart from the individual’s actions then it has agency and culpability. Indeed, I emphasize freewill here:
“There is no evil in the world, which is not humanity’s and ours alone, metaphorically, and specifically that of those that do it knowingly–-unknowing is no more evil than a hurricane or earthquake–-and what is knowingly done should be taken to Him that paid for it, and humble forgiveness for we wretched asked.”
I think the theology with which this conflicts is a baroque and unneeded at best emolument obscuring Christ’s message. At best that.
And given the report the shooter did not know pain, and seemingly from his affect might not even have known terror–how can you say he chose to inflict what he most likely, of his own experience, did not know?
While the poster’s claim is a bit glib, you can’t possibly know his mental state. If he was psychotic, and used the ‘goth’ culture (?) to strengthen his views of ‘reality’, it’s possible that he did not know the difference between good and evil.
So, if he was psycho or sociopathic, it may be called ‘evil’ but it is also mental illness. Only if he was neither could he have been said to have chosen evil. But of course you can label the mental illness as a form of ‘evil’, possession etc.
Does it make a difference in the end?
BTW, people have every right to question the widespread distribution of weapons in American culture. The number of psychotics and sociopaths in American culture is stunning. To reduce the chance that they can kill with private weapons is a reasonable proposition, not a left-radical position on the face of it.
I don’t think saying prayers in schools or blaming it on “evil” will solve the problem. It’s easy to blame religion but I think it was probably a matter of brain chemistry. The man was what he was. He probably should have been protected from himself. Not enough attention is paid to people like this I am wondering why his mother had guns in her house. The whole family history is questionable and we don’t know the whole story….and maybe never will. Private groups are doing research on the brain but, except for research about sports-connected brain injuries, it hasn’t received much attention. People with very high intelligence are often misunderstood and little attention is paid to them unless they come up with some great achievement.
Behold readers, that which I warned of.
Behold, readers. The man is saying there’s no point in institutionalizing the insane. Mr. Adam’s post in s nutshell.
“EVIL IS IN THE WORLD AND ON THE LOOSE, AND WILL HAVE IT’S WAY!
Don’t bother trying to enact sensible policies, it’s the evil, I tell’ya!”
Mr. Adams is promoting magical thinking.
In the immortal words of Stacy McCain, more or less.
Write what you believe to be the truth ruthlessly.
That should be “a nutshell”. Argh!
Robert Stacy “the Other” McCain is quoting Arthur Koestler with the write ruthlessly bit.
Can that psychobabble. This kid was a soul dead demonized evil monster.
If he was so out of control and unable to tell right from wrong because of anger, how could he have possibly made it to age 20 without killing someone already. I doubt his parents had him shadowed every minute, wouldn’t he have demonstrated thousands of behaviors in 20 years that were awful if he were truly a robot? It doesn’t seem logical he would have made it this far.
Therefore, this country must revisit our treatment of Mentally Ill people, and NOT give those who are, and refuse to take their medications, FREEDOM!! There must be Humane Institutions for them, and they must be more closely monitored, and the families must have support. I am sure the parents will be comforted to know their children weren’t killed by an “evil” person, but by someone who had “psychological” problems. Absurd! He may have been mentally ill, but his ACTIONS were EVIL!! The motive for the Act in this case, doesn’t matter; many innocent people are dead.
How true you are about that.
Remie, I 2nd that emotion though FAR easier said than done.
The state deems if a child(ren) can and will be put into the state facilities.
They’ll send a rep to an ‘E D’ classroom/ school and observe the student(s)/ classroom for 15 mins- few hours.
Whereas these kids can exhibit nothing odd as compared to regular ed students or they can s hit their pants, constantly get into fights whereas the teacher(s) will have to use restraining methods and restraints as well.
The child(ren) run away from school during P.E. because the public school’s inundated with these kids and it’s too much for those trained teacher’s, TA’s and dunderhead P.E. ‘teachers’ to look after them, collectively.
Dollars to donuts, even after all this and more occurs during the school day – the state observer WILL NOT recommend the state take matters with the child.
Often times, sadly the child lives with a parent(s) who is marginally intelligent, barely existing hand-to-mouth for themselves let alone being a parent/ provider/ disciplinarian etc.,
They live in motels, the child suffers from eating disorders where padlocks are put on their and the school’s refrigerators, ad infinitum.
Selfishly it’s 1 of many facets why we don’t have children.
I’m from Colorado, my sister was an on-call nurse who’d responded to Columbine and on-call for the ’10 Deer Creek Middle School. Horrible horrible stuff.
This is the crux of the problem. People should be free—-except those who have a propensity to do evil or harm others. It is very difficult to discern which people are likely and it will require diligence. We would incarcerate some wrongly and release some wrongly, but the promise of the phenothiazine drugs to “solve” the problem of mental illness led to closing mental institutions in the 1960s. Frankly, it has not worked. We must change this.
Gun regluations are not going to make the difference, the difference will come from a culture that no longer glamorizes killing in movies and video games and from a social/legal change that recognizes that some people are mentally ill and evil—dangerous to their fellow people.
It will not be easy to change, but it IS important to do so.
He wasn’t devoid of emotion so much as he wanted to be famous. He wanted to commit suicide and he wanted to be immortilized by his death by tking as many innocent human beings with him as possible.
The media is at fault here – along with us who want to understand this evil.
You can’t understand evil, so why bother. If the media (and this goes for terrorist attacks, also) simply reported the incident and never identify the killer then their incentive is taken from them. If they know their names will never be know historically forever, then perhaps they’ll just off themselves and be done with it.
I might as well throw my two cents in. I think he was devoid of self love. The only way one could kill innocent children is because of self hatred.
I also think the communist left Obama supporters constantly telling people that they are not responsible for their actions, that it’s the rich’s fault because they don’t have enough , or some other fault, of “identity politics” political group, or some other race, or some thing like a gun. This is also a symtom of the self-loathing of the left.
To be polite, that’s a load of the stinky stuff.
If, as some reports say, he had Asperger’s Syndrome, he does NOT lack empathy or the ability to understand right from wrong. People with AS might display empathy differently than “normal” people, but that doesn’t mean they lack it. I’m really tired of going down that same road so I’m stopping that line here.
Something else was wrong with this kid. Maybe he was badly bullied in school or some such but that still doesn’t come close to excusing what he did. It was just plain evil. He made the choice to do it and AS had nothing to do with it. He seems to have have some comorbities which may have may have provided a push (still not an excuse) but the fact remains: he made the choice to do this. He didn’t run away, demand to go to a new school or even commit suicide. He did a very evil thing instead.
I completely agree. Aspergers is common amongst MANY functional, sometimes highly functioning people.
Hey “AFK”…..you lose….you lost the game of this life already. There is no evil, thus there is no God? Is that you game?
Well, I’m done. I’m calling it all for what it is. Yeah, time will tell if the Lanza kid had a “psychological” issue. But how many such issues are unavoidable, born into someone without chance for healing? Or is it a culture that WORSHIPS adolescency? We have grown men who are nothing more than children. 24 year old BOYS playing World of Warcraft videos, who go to college and spend 50% of the time jerking off to video porn and partying in the co-ed dorms. 21 and stressed out? Then go get your medical marijuana card! The problem is EVIL…INSIDIOUS, SELF INDULGENT, GOD DENYING EVIL. The Lanza kid was nothing more than another case of angry “delayed-adolescence” (we can’t even get the term correct, as it’s really delayed-adulthood). Poor Lanza! Poor “kid” has a mental condition! Should have given him more meds, more taxpayer funded “therapy”, more pep talks about how “special” he was. It’s not his fault that he just shot 20 babies!! Let me tell you something AFK, if you can’t chalk up responsibility to Lanza on this one, then you are F’in blind to the F’in core, my friend.
This country is in the crapper and it ain’t coming back folks…..50 million unborn dean in the womb….a culture that celebrates everything that is evil and rejects more and more good every day, drugs…drugs…drus. Boys who never grow into men. Half of a population who rejects the very idea of a God (doubt me…go watch re-runs of the Democratic convention when that LA Mayor proposed adding the word “God” to their party platform, or see how many people were in attendance when that Atheist rabbi gave his speech….half the country choose these people). And want more proof? Take “AFK”, who after reading this short and to the point article is still stuck on the “wasn’t his fault line.” We’ve lost, it ain’t coming back. Go arm yourselves for the coming insanity. I’m out for good….LovelyEarth signing off………….
Lovely Earth, I have to agree with your view of our society these days. I can’t say how it has become to this. Maybe too many slaps on the wrist instead of real punishment. As for some of the above posts that the perpetrator may have not known right from wrong, well that’s just a lose, lose situation. Maybe bring the shooter back to life and interview him so we can better understand what to do in the future to prevent the next mass shooting. It reminds me of the spook Loughner that went on the shooting rampage last year. Do you think we should try to rehabilitate him. Do you figure he is worth another meal at taxpayer’s expense. Evil is evil and should be treated as such.
If he could not feel remorse, then why would he kill himself?
Because he was a coward.
Because he knew what he did was wrong! He was simply avoiding prison!
One question: “If hitler had not committed suicide and been found mentally unstable, would you excuse his behavior and describe him as a robot?
“The shooter had a psychological condition he was born with and could not control.”
Now THAT is the functional definition of leftist psychobabble.
We’re told that “gay” people are “born that way.” It’s fundamental doctrine among leftists. However, people change their sexual orientation all the time. Their culture and friends may not understand it, or like it, especially because it flies in the face of THEIR choice and rationalizing their own behaviors. “He wasn’t really ‘gay’” is what they’ll say, smug in their self-reassuance that they truly WERE “born that way.”
So this mindset is applied to a mass murderer. Who had a choice. Who may or may not have known through upbringing and experience what choice was good or evil.
The social scientist Singer believes it should be okay for society to murder its children up to 2 or 3 years old because they aren’t yet human, just as it is okay by societal norms to murder UNborn children (they’re just a “fetus,” or “tissue” you know, they’re not yet human… as if they could be anything else).
For a person like the shooter in CT, or the kids in Columbine, and many others, we find a common link is the culture they’re brought up in; their culture of belief and practice included first person shooter videogames. Hollywood makes and mass-markets movies like “Saw” “Halloween” and “Freddy Kruger” where the killer is glorified, and always returns for sequels even gorier than the previous episode when possible, the level of cruelty, of evil, unimaginable by standards of a generation ago. And the children growing up today are desensitized to humanity, like school children in the public schools of the third reich who were taught, as everyone KNEW, that jews, gypsies, poles, mentally defective and other “minderwertige Leute” (mediocre, substandard People) were enemies of the state and to be ostracized, isolated, stripped of their civil rights, imprisoned, murdered.
America teaches these children, the shooters, “you create your own reality,” there is no value in life other than what the state says and reinforces it through making murder of innocents “choice”and a “woman’s right to choose” and lessens the value of other lives in many other ways some subtler than others.
I think the shooters, the mass-murderers in our midst, while insane, are only acting upon the signals they are getting from government. It is governments, after all, that were responsible for the mass-murders of the last century in Mao’s communist China, Pol Pot’s communist Cambodia, Joseph Stalin’s communist Russia, Hitler’s socialist Germany, Castro’s Cuba, and we see similar trends in other socialist/communist nations like Zimbabwe, and wasn’t it the English who gave us the model of the concentration camp during the Boer Wars in South Africa over a hundred years ago, used to murder men, women and children alike? If we allow government to decide the value of human life, allow murder to become “choice” and think that because someone is “born that way” we wind up where we are today.
There is choice. Always has been. “Choose life, and blessings, death, and curses” isn’t an edict, it’s an observation far older than the Old Testament.
And guns save life, but that’s another discussion for another day.
By the way, the government had little to do with his evil act, save to prevent somebody the ability to stop him . Enough with th conspirasy theory junk
“The shooter lacked that spark of humanity that allowed him to feel empathy” – exactly – evil.
“The shooter lacked that spark of humanity that allowed him to feel empathy” – exactly – evil.
that makes him a victim and he most certainly was not stop doing that for these nuts . Yes he was unstable but those around him did little to help.he knew right from wrong thats why he killed himself. He did not want to face the resulting punishment, so he to the cowards way out and you should not give him victim status.
The people at the school and their familys are the ONLY victims along with his mother. Sadly she was a fool not to safeguard her weapons agaist this action of her son.
I’m pretty sure the Roman state was fully christianized by the time it fell apart..
When Christianity made its debut into the Roman Empire, the Empire was already in a long slow death spiral. Nero who burned Christians in his garden married a castrated boy (there’s no new thing under the sun!).
re:trangbang68
In the future you may want to do a little research before you comment on subject. Your last post was not just incorrect, it makes you look very silly. The Roman Empire continued as a Christian nation for almost a thousand years after it became the offical state religion.
Mr. I – you completely miss the point. Totally. The point related to longevity and tranformational power, not causality.
I’m always amazed by the nit pickers that show up in the comment thread who see things that aren’t there.
Hey, MKH….up yours you loser. Go deny God, go worship what you see in the mirror. Go tell everyone what the “solution is”. Loser of the 1st Order!
So, appeal to tradition (appeal to authority, religion) will convince the left of your bonfides…and prevent them from taking your rights away in the name of evil nutcases with guns?
I’d say more, but you folks will have trouble understanding this much. Many of you are not only thinking inside the box, you’ve closed the lid and locked it behind you.
If we are such lost causes, then surely telling us this will have no effect!
Not sure if this is meant to be a joke or not, or to lure me out to name the word “redemption.”
Before you can find redemption you need that other “r” word – repent!
We are living in the midst of a death cult.
I was going to make that point in a comment on Roger Kimbal’s latest; Aristotle, Curiosity and The Mainstream Media
Now I don’t need to. Thank you J. Christian Adams. Well done.
Liberals’ biggest self-delusion is that they fix things.
So they can’t possibly admit that these kinds of acts come from pure evil, because pure evil can’t be fixed.
And besides, taking guns away from people will remove the last barrier to what they really want…tyranny.
Both Hannity and Levine had a fella on their show who did extensive research on these kind of killings – the “mass” murders. The one thing he found in common with them all was that they all occured in “gun-free” zones. Other instances where a mass-killing COULD have occured were halted almost immediately with someone (off duty cop, teacher with gun in off campus vehicle, etc) who pulled a gun and killed the perp.
This fella even was able to determine that the Batman killer skipped at least six theaters (all closer to his home and of those, several, that were larger and had a higher likelyhood of greater carnal damage) in favor of one that had a sign posted outside that prohibited CCW (concealed carry weapons – legal in that state)because he knew that that was the one that would afford him no opposition.
He probably wanted to commit suicide too – but chickened out. But he got his wish – to be in the news and everyone knows his name.
Why that is just preposterous! So you are saying that my kid is safer at a gun show than at an elementary school? Unpossible!
*Sarcasm folks….*
Gun shows are actually among the safest places to be. Only a total imbecile would “attempt” anything at a firearms show. There are too many that would shoot the fool. (And I am talking about law enforcement officers being present and attending.)
That was my point.
Both Hannity and Levine are AVID gun supporters.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
In actuality, it could be said they are both AVID 2nd Amendment supporters.
Evil is certainly alive and well in the world today, but many deny it exists. If you want to blame anything blame Hollywood and violent video games for showing and teaching the kids that evil is something that should be looked up to. Kids are hardened by the constant barrage of violence and don’t seem to respond to anything they see on the screens anymore. If you haven’t looked at the video games that award extra points for raping and killing people you should, you will be appalled. Don’t ban the guns, ban Hollywood and video game producers so kids’ minds aren’t twisted from an early age. I know, the libs will never go for that.
You realize that the only media that reliably produces stories of good versus evil is video games, right? That you’re about 100 times more likely to see the US military in a positive light in a video game than a movie or TV show?
Those “appalling” games you mention have ratings on them that make it clear they’re not for kids. If kids are playing them, perhaps it’s not a problem with the producers, but with the so-called parents?
I suspect that all of the mass killings in recent years can be linked to violent, mindless videogames–hundreds upon hundreds of hours of them. They are pure evil and they bring out the evil in young, aimless, impressionable people who lack wholesome parental guidance. We banned cigarette ads from TV because they persuaded young people to buy and smoke cigarettes. Today’s videogames are a thousand times more powerful. Ban the violent ones.
What are you a democrat? Seriously. ban ban ban ban ban. I suppose company of heroes is pure evil, even if the game is historically accurate and based on personal accounts of WWII because after all, there is blood. I have played hundreds of hours of violent games of every sort, as have most people that I know and not one of us has any form of criminal record. Also, the only games that involve rape or anything close to sexual assault (or sexual content for that matter) are usually Japanese (and all things Japanese are fucking weird), and hide behind seemingly innocent (sarc) titles like: RAPEPLAY…. or maybe sexy beach 3? Those are only found on the dark recesses of piratebay and the like. I think mass shootings have more to do with the reasons the shooters actually give before committing them, not some third party entertainment that eats a bunch of their time. But maybe I’m wrong! remember all of the rambo shootings? Those totally happened. Remember when the columbine shooters imitated a video game and not a movie franchise that fetishized mass violence, pop-philosophy, social Darwinism, and cybermancy (matrix….)? Where did they get the idea for those “natural selection” shirts? Probably duke nukem or something right? Not the venerable Darwin. And they certainly did not draw anything from Nietzche! And the austin UT Sniper back in the good old days. Probably played some horrifying LARPing game or something right?
Oh and congrats on the smoking ad ban. Everyone still smokes, and smoking is on the rise. Great job legislators. Because they can run the post office so well, they must know how to beat Hollywood and pop culture with stupid advertisement embargoes. PS, advertisements make you do things, just like guns make you kill people, just like games make you violent. Bull snot.
Totally agree with you — people wanting to blame/ban video games usually have very little experience playing them. So many games trumpet good over evil, at least in the games I play (yeah, Duke Nukem, various Star Wars etc.)
I’ve played several video games with people from all over the world and haven’t yet met anyone who believed they were video game chars who could kill people .Not even anyone who believed they are elves,survivors of nuclear war or assassins .
What video game contains rape ?
I would think rap music with repetitious chants of kill whitey,kill the cops and rape the b..ch are a bit more suggestive than a 20 year playing a dragon slayer.
But i think a president standing on stage and applauding a celebrity who SHOT HIS OWN BROTHER as a juvenile, dealt cocaine, and stabbed a rival business executive with a five-inch blade – rapper Jay‑Z – is not a good example.
As i believe a president who takes money from unions screaming for blood,cheers muslims who behead and crucify people ,promotes media personalities that are clearly mentally ill like Mathews and calls hate mongering,antisemitic ,religious people who launder money,sell coke,call for the murder of people by race and are tax evaders- Sharpton,Wright Farrakhan – great leaders ,is getting into evil territory .
Now add in financing terrorists that have killed thousands ,arming Mexican drug cartels,making citizens of millions of illegals who are drug dealers and kill 4,000 Americans yearly,ignoring the murder of 6,000 African Americans every year and financially gutting a country – well i think this is far more evil and destructive than a VIDEO GAME.
Unless you don’t live in reality .
I think a big part of the problem is how evil characters are *portrayed* on TV shows and in movies, not that the evilness is there to begin with. Stay with me here; I’m going to be splitting hairs.
There are most certainly shows on TV – Breaking bad comes to mind – that clearly show the consequences of evil actions in one’s life. Even the most idiocally liberal stories usually have to involve evil being punished in order for the audience to stay interested. But what these shows lack are actors who are physically and psychologically capable of appearing evil.
Have you ever met somebody who is genuinely evil? I mean somebody who has fully allowed the darkness into their life; somebody who kills dogs for fun or worships Satan or has no compunction about leaving broken lives in their wake to get what they want. Real, actual evil. It’s very rare, but it’s out there. It’s always easy to tell, too – it’s all in the eyes. Somebody’s eyes can’t be faked, can’t be changed, can’t be altered. It’s something that can hardly be described. But it’s the first and the best way of telling that you’re dealing with an evil person. And, even if it’s nothing more than mild discomfort, you’re going to react to it.
This is hardly ever captured on screen. Actors are mostly normal people; it’s rare to see one who can actually match the depravity of their character with their own visiage (remember, you can’t fake eyes). Evil looks normal. This communicates at a very subtle level that there are no consequences. You don’t change. You don’t suffer. You can hide in plain sight and nobody will be able to tell what you are. There are actors who have pulled it off – Heath Ledger managed it in The Dark Knight (probably because of the eye make-up) and Javier Bardem is pretty good at it (he has odd eyes and he knows how to work with it) – but it’s really, really rare.
The physical and psychological response a normal, healthy human being has to evilness is trained out by movies, because realistic protrayals of evil are next to impossible. I agree that watching violence is a problem, but watching normal-looking people play supposedly evil characters is the larger issue.
I know one,my ex bro in law. You feel it the first second you make eye contact with them.
It has nothing to do with religion,learning disabilities or common mental illness. It may be a genetic mutation,a severe psychosis or an MPD but it is definitely there. I don’t think everyone sees them the same , maybe if they are more of a threat to certain people ,they react to it. My ex bro in law stabbed a puppy to death with a screw driver and compound fractured a girls arm in 2 places for saying she wouldn’t have sex with him,she was a lesbian, he did it in a crowded bar without caring who saw.
Ted Bundy has the look in some photos as does Manson.
But movies aren’t and never should be used to define reality ,they are for entertainment not barometers of real humans. Besides they never come close to the truth.
Here you have it:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/2012/12/14/conn-school-shooting-suspect-was-son-teacher/iElPLevAl8rYwjOXcy1cMK/story.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — He was an honors student who lived in a prosperous neighborhood with his mother, a well-liked woman who enjoyed hosting dice games and decorating the house for the holidays.
Now Adam Lanza is suspected of killing his mother and then gunning down more than two dozen people, 20 of them children, at a Connecticut grade school before taking his own life.
The 20-year-old may have suffered from a personality disorder, law enforcement officials said.
Investigators were trying to learn as much as possible about Lanza and questioned his older brother, who is not believed to have any involvement in the rampage.
Lanza killed his mother at their home before driving her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School and — armed with at least two handguns — carried out the massacre, officials said.
A third weapon, a .223-caliber rifle, was found in the car, and more guns were found inside the school.
So far, authorities have not spoken publicly of any possible motive. Witnesses said the shooter didn’t utter a word.
Catherine Urso, who was attending a vigil Friday evening in Newtown, Conn., said her college-age son knew the killer and remembered him for his alternative style.
‘‘He just said he was very thin, very remote and was one of the goths,’’ she said.
Goths subculture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth_subculture
I don’t think banning anything is the answer. Horrific tragedies like this do not call for growing government in any fashion. I admit I have no answer. I doubt government does, either. They, however will pretend to, and have the power to enact stupid nonsensicle agendas. But, this is apolitical. We all need time to come to grips with this and to offer support to one another. I admit total confusion.
Evil -
Charles Williams II speaks at a union protest against right-to-work legislation in Lansing, Michigan. Williams introduced two Democratic state representatives and said, “Just know one thing, Rick Snyder. You sign that bill, you won’t get no rest. We’ll meet you on Geddes Road. We’ll be at your daughter’s soccer game. We’ll visit you at your church. We’ll be at your office.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/12/14/Pro-Union-Activist-Threatens-the-Michigan-Governor-Well-Be-at-Your-Daughters-Soccer-Game
Just for some perspective, over a hundred people are killed in traffic pretty much every day in America, with a lot of them being kids, and they are no less dead, just because their deaths are far more routine. We really should ban cars or at least those able to go above 10mph.
Although you don’t realise it yet, the comparison with cars is a good one.
For cars, the answer has been to improve training and qualification, to introduce a system of rules to punish people who do the wrong thing BEFORE they kill somebody, and to impose on car manufacturers to improve the designs of their vehicles so that the occupants (and bystanders) are far less likely to be killed in a collision, and so that collisions are less likely to occur in the first place.
Where the analogy breaks down is that widespread access to motorized transport has an obvious economic benefit beyond the simple manufacture and sale of vehicles. While a few people do need to use firearms to do their job, the same economic imperative can’t be demonstrated with guns.
Most americans use vehicle transport of some kind every day of their life. Yes, the death toll is high because of that – so now consider how much higher the gun toll could be if everyone started carrying THEM around every day.
Your logic, if one may generously call it such, comparing the many uses of cars increasing the likely death toll from auto accidents with the increase of carrying arms increasing the death toll from arms is not sound. For merely carrying an arm is does not constitute use. A more apt comparison would be all the cars parked in a public space with an arm parked in a holster or purse.
As for the obvious economic benefit. Yes cars have one, so does armed carry by the masses. In every state where carry is allowed, the crime rate drops. And there are not any wild west shootouts going on. Likewise many mass shootings have been stopped by armed citizens with far fewer casualties than happen in “gun free” zones which as we have just seen…. produce only a killing field for the deranged.
Fantom –
“In every state where carry is allowed, the crime rate drops”
That would be fantastic, if it were true. But it isn’t. Nobody has been able to convincingly prove that assertion.
“Likewise many mass shootings have been stopped by armed citizens with far fewer casualties than happen in “gun free” zones which as we have just seen….”
Fantastic – so the shooter is dead because somebody had a gun. Except that a bunch of other people are ALSO dead, because the righteous shooter didn’t actually prevent the carnage – they just stopped it sooner than it might have ended otherwise. Yes, that scenario does happen – police do obviously prevent a lot of violence by being in the right place at the right time. But if if the US wasn’t awash in easily-available rapid-fire guns, it’s a problem they wouldn’t have to solve by putting themselves in the line of fire every day.
The cost of having all those guns around means that innocent people die.
You’ve got a great system of belief, but it doesn’t measure up in the real world. When it comes to gun violence, the US leads all the other developed countries, and there’s one very good reason why.
Two words. Anders Breivik
Killed over 77 people in a country with strict anti-gun law. The kind which it would seem you want here. He shot for over 90 minutes. You know why? There was no one to stop him. No easy access to guns.
In fact, more people have been killed in countries without our gun rights… and it IS a Right,in mass shootings than here in the wild west of the USA.
You need to lose your unreasonable fear of weapons in the hands of a free People.
And yes, lower crime is proven whenever more people carry. Only the anti-gun extremist deny this truth. The opposite is also true, ban guns and crime, including violent crime, increase dramatically.
“We really should ban cars or at least those able to go above 10mph.”
…And forks. Ban forks! Forks make people fat!
Wouldn’t work. We’d just eat with our fingers. We fatties are dedicated; it took years (and money) to build this gut.
Look deaths from improper medical care, RX drugs and physician errors .
Thank you, sir, for a word of reason amoung the clamor.
Merry Christmas, and a Blessed and Happy New Year.
Since I don’t watch TV on purpose because it causes brains to leave heads, I am very sad about this but not hysterical. Horrible things happen, there is nothing we can do but try to be better people and neighbors tomorrow. Of course I squeezed my poor daughter for a full 5 minutes when she got home but will refrain from finding something to ban by law to make me feel better until the next big news story comes along.
Two thoughts I had:
Tactically, why is it a good idea to group your most vulnerable citizens together in a building that is easily barricaded from the inside with just a little sign on the door with a perky message “Gun Free Zone” for protection? Are you s****ing me? I think cavemen would do a better job of protecting their young. It is as ridiculous as hiding under your desk for a nuclear strike, something that was made fun of constantly while I was growing up.
You will never protect yourself or anyone else by trying to control other peoples actions, it is really impossible, someone always slips through. Whenever someone is irritated over and over by anothers behavior and don’t change their response to the situation I know they are not serious or wise.
We are all given the freedom to choose… for good, or for evil.
Emotions, values and culture always play a part.
But in the end, it still remains our choice.
People are already starting to use this tragedy to push their gun grabbing agenda. They are claiming that this doesn’t happen in Europe because they have strict gun laws but it never happens in Africa because they don’t have schools. Maybe we should do away with public schools.
Type in German serial/mass/spree/lust killers.Type in British ,Swedish,Polish,Dutch…….
What was Breivik,Hitler,the internet cannibal……..
In Africa they just have slavery,tribal wars,ethnic cleansing,genocides, cannibals, FGM ,witches……….
NOT A SINGLE GUN USED :
Luis Garavito-Colombia,1990
Child-murderer, torture-killer, and rapist known as “La Bestia”. Convicted of killing 138 victims but suspected of murdering over 400 victims, mostly street children. Sentenced to 1,853 years but could only be imprisoned for 30 which was reduced to 22 after aiding investigators.
Pedro Alonso López – Colombia, Peru, Ecuador 1969 to ?
Child-murderer and rapist, known as “The Monster of the Andes”. Targeted young girls, between the ages of 8 and 12. Arrested in 1980 and convicted in 1983 of killing 110 young girls but confessed to killing 300, exact total unknown.He was released in 1998. Current whereabouts unknown.
Andrei Chikatilo – Soviet Union/ Ukraine 1978 to 1990
Known as Butcher of Rostov, The Red Ripper or The Rostov Ripper. Convicted of the murder,torture,cannibalism and necrophilia of 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990. Executed in 1994. Three people were previously convicted and executed for his crimes.
Note * Andrei Chikatilo was a teacher at a private boys school.
I know a woman. She and her husband are university professors. She became pregnant while they were married. She decided it wasn’t a “convenient” time to have a child so she killed it. Later on, when it was “convenient”, they had two children, a son and a daughter. The mother regularly boasts of the killing of her first child to her students and brags that she is proud of her decision. I’ve often wondered how her living children feel, knowing it could have been them…
How can anyone believe that this new culture of death hasn’t had a deleterious effect upon the generations raised in it, knowing it could have been them.
One can only imagine…. Some parents outright tell their children they were not wanted or even “you ruined my life” as it was graciously put to a friend of mine who is in his thirties now and can’t let go of the damage this caused growing up. I expect some of these parents wish in retrospect that they would have pulled the trigger early on when they had the chance. Others don’t express it quite so loudly, but I’m sure it’s occurred to their children. Especially those who know they might have had an older siblings if not for the wanton acts of their parent/s at a younger age.
What a brutal, cold-hearted world we live in. As it says near the end of the book: come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
The mother regularly boasts of the killing of her first child
…Put charitably, those words will make many think you’re full of what the little boy spat at.
Apparently you have yet to meet the feminists sporting their in-your-face T-shirts proclaiming their pride in choosing to kill their babies.
Well, maybe try reading the full sentence before you start preaching:
The mother regularly boasts of the killing of her first child to her students and brags that she is proud of her decision.
No I haven’t seen this talking t-shirt, nor even a conventional one crammed with all that stuff. And I’m quite sure I’m not alone.
Indeed, as tragic as this shooting was it pails in comparison to the death count of abortion. By his vote, obama has murdered more children “with their whole life ahead of them” than all the school shooters combined.
I tried to find a VDH article from PJMedia (I think) about a prior shooting and he gave the history of school shootings from the past centuries showing it was not a new thing at all. I cannot manage the magical search term to find it but it was very worthwhile to read and inoculated me against the high emotions that come into play in these situations.
We live in a country that has systematically dismembered every moral, religious and social structure it ever had…
A citizenry that embraces all sorts of kinky abhorrent sexual behaviors, gorges itself with endless self aggrandizement, decadent and violent entertainment, a place where the people insist; in fact they demand that God stay the hell out of all of their business…
And then when the logical, mathematically correct result of this kind of reckless behavioral system manifests itself in the form of a piece of sub-human trash that murders 20 small children we want to shelter all of it by labeling all of it as nothing more or less than “evil”.
Evil is an unarmed security guard, an untrained and unarmed teacher, the absence of anything inside or outside the school that could have stopped the shooter cold, dead in his tracks.
Evil is a society that is sick to it’s stomach about the tragedy, but not seriously enraged enough to put a permanent stop to the cause of it.
Evil is in the individual, it is in each persons choice. It is to avoid the responsibility of this choice that some seek to cast the responsibility onto an object (a gun), a medical condition ( improper brain chemistry ), or a societal failure (more laws , more police) .
Yet fewer guns results in more crime not less (see John Lott -more guns, less crime) .
Thinking that human beings are computers, or electro-mechanical machines of great complexity leads to attempts to prevent aberrant behavior by “fixing” the malfunctioning machines, and all without the least hint of a clue as to what or how the ghost, ourselves, comes to be in, and in control of the machine . In the absence of any understanding or theory of what the mind is we turn to frontal lobotomies , electro-shock therapy, and now SSRI drugs (search for “SSRI suicide murder”). Moreover in our confusion of morality and medicine we relieve perpetrators of evil deeds of any opprobrium, and instead turns them into patients deserving of our aid and compassion.
More laws and police result in less freedom, less self-reliance and in consequence less actual safety (think TSA) .
The fountain of all hope and humanity is love; without it we are doomed. In a world and as a nation that is increasingly determined to squelch all that is good and celebrate perversity, acts such as this will continue and even worsen.
In the word’s eyes what is good is bad, what is bad is good. This robs our souls of goodness, of love and hope. Whether we humans realize it or not, we were made from ultimate goodness to love one another, the further away we get from this reality, the more lost, demented and perverse we become; in a word, hopeless.
May peace be with you. Digest it, use it and spread it from within. Know peace, for it will give you the strength to resist evil in times of need, and comfort those who need it.
Suppose a drunk driver hits a pedestrian and kills her. Is “evil” to blame? How about an under-age and inexperienced driver loses control at high speed and achieves the same result – still just a problem of “evil”?
If a manufacturer sells a dodgy drug that kills people, who do we blame – the manufacturer, or evil? Suppose the FDA approved the drug – still just a problem of evil? Just love thy neighbour and hope for the best?
Suppose there’s an outbreak of, say, salmonella in a company’s meat products, due to some slippage in the processing – do we simply blame evil then?
No, of course not … you identify the problem and DO something about it.
Apparently it’s allowable now to blame anything at all, except the fact that the kid had guns. Are we even allowed to MENTION that he had guns? Or is that too “liberal biased”?
The US has appalling gun death and injury statistics, and the toll on innocent life is obvious. It continues to refuse to take the most obvious steps to do anything about it, primarily because it threatens the interests of the companies that make the guns and the hobbies and egos of people who simply do not understand how the world works (try telling them that, though)
This time, like every other time, the apologists cry foul that leftists keep pointing at the elephant in the room – easy access to cheap, powerful, people-killing weapons. And they dissemble and deflect until the politicians lose interest. And then everyone is surprised (again!) when the same thing happens a few months later.
The US approach to its gun problem is the epitome of Einstein’s definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Still … not my problem. I don’t live there.
I suppose the same approach to drunk driving would be to make it more difficult for sober, legal drivers to have and drive cars. Maybe certain cars should be outlawed and only elite people, such police, military and emergency crews have access to them. Perhaps we should limit the number of cars because drunkards have easy access to them. Never mind that licensed, sober, insured drivers are the safest on the road.
Basic moral principles apply here, as they do everywhere. The lower the morals in a person, a neighborhood and even a society have the higher incidence of depravity and criminal behavior.
“I suppose the same approach to drunk driving would be to make it more difficult for sober, legal drivers to have and drive cars.”
Well, it would certainly make it harder for DRUNK people to drive.
Inasmuch as random breath testing, regulations, harsh penalties for breaching the BAC limits are making life difficult for “sober” legal drivers … then yes, that’s exactly what we do.
In fact, you could say that all traffic stops, all roadworthiness checks, rules requiring basic safety standards (such as they are in the US) are in fact making life more difficult for sober, legal drivers.
Like I said – you don’t just blame some abstract theological concept for a problem, you identify its cause and address it. Except where guns are involved, obviously.
Sober, licensed, insured drivers might be just fine and dandy – but how do you tell in advance which ones those are going to be? That’s why we have the rest of it.
“……..Like I said – you don’t just blame some abstract theological concept for a problem, you identify its cause and address it. Except where guns are involved, obviously…….”
Techno, the root cause is culture, not guns. I would certianly concede that mental illness should have a path to treatment(which seems to be a factor in the horrific CT case) , but the knee jerk reaction by the left is to blame the guns, not the shooters.
Michael Moore for all of his other faults, actually truthfully defined that in Bowling for Columbine. It is culture. If the left is truly serious about gun violence, they should not fixate on relatively rare mass shootings, but honestly look at where the most gun violence happens, and by whom, and why guns are viewed as a way to “solve problems”. The left with thier adulation of identity politics simply refuse to asess that honestly.
Point me to one country where semi-automatic weapons and handguns are easily and readily available to the general public and where gun violence ISN’T a problem.
“Techno
Point me to one country where semi-automatic weapons and handguns are easily and readily available to the general public and where gun violence ISN’T a problem.”
Gun violence is a problem in London- where guns are NOT readily available. In fact, fully automatic, not semis, are regularly used in violent gun crimes there. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223193/Culture-violence-Gun-crime-goes-89-decade.html In Mexico, virtually all private ownership of guns is banned- yet gun violence is endemic. And, of course, they blame the U.S. for it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/mexico-guns-arturo-sarukhan-us-weapons-mexico-violence-gun-rights_n_1563250.html Our neighbor to the north doesn’t seem to have the same problem controlling gun violence that Mexico does. And, then, there’s the dirty little fact about violence and violent crime of all types in the U.S. If you sperate the U.S. into two statistical areas of population- black and non-black, you get two wildly disparate violence rates. One that makes the U’S. look as violent as people think it is from watching the movies, and one that is as safe or safer then the rest of the world. Your guess as to which is which.
It’s not guns that are the problem.
Ahem. Well, there is Switzerland. But as others have noted, countries with gun bans have worse “gun” problems than in the US. Mass shooting occur, with even more casualties, in countries with very restrictive anti-gun law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland
“Gun violence is a problem in London- where guns are NOT readily available.”
Actually, gun _violence_ isn’t a problem. The use of guns _in crime_ is a problem, though. But overall about 1/2 of those “guns” are imitations or air pistols.
The actual rate of gunshot injuries and deaths is negligible in the UK. A sizeable fraction of gun crime is also criminal damage – nearly all of which is done using BB guns.
The UK and US aren’t at all comparable. But nice try. Now – if you’ve mentioned KNIFE crime …
As for mass shootings – the UK has a history of reacting when those happen to try to prevent them. On the whole, they’ve been pretty effective.
“Well, there is Switzerland”
Yes. Switzerland has a well-regulated militia. Just as israel does. Just as the second amendment intended.
“But as others have noted, countries with gun bans have worse “gun” problems than in the US”
Er, no. They don’t. Mexico does not have a “gun ban”. That’s a myth – go do some actual reading for yourself and stop getting all your information from pro-gun sites. And mexico, with all of its organised and drug crime, is pretty much the only western country that beats the US for gun violence.
“Mass shooting occur, with even more casualties, in countries with very restrictive anti-gun law”
They happen, but incredibly rarely. We had a biggie here in australia in 1995. So we changed the law, and it hasn’t happened since. Not once. Norway had a bad one which was exacerbated by the police being completely unprepared to respond. I doubt if they’ll let that happen again.
If you’re going to compare the US with the entire world for gun violence statistics, you’re going to need more than two or three examples over a period of decades – because at this rate, the US is heading for four mass shootings a year, and (probably) rising. And that’s ignoring the ordinary background level of gun violence that puts the rest of the developed world in the shade.
Typical leftist – penalize everyone for the failings of a dysfunctional minority. Anything to keep us “safe.” Freedom and safety are incompatible.
“Freedom and safety are incompatible.”
Except for those who freely choose to act safely.
Exactly!
The elephant in the room is gun free victim zones.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/people-don-stop-killers-people-guns-article-1.211272
“In fact, some mass shootings have been stopped by armed citizens. Though press accounts downplayed it, the 2002 shooting at Appalachian Law School was stopped when a student retrieved a gun from his car and confronted the shooter. Likewise, Pearl, Miss., school shooter Luke Woodham was stopped when the school’s vice principal took a .45 fromhis truck and ran to the scene. In February’s Utah mall shooting, it was an off-duty police officer who happened to be on the scene and carrying a gun.”
I notice that all those police on the scene had assault rifles. And you know what? Not a single one of them stopped this killer. Nor did any in any “gun free” zone. Only armed citizens have stopped this from happening.
It is the gun control crowd who give us these killing fields. The micheal moor’s of this world are the true enablers of mass murder.
And Bloomberg is hot on his campaign to disarm even more citizens.
Techno,
The drunk drivers and drug/food suppliers in your example are not willfully intending to kill people. They may be negligent, but not evil.
The crazy person in this most recent tragedy in CT most certianly did indeed intend to kill the most innocent of us (young children).
That is indeed EVIL.
A link for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism
and another:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_logic
As I see it, the problem with the word “evil” is that it means whatever you want it to mean. It explains nothing. You substitute a vague theological abstract for a real-world problem, then folks of a certain inclination start trying to solve it with more vague theological abstracts.
Anyone who genuinely believes that religiosity is the antidote to arbitrary violence against innocents needs to … well, read some history books. Yeah, sure, the christians were persecuted by rome. Then rome became christian, and kept right on persecuting. Then the christian kings of europe persecuted as well, to the point that even christians of a different opinion had to flee to the new world to avoid persecution.
To any sensible outside observer, the biggest problem that the US has is easy access to semi-automatic rifles and handguns. You can look for any other common factor you like, but the bottom line remains the same – you have a lot of people being shot, including children and innocent people, and it’s happening at far higher rates than it does in any other similarly-developed country (hey, if you want to say you’re better than Sudan, that’s fine by me). Rapid-fire firearms make it easy to kill a lot of people very quickly, and pretty much anybody can get hold of them – either legally, or by “borrowing” some from somebody nearby. The kids who’ve been committing these crimes simply would not have been able to get hold of those firearms if they lived in australia or the UK (and yes, I know that the port arthur massacre still has the highest body count – that was 18 years ago, then we did something about it, and nothing at all similar has happened since – our homicide rate keeps falling)
You also have a culture which glorifies “righteous killing” – epitomised by all the numpties on this site who think the right solution is to have kindergarten teachers ready to fire a hail of bullets at anyone who threatens their kids. Personally, I think the culture follows the way guns are marketed. You genuinely think that guns solve problems.
Einstein on insanity: When you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results.
In answer to your earlier question both Israel and Switzerland have required access to semi and burst- automatic weapons for all adults of military age.
Wow. Israel has a well-regulated militia. Who’d have thought?
Nice work with the “access to” there, but I’ll take that challenge – if the US were to have switched its its gun laws back in the 50′s for israel’s, I reckon a lot of its problems would never have happened.
If you don’t know what evil is and cant identify instances of it then you also cant know what good is, or what beauty is either . Is Beethoven better, more beautiful, than any rap music ?
Is a Turner painting better, more beautiful, than any work of Warhol ?
You are the only person with a reasonable opinion on this thread. Evil is not a “thing”; it is a cop-out argument by people who are (a) clearly not interested in addressing this crisis in a meaningful way, and (b) only interested in trying to force religiosity back into a culture that (rightly so) has rejected it.
What is our population? 300,000,000+?
People wig out now and then, and the most outrageous acts make the news.
Mass casualties can be inflicted where large numbers of defenseless people are gathered. The sensible defense against such acts is to not be defenseless. The left believes the defense is to make everyone defenseless and reliant upon the state for protection; and the idea that the state would never hurt anyone is one they find valid.
The killer Lanza probably thought it was a good idea to go shoot up the place because young men are always thinking bad ideas are good ones. Odds are he had grown up watching movies with stupid stories and lots of gun play, and he had probably racked up scores of millions of points playing shootem up video games.
What are you suggesting, arming teachers?
Most teachers–particularly in states like Connecticut–are liberals. They will refuse to carry or fire a gun. Remember, Connecticut is a state that Obama just won by 17 points.
What are you going to do then? Force them to under threat of termination? Include it in every teachers’ union contract?
Yes, arming such teachers as would be willing would be a good thing to do.
You do have a point about liberals, not sure many of them are competent enough mentally to arm. Most likely armed liberals would be a greater danger to all around. But certainly any conservative teachers would be able.
Allow the teachers to be armed (or have security at school) and then give parents more choice where to send their kids. Liberals will be shocked, shocked when parents move their kids.
My thoughts too. I almost brought up school choice. The parent should decide where their child goes to school and the money should follow the child. Let the liberals leave their kids in a gun free killing zone but those who choose so should be able to send their kids to a safe school.
The Israeli’s have armed school teachers. They have to deal with some maggots who love to kill their children. These same maggots attacked a school in Russia. Personally I am more worried about a moslem attack on our little kids, than what just happened. Liberal’s have set up thousands of killing fields for such an attack.
“The parent should decide where their child goes to school and the money should follow the child.”
Also a fulsome solution to the immediate issue.
Regarding the ’04 Russian school shooting by Muslims you’d mentioned – horrible stuff.
I worked with a great Russian/ friend while in India when that tragedy occurred. It shook him to his very core.
He’s from the Caucus mountain region of Russia, very close to where the tragedy took place.
Since his getting back he, his wife and son obtained weapons for safety purposes only.
An aside, the Caucus people look different than their fellow Northern, Western Russian citizenry. Wider, less strong, angular features than the aforementioned Russians.
Sadly my same colleague/ friend, a scientific virtuoso, dynamite speaker (the guy speaks 5 languages) gets profiled EVERY TIME when flying through Moscow. This abuse only intensified since 9/11. And he’s as Anglo as they come. Sad..
If armed guards were OK to desegregate schools, they are OK to keep the kids safe from nuts like this.
Because private schools are impervious to bullets? Your logic, it is terrible.
No, because at a private school the teachers could/would be armed. It would not be a gun free killing zone you liberals have set up.
Your comprehension and cognitive abilities re-affirm my low respect for the mental capabilities of progressives.
It would drive the leftards out of the profession. A twofer.
It might lead leftards to support vouchers, so they could have their own shooting gallery schools* where more rational people held their children protected. A trifecta!
*A tragedy for the leftards and their children, but ultimately such evil as theirs must be let to have its own reward, they should have what they work so hard for.
But we shouldn’t put up with it.
I’m not suggesting anything, unless it would be that the media is filled with a surfeit of messages that violence solves all problems.
Now the media is going to blame the firearm and absolve themselves. They’ll promote gun prohibition while promoting gun violence. The people of Connecticut, and the left in general, their moral compass and rationality being so askance that they elected frauds and liars, such as Obama, Blumenthal, Warren, etc., will latch on to the wrong solution, to wit: the state shall possess all arms and the people shall be defenseless against that state.
My advice to the people: bury your guns and ammo where the pigs won’t find them.
Nicely put.
If there was a single reason that Christians gravitate toward Conservatism, it is the concept that human beings are, at their base, sinful creatures. Just because people know what is right and what is wrong does not mean that all people have the self-control necessary to choose what is right. It’s like all those Communists I knew in college, they all argued it was an ideal system that was never accurately practiced – of course, it is dependent on having non-corruptible overseers; that will never happen.
We live in a world without consequences. Abortion is a quick solution for those who wish to avoid the consequence of children. Entitlement programs are a quick solution for those who wish to avoid the consequence of financially toughing it out. A growing national debt is a quick solution for those who wish to avoid the consequence of individual self-reliance. And, more and more, suicide is a quick solution for murderers who wish to avoid the consequence of prison.
In a world without consequences, how many of you honestly believe that, if the gunman had not killed himself, he would receive the death penalty?
Whether or not he had a good childhood is irrelevant. Lots of us had crappy childhoods, but most of us learned to control it, this kid could not. Still, he did not throw a tantrum (though I suspect there were probably hundreds of them leading up to this), he got his mother’s pistol and went berserk. That is the face of evil: whiny, petulant, self-serving, and dangerous.
And before the day was over liberals throughout the nation already began to again call for gun-control (including a pathetic failure to understand what the difference between auto and semi-auto is, but I digress). I like the phrase you see on NRA shirts: “If guns kill people, spoons made Rosie O’Donnell fat.”
Mr. Adams is correct, let’s call this act what it really was: evil.
Many will struggle with the idea that Rome crumbled because of Christianity, but this is a worthy article — the latest shooting is about much more than the repellent carnage on your screen.
Evil is to blame for most, er, evil, but good isn’t off the hook.
Consider the passive, reactive, flaccid, degraded state so many ‘good’ people are resigned to. Often, all the insipid mewling merely adds up to a definition of cowardice. It isn’t complex: At some stage, you have to pick up the musket and pull the trigger instead of leaving it all to others.
Let’s hope there’s a special place in hell for everyone who’s ever said ‘Thank you for your service’, or who buys a bunch of flowers and tosses it piously on the pile.
Meanwhile, in our degraded world of bread and circuses, most will forego even faux displays of goodness and will opt instead to go shopping, bake a pie or flip the remote, expressing outrage all the while.
There’s nothing new here: freedom isn’t free, remember? Perhaps that’s too harsh; if you can’t call evil by it’s name, there’s always room for ‘turn that frown upside down’ — or even ‘double-plus-ungood’.
Alright, how about this: Christians didn’t believe Rome was worth saving. Sure, it was great how we overturned an Empire, but would you expect the Christians to fight to save Rome then any more than you would expect Jews to fight to save Germany today?
It rather depends on the alternative, doesn’t it? We can safely conclude you’re not troubled by altruism, hardly an admirable point-of-view.
Also, not an important point in the context of the article.
Evil is to blame for these horrific murders and nothing else.
This is why the GOP is called “the stupid party.”
Not sure the article mentions politics or parties. Amazing how you can drop some ear corn and deer appear.
And vermin.
Zorro is correct – only Republican nutjobs wrapped in faux religiosity would try to make the argument that an intangible, un-measurable, un-quantifiable force in the universe is to blame for real world problems. It’s a pathetic cop out and evidences a disinterest in actually solving the problem.
That’s right Z-man, in your world there is so such thing as evil is there? Except evil capitalists, and soldiers because they’re so icky and people who think sodomy is demented and unhealthy and …you get the picture. You clueless little moron.
Sir, you impugn morons with that statement.
If the GOP is the stupid party, then why are all these things happening in Obamaland?
Nobody ever wants to discuss the impact our culture has on these crazy people.
Why is it that we never, ever, had so many mass shooting in this country in the 1940s, 1950s, and most of the 1960s? After all, there were plenty of guns in America in those days. In fact, on a per capita basis, you could probably make the case that there were more guns available in those days than there are today since the gun laws were almost non-existant from the 1940s to the 1960s (and the ones that were on the books were not nearly as tough as they are today). So what happened? Did we as a society become more violent? How come there were no Oklahoma City-type bombings in the 1950s? Why is it that, as far as I can tell, there was only one mass shooting in the 1960s (on that Texas university campus with that crazy guy shooting from a tower), when in the past year or so we’ve had something like four mass casualty shootings?
Maybe its because, as a nation, we were more prosperous before 1970 and had a greater emphasis on maintaining traditional family units? Maybe it’s because we had more two-parent homes rather than single-parent homes? Maybe it’s because the black community was more stable and had more complete families, unlike today where roughly 70% of black kids are born into single-family homes? Maybe it’s because of the hyper-violence you see in our movies and video games today, making the idea of killing a lot more palatable to mentally ill people who see these images? Maybe it’s because of the explosion of drugs in America and all the gang violence that goes with it? And I could go on, and on, and on.
We never seem to examine either our culture or our media and until we do that, you’re going to see a lot more of these types of shootings. It’s easy to blame guns. It’s a lot harder for the people in this country (especially liberals) to take a critical look at the people who USE those guns.
Recognizing the reality of evil is a first step. Evil is not caused by some impersonal force that just randomly affects someone. Evil is caused by a malevolent person, a spiritual being who has many names: devil, satan, etc. many people have come to a belief in God by first coming to believe in Satan. Good is also not just some random thoughts or feelings. Good is another name for God. Jesus came into the world for purpose of defeating Satan. Aligning yourself with him is the best way to defeat evil. He is the way, the truth and the life.
Arizona, Colorado and Connecticut
3 examples of young men with mental illness that did what the Democratic Party needed to happen now while they have America enthralled with big government.
MK ULTRA
Discuss
Tin foil hats.
YOURS IS LOOSE.
Tighten.
since the 60s marxist operatives have been experimenting with the insane
how’s that working out?
you are out of your fricking mind.
Discuss.
Jared Laughner is linked to the Annenberg Foundation Small Schools Initiative
when Laughner left that school, it received 2 million dollars
btw…
who did Laughner meet with at the motel the night before the shooting spree?
funny how he plead guilty. I guess that’s second best to being killed in the middle of a leftist mission against a ‘blue dog’ Dem and a Judge that ruled against Democratic Party interests
I wonder: a mother must know if there is something wrong with her son, why would she go out and buy some guns for him?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, taught us to pray: “Deliver us from Evil.”
May He bless the parents of the murdered children and adults.
Some translations : “Deliver us from the Evil one , I believe because of the definite article . Is there an Evil one who rules over all evil and what plan does this one have for the future?
Who will not be under deception I wonder?
In a post on another website, I raised three questions 1. Why did the school not think this could happen to them 2. How is it the shooter was able to enter the school 3. In light of a number of such incidents, why is it that there is no regular police or armed security presence in our schools.
The answers are pretty simple. No one is using common sense. No one believes it is actually going to happen to them. And, the schools do not want to spend any of their budget on an armed security presence.
I work as a security officer guarding critical national security infrastructure, owned by a private company. Let me say that the security there is a joke. In no way would it be effective in stopping a determined attack. And I believe the reason that is the case, is again, no one believes it is actually going to happen there, and they don’t want to spend the money on a really effective security presence.
In my school system, we have school police officers. But, there are not enough of them to be at all the schools, all day. To be effective against an active shooter, an armed police or security officer must be on site all day in every school. They should be at the doors when the students come in, in the morning. And any teacher or school employee, who has access to that building, must make sure no one piggybacks into the school behind them.
I also noticed that the media is playing up the assault weapon angle. It should be noted that the shooter did have an semi automatic rifle, but left it in the car and used two handguns for his murderous spree. Of course the media will not hesitate in pointing out the rifle, because they are aiding in the push for a semi automatic rifle ban. One news station even mentioned that there are thirty round magazines available for the Glock, used by the shooter. There was no evidence that a thirty round pistol magazine was used. But again, the media is pushing to reinstate the large capacity magazine ban.
And, lets turn to the political discourse in this country. We just finished an election, where the incumbent president, and his party, made it a point to demonize the opposition party and anyone else who did not agree with the President’s views. What kind of an effect does this have on society in general. The answer can be seen by going to the comments on the various left wing website, such as Huffington Post. The comments by those in favor of the leftist agenda, drip with hatred for anyone who does not agree with them. To my mind, this is a direct result of politicians deliberately turning American against American, to gain a political advantage and political office. We have become not only a nation divided, but a nation where both sides of the political spectrum hate each other. This can only ultimately lead to violence. The politicians need to stop the divisive nature of their rhetoric. They are part of the problem.
Statistically such attacks are extremely rare. The school in CT didn’t think it could happen to them because the odds were very firmly against it. For every school that experiences a shooting incident, there are thousands of schools that DON’T.
It’s a bit like airline crashes. Flying is, statistically, one of the safest ways to travel. Airliners hardly ever crash. But when they do, it’s very, very bad.
People hardly ever shoot up schools, either. But when they do, it’s very, very bad.
Trouble is each of these incidents is so horrible that it feels like even a rare one is too many. And we become willing to go to any lengths to prevent the next one.
So – is it worth it for all the elementary schools in, say, Charlotte NC to install card reader locks on all the doors, put security cameras in halls and classrooms, hire a full-time armed security guard, and allow teachers to concealed carry? The statistics say No. The horror says Yes. Which do we believe?
“…..the existence of conscious, deliberate, unseen evil….” is evident in Democrat and liberal media dialogue on a daily basis.
Being a mortal and understanding it’s limits is part of being an intelligent and fully functioning human being.
What we accomplish and pass on during our lives is what is most important to the dissemination of social awareness and the emotional health and success of our loved ones. And these qualities are not innate to our DNA.
The most sophisticated individual cannot enlighten the one that fails to, or is incapable of, considering the wisdom. Yet this endeavor is essential to our enlightened providence.
JCA: “Some dispute the existence of conscious, deliberate, unseen evil… Some consider the mention of evil in public discourse to be unseemly. Belief in pure deliberate evil can be inconvenient, because it includes other necessary beliefs.”
Come on; name some names. Let’s be honest with ourselves, the Marxists in our midst, and their useful idiots, do not believe in good or evil, because by the normal definition of good, i.e.: the values of life, liberty and creative pursuit of happiness, it identifies them as evil.
“Communism has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality. It scoffs at any consideration of “good” and “evil” as indisputable categories. Communism considers morality to be relative, to be a class matter. Depending upon circumstances and the political situation, any act, including murder, even the killing of thousands, could be good or could be bad.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn – The Legacy of Terror
“There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.” Karl Marx
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Only a special kind of lunatic would blame “leftists” and “communists” for this mass killing. Congratulations – here’s your tinfoil hat. Now get back on your meds.
Only an act of blind paranoia could prevent an otherwise intelligent person from accepting the fact that the Udited States has become mired in economic and cultural Marxism, both built upon the irrational notion that there is no such thing as good or evil. You can’t or won’t connect the dots, so your mind has inverted the very concept of lunacy.
Ephesians 6
“11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Being under the spell of deception leads to demon influence which then can lead to demon possession
In the Lord of The Rings ,Sauron had the ability to turn the Elves (the angels) into orcs through torture. How then can a mere human resist demon influence and my next question: this murder of 30 million babies legally since 1973 how do we keep sweet sweet smiles of pleasure on our faces?
Christianity did not transform the world. Christianity based itself on unrealistic expectations about human nature. When Christianity ‘married’ the Roman Empire, it also changed from its earlier form, seeking an alliance with the powerful, in the process effectively contradicting its sweet-if-naive beliefs.
It was under the wings of Christianity in Europe that that continent worked itself bloody for 1500 years, in endless slaughters. Only because Europe exhausted itself and the rise of the US as a fairly benevolent superpower occurred did the slaughters stop.
Every single true value that Christians believe they invented comes straight from Judaism.
Christianity did not transform the world. Christianity based itself on unrealistic expectations about human nature.
Um, no.
Proverbs 25:28 “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name (Jesus), He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
It is by Grace granted through Christ’s attoning death on the cross by which New Covenant G-d Fearers live, not by Levitical Law, which was impossible to keep, as Biblical historical accounts attest.
When Christianity ‘married’ the Roman Empire, it also changed from its earlier form, seeking an alliance with the powerful, in the process effectively contradicting its sweet-if-naive beliefs.
There will always be hypocrites, as evidenced in Isaiah 2:6 “For the LORD has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans.”
It was under the wings of Christianity in Europe that that continent worked itself bloody for 1500 years, in endless slaughters. Only because Europe exhausted itself and the rise of the US as a fairly benevolent superpower occurred did the slaughters stop.
A little history, pre-Christianity: Isaiah 1:15 “…I (G-d) will hide mine eyes from you (Israel): yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” And that’s just for starters, there are dozens more references in the Old Testament re: bloodshed “under the wings of” hypocritical Jews regarding Levitical Law…or is pointing that out somehow anti-Semitic?
Every single true value that Christians believe they invented comes straight from Judaism.
Not invented…imparted.
Don’t go there. The “Tikkun Olam” crowd is at least as bad, probably worse.
Christianity did not transform the world.
It most certainly did. All the values that the secularists treasure so deeply such as the goodness of science, which stems from a belief in an ordered universe, superstition being sinful and truth being an absolute; to the equality of women (and everybody) to the end of slavery can be traced to Christianity.
Christianity based itself on unrealistic expectations about human nature.
That we are incapable of loving neighbor and God? I am kind of glad, though, that the prohibitions on eating certain foods, strict observance of animal sacrifice, and the requirement of circumcision to be considered part of the community have ended.
When Christianity ‘married’ the Roman Empire,
The marriage lasted less than 100 years, 380-476, at least as far as the West goes. The “marriage” of Christianity to the German tribes is probably more significant.
It was under the wings of Christianity in Europe that that continent worked itself bloody for 1500 years,
What? It was somehow worse before? How were Asia, Africa and the Americas doing?
Only because Europe exhausted itself
That actually occurred in the post-Christian era after the rise of Darwinism and Marxism and Freudism.
Every single true value that Christians believe they invented comes straight from Judaism.
I don’t think we Christians believe we invented any values. Jesus certainly taught Jewish ones (although as noted he gave the boot to the legalistic stuff.)
You wield the truth like a finely balanced sword. Well done.
Jesus gave the boot to the TALMUD!!!!
Talmudic Jews are evil… mohammad loved to crib from the Talmud..
Jesus told Talmud Jews to end the heresy and return to the Torah.
The Talmud came after Jesus
Excellent article. Thank you.
And to those who insist that a psycho “does not understand” what he is doing, a question: if you take that psycho, you chain him to a wall and you slice him and dice him, does he understand the difference between doing that to him and not doing it to him ?
I think he does.
“lack of empathy” my a##
Unluckily for us all, evil exists and it is HAPPY to make us suffer.
Just the contrary of “lack of empathy”: these psychos are actually laughing at people’s sufferings, which they do understand and they do enjoy.
We can not solve a problem until it is defined. Mr. Adams, once again, contributes. There are many things we do not know about the Connecticut event; more will be learned over time. But we are certain that evil attacked our families and society. The slaughter of twenty babies has no other name. Erudite people know this was not unique, history is filled with such horrors.
I, a believer, have a close friend, an atheist, a mental health expert, who is a veteran counselor at a hospital for the criminally insane. Most of her patients are multiple murderers. They will kill a human being without the slightest self restraint or remorse. I posed a question to her, “Can anyone, with any certainty, separate, or predict mental illness vs. pure evil?” She was clear, “No.”
This is where we are. Our religious, doctors, legislators, our police and legal professions must start here. Evil exists. It is active in the world. What do we do about it, or an individual, or group, while maintaining our freedom?
My inadequate answer: Praise God and pass the ammunition.
My uncertain judgment: The killer has begun an eternity in the fires of hell. Others, who did not do their duty, will follow.
“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Your article reminds me to reread and rereread The Screwtape Letters.
Thank you. You couldn’t have given me a better compliment. One of the great books about evil.
This emphasis on “evil” is not helping. The one really useful thing I’ve read on this subject is at Ace of Spades:
http://minx.cc/?post=335690
These pathetic failed humans need to be treated as shameful, not horrible. Horrible is what they want to be remembered as.
Respectfully to Ace, he’s wrong:
“And what Evil is usually described as, in popular mythology, which these guys are not, is potent and capable. Yes, Evil is horrible, but these guys are embracing it for the Power of it. Because they are failures and hopelessly inadequate in their own lives, they contrive a fantasy in which they become Dark Heroes — larger than life and big as death — by murdering a lot of people.”
Essentially he is saying – “don’t call these freaks Evil because that’s what they want, so we will only feed the mythology they have about themselves.” Sorry, Evil is evil. Ace is wrong. One does not refrain from calling evil evil because evil ones bask in the title.
I wonder what kind of media will be found in the shooter’s house, and will that in anyway implicate those who produced such media as encouraging/inciting such violent behavior?…you know, the sort of outrage and calls for censorship that would follow were an open Bible discovered on the desk in the shooter’s bedroom.
What makes this tragedy all the more inexplicable is that the killer’s mother wasn’t some marginal character, but an entrepreneur who had been married to a wealthy executive. Indeed, she was gun enthusiast and probable supporter of the NRA, who carefully trained her kids in gun safety and obviously taught ‘em to be good shots. Her favorite movie was probably Dirty Hairy or Mr. Majestyk. By your standards, she was an exemplary person.
Of course I don’t know if any of this is true, but I have at least as much basis for writing it as Adams has for invoking metaphysical evil in the absence of any real information about the killer.
A “personality disorder” is what Adam Lanza was diagnosed with; If a “personality disorder” can turn a person into a raging barbarian, then the entire U.S. Congress and administration should be medicated to manage this disorder, since they display it without constraint.
If evil is ever named by the left as the source of this tragedy it will of course be thus: “Evil – thy name is GUN”! They will of course go on to attempt to ‘persuade’ us that ‘evil’ must be banished from the kingdom. The left never fail to exploit an emergency or a tragedy. I don’t expect them to disappoint. They seldom do.
Evil is as evil does.
Great news: Your permanent record is now available on demand DECEMBER 13, 2012 BY ED MORRISSEY
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/13/great-news-your-permanent-record-is-now-available-on-demand/
In the meantime:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a concussion earlier this week after she hit her head when she fainted because of dehydration from a stomach virus, a Clinton aide said today in a statement.
“She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors,” Deputy Secretary Philippe Reines said. “At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon.”
No ambulance was called and she was not hospitalized, according to a state department official.
She was expected to testify before Congress on Thursday at hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The Associated Press reported that her appearance has now been cancelled.
The State Department has not released further details on Clinton’s injury.
An acute case of AEWD (any excuse will do).
Can the declaration of executive privilege from Feckless Won be far behind?
She hit her head? Why doesn’t she just claim amnesia.
If those on all sides were being totally honest and not merely argumentative, they’d admit that the problem is insoluble, assuming “solution” is defined as something that would make the problem go away. Nothing can, or at least nothing the side effects of which wouldn’t create greater problems still.
What we CAN do is ameliorate the problem, and might not that be done by setting aside, for pragmatic purposes, the metaphysical/theological questions and redefining instead what legally constitutes guilt or innocence? To wit, what if we abolished verdicts of “Not guilty by reason of insanity”, and made the only questions admissible for consideration by judge or jury be: “Did he do it?” and “Was it an accident”? Insanity would be irrelevant, since killers like this one, even if clinically insane, would still be found guilty; i.e., guilty of being insane. The underlying ethical justification: the assumption of absolute personal responsibility.
While this may to some seem too subjective a standard not to produce the same quandaries as does putting rent-a-shrinks on the stand to “testify” on the sanity or insanity of known killers, the determination shouldn’t be that difficult, and in fact is made all the time by prosecutors deciding whether to bring charges of murder or manslaughter.
If a man is seen climbing a ladder with paint and paintbrush in hand, then falls and breaks his neck, common sense tells us it was an accident. If he ascends the ladder, stands on the roof for a half hour, then jumps, it wasn’t. No psychiatrist is needed to tell us the difference, unless we’re interested in discussing the theory that the “accident” was motivated by a subconscious death wish. But no court of law would be interested in, nor permit, that discussion.
The sanity/insanity of this Adam Lanza, then, wouldn’t matter, even if he truly believed those kids were zombies. All that would matter is that it was no accident.
Might not that help?
Mr Adams is absolutely right, and so are those who pointed out that the shooter knew he would inflict enormous harm and pain, or else he wouldn’t have done it, ergo he knew the meaning and the experience of harm and pain. Ergo the notion that he had a warped sense of reality and that he was numb, acting like a zombie, is specious and fails on any close inspection. The shooter wanted to inflict as much pain as possible, and he deliberately chose–like so many mass shooters in recent memory–a most vulnerable community, a school with little, or zero defense. Whatever his motives and psych problems, this guy’s strategy and tactics all point to a deliberation of what would inflict the most devastation and long-term pain.
Also, the notion that someone like him can’t feel empathy with those he’s about to kill is pure nonsense. His purpose is precisely to feel, even for a few minutes, the joy/excitement of inflicting harm. As a general rule, criminals and murderers don’t feel empathy with their victims, or they wouldn’t do the act, would they?
Everyone is Fair Game: Spy Agency Conducts Surveillance on All US Citizens By Russia Today Global Research, December 14, 2012 Russia Today
http://www.globalresearch.ca/everyone-is-fair-game-spy-agency-conducts-surveillance-on-all-us-citizens/5315628
Yes, Mr. Adams you are absolutely right that evil is to blame – the evil that reigns in our fallen world. Mental illness? Caused by evil! How else to explain more than a million abortions in the United States alone annually. Yet the same folks that are so upset about the guns support killing the most innocent and unprotected. How else to explain this paradox other than a malignant evil that warps the minds of the godless.
Thane36425: “Something else was wrong with this kid.”
Why do we think that murder is a disease that can be cured? Killing of innocents has been going on since Cain and Able. It’s at best a beast within us kept at bay. What keeps such evil impulses caged? Certainly a belief in religion or a society where there are connections that quiet the beast. Unfortunately today, especially amongst youth and young adults, there is little belief in a good God whose commandments mean something, or a social network for the young to strengthen their good impulses vice the bad. As Obama and his supporters destroy our Christian based society to found their secular utopia, I fear we”ll see more of this type of evil. If you’re a standard youth today what do you do? No job. Watching opportunity pass by as you grow older. Spending your time watching porn or sadistic crap on TV, both real or fictional. Gripping to what few friends you have left about how life is unfair. All good things like Christmas mocked, love of God and neighbor mocked. As you need money, stealing it and hurting others in the process. Doing drugs to forget that you’re a loser in a loser society. That’s how evil grows in the world and occasionally the beast gets the better of someone. Stand by, it’s going to get a lot worse as our society crumbles under Obama’s willing hands with the full complicity of 52% of us. We were warned in the Bible and by history and by many keen observers of life. We didn’t listen. Now we are paying for it.
The problem isn’t violence on TV, or in video games. It isn’t access to guns. It isn’t the fools we elect. These are symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself. Instead of children of God, we have become children of goo, nothing more than walking bags of chemicals. We have taught a generation that we are not spiritual people of infinite value. Don Savage can sells buckets of anti-bullying videos but they have no effect because he cannot explain why the dork next to you has any intrinsic value. Children in the womb are murdered by the millions because they have no more value than a tumor.
Instead we are taught people are inherently good, so when someone does something we think is bad, it must be caused by some external influence. If we can only get rid of these influences, we can create a utopia! It’s the exact philosophy Muslims have. That’s why they dress up their women head to toe in bags to hide their sexuality. Ban guns! Ban religion! But don’t lock up the deranged – it’s not their fault.
It’s no wonder the Left and the Muslims get along so well. They have the same worldview. They can’t criticize Muslims because our “progressive” enlightenment has rejected any basis for morality. But they will criticize Christians and Jews because the only thing they cannot tolerate is a Biblical worldview.
John Lennon imagined a world with no heaven or hell, no right or wrong, nothing to die for, and nothing to live for except today. Tear down the good, lift up the bad, and we’ll all live as one; all equally miserable.
So here we are. More and more senseless violence. It won’t stop until people again see the spiritual value in others. But to do that, they will need to accept the truth of God. But that means discriminating between good and evil. And that is the progressive’s greatest fear.
Excellent post to which I’d like to add the significance of losing sight of the fact that we are not the center of our own universe, that there is something out there greater than us.
Here in Australia, we dont have mass shootings. We have strict laws on guns. We dont have prayer in schools either. Its common sense as to why you have so many mass shootings. You guys love guns. Your right to bear arms is more important than your kids’ safety.
btw I’m a Christian, a teacher and a parent. I’m glad I can work in a school and my kids can go to school without worrying about the obscene events yesterday. Best thing John Howard did was bringing in gun control in Australia. You guys can.t see the forest for the trees.
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, ” Even Australia’s Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research acknowledges that the gun ban had no significant impact on the amount of gun-involved crime:
•In 2006, assault rose49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.
•Sexual assault — Australia’s equivalent term for rape — increased 29.9 percent.
•Overall, Australia’s violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent”
There’s more at this link:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=17847
But if you’re a leftie, no amount of facts will influence your opinion.
Hey Patrick, no one on the left or right side of Australian politics will agree with you.
Unlimited gun oenersip and automatic weapons are gone since Martin Bryant slaughtered dozens of our citizens at Port Arthur. Have had no massacres since.
The first thing our right wing pm did with unanymous support is place tough restrictions on gun ownership.
But maybe your a rightie and guns are worth more to you than kids lives.
In Australia, we value kids more than guns.
What is there to agree or disagree with?
I just searched “Australia Crime” and up popped the link I posted that states what it states. Australia hasn’t seen its last mass murder, I’ll wager. Chances are that one of those peaceful Muslims that your Government is replacing you with will do something heinous and will the Government ban Muslims? Hell no! Then you and your fellows on the endangered people’s list will wish you had something to defend yourself with.
Here’s a fact, Patrick. Martin Bryant massacred over 30 people at Port Arthur. Then the pm legislated for gun control. We haven’t had a massacre since. Hmmm is there a lesson there.
Of course though your right to bear arms is more important than kids lives.
Of course, if you valued your kids, you would repeal your fascist gun ban. You act as if children are only killed in school shootings. Denying the basic human right to defend oneself and ones family does not make you safer.
Enjoy your home invasions you poor P.O.M.E(Prisoner of Mucking Elitist), hope your kid is not raped and killed because of your fear of guns. Of course someones kid will be.
BTW, seems there are quite a few Down Under who do not share your views about your fascist ant-gun law.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~nedwood/index.html
Keep your sorry ass in Australia, Shane. We don’t need anyone with a personality disorder like yours any where near OUR kids.
Do you have State Farm Insurance on your flying carpet?
I agree with many of the sentiments in this post and the comments. There is nothing we can do about mass shootings. It isn’t an equality issue, a gun issue, or a mental health issue. We cannot talk about it, there are no solutions, we just have to endure it. Cold comfort to the parents who’s children were murdered, but so it goes. Arm yourself, retreat into your bunker, hope like h*** it doesn’t happen to you.
What have we become?
Nonsense Brutus. After our Port Arthur massacre the pm banned automatic weapons and placed restrictions on gun ownership.
We havent had a mass shooting since.
We’re theres a will theres a way.
I mean how many more massacres does it take.
Wow, do leftist ever tell the truth?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monash_University_shooting
Twould appear they lie Down Under, just like here in the US… must be a genetic trait.
He didnt get those guns from a shop in Australia. And Victoria passed even harsher legislation.
In Australia you would be a nutter as no one from the major right wing parties wants automatic weapons inhomes.
And yet he had those guns and did the shooting after you said it never happened since your “enlightened” gun ban.
In this country, that makes you a liar. Which puts anything else you say of little worth.
As for automatic weapons. We can’t widely buy those here either and you would have to be rich in order to buy one, $25,000 and up. But of course you do not have a clue.
G.K. Chesterton is quoted as saying that a mark of progressives is that they typically refuse to say what is good. They will jump to tell you what they hate, and what “things” are bad. The author here nails the concept. Progressives cannot say what is intrinsically good because they cannot do it without acknowledging an objective evil. So they simply punt and hate on everything they disagree with.
Dr. M. Scott Peck, himself a progressive, probably thought he was onto something radical when he published “The People of the Lie,” a psychiatric treatise on evil. The book was fascinating, but not radical to anyone who has read even a little scripture.
That is true as far as it goes. I just don;t think it goes as far as I perceive Adams to be taking it.
Sorry. I’ll try to be more deep for you next time.
“G.K. Chesterton is quoted as saying that a mark of progressives is that they typically refuse to say what is good. They will jump to tell you what they hate, and what “things” are bad. The author here nails the concept.”
Yes, but his hammer is so big he’s hit his thumbs.
The Chesterson quote has great valence, but calling this person evil when it is a certainty he was of greatly diminished capacity to know right and wrong, a) encourages magical thinking, b) distracts from solutions addressing circumstances actually contributing to the event, and c) in appearing to seek magical, non-individual causes, weakens the case for conservative thought generically. There’s no there, there. There’s no change in policy, there’s no improvement, there’s just implacable, obdurate evil, against which we can pray to no more effect than prayer had before the actual Enlightenment*, when magical thinking was abandoned.
*I say Enlightenment as opposed to the Endarkenment begun by Rousseau and Robespierre, et al. The actual Enlightenment reached it peak in 1775-1789 or so.
And yes, deeper thoughts than, “Evil! Quick get the witch doctor”, is called for.
Pedantic.
Total nonsense. To say those of diminished capacity are incapable of evil is to admit they are incapable of virtue. That kind of thinking led to a significant number of murders under the Nazi concept of universal healthcare.
Hey Harry. Being safe at work is good. Not having my kids shot up at school is good. Gun control is good.
I think calling the shooter or the event EVIL is a cop out. Slapping the word on it removes other causes. It is probably a very complicated situation. For one thing…why did the mom have the guns and why were they available to him?
/
And maybe the living room hadn’t been properly vacuumed, or perhaps the house was too stuffy, or they had brown eggs not the white ones that they used to get. It all so complicated, lets just leave it all to the experts…. and make some more laws…. maybe outlaw brown eggs .
That’s racist.
“There are no consequences for these evil acts… the shooter kills himself, so what? If we do not believe that there is something after life, then what is the difference if anyone does evil? They will just shoot themselves or their families, friends and be done with it. Maybe teaching hell & damnation has its benefits – you think?”
The kid was bright and had already displayed knowledge and behavior of knowing right from wrong.
He had a “personality disorder” which can be triggered by an allergic reaction to a certain food or drink.
Exorcism hasn’t been ordered in ObamaCare, but, most likely will be decreed by executive order next week..
This demented Adam Lonza did murder these people it seems by all accounts, however, know it was the progressive left that created the environment that sent this guy into the insane behavior of killing; Hollywood’s violent movie industry, liberal TV programing, the radical gangster rap music industry, violent video games, the leftist hateful lying deceitful drive by media, the unionized public ed. system, leftist collages &universities,the perverted homosexual marriages and other such stark destruction of societies morays, it’s institutions and tradition caused this and several other violent murderous acts. It’s this criminal evil president and his administration that is just as much to blame for the tragedy in Newtown, CT. They not be allowed to escape blame for their actions, all of them…
Not to undermine the tragedy of the loss of 20 babies, but… Point of order please.
The average daily number of abortions in the USA is 3562. Where is the news media about all those babies?
3562 plus 20 is 3582, right?
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When Martin Bryant shot dead over 30 Aussies and their families Australian politicians didnt look for pathetic excuses like he was mentally ill or it was some sort of evil. Our polticians didnt play politics with kids lives. They banned semi automatics and assualt rifles. They made it that to get a gun licence, has to be related to a profession eg farming or part of a shooting organisation.
Its not a left or right issue. Its a life or death issue. Our society said we dont want guns as part of our society. Thats why you dont hear of mass shootings in Australia. Our left and right agree.
Not quite sure what your problem is but if you think the solution is arming teachers you got rocks in your head and thats why Id rather live down under.
And yet your violent crime rate has soared!!!
In 2002 — five years after enacting its gun ban — the Australian Bureau of Criminology acknowledged there is no correlation between gun control and the use of firearms in violent crime. In fact, the percent of murders committed with a firearm was the highest it had ever been in 2006 (16.3 percent), says the D.C. Examiner.
Even Australia’s Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research acknowledges that the gun ban had no significant impact on the amount of gun-involved crime:
In 2006, assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.
Sexual assault — Australia’s equivalent term for rape — increased 29.9 percent.
Overall, Australia’s violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.
Moreover, Australia and the United States — where no gun-ban exists — both experienced similar decreases in murder rates:
Between 1995 and 2007, Australia saw a 31.9 percent decrease; without a gun ban, America’s rate dropped 31.7 percent.
During the same time period, all other violent crime indices increased in Australia: assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.
Sexual assault — Australia’s equivalent term for rape — increased 29.9 percent.
Overall, Australia’s violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.
At the same time, U.S. violent crime decreased 31.8 percent: rape dropped 19.2 percent; robbery decreased 33.2 percent; aggravated assault dropped 32.2 percent.
Australian women are now raped over three times as often as American women.
Did I say we had no crime. Most of our crimes involve knives not assault rifles.
Strange, most of our gun crimes do not involve even semi-auto rifles, much less assault rifles either. In fact less than 4% use any rifle. You’re twice as likely to die from someones bare hands.
As for your country…The percentage of homicides committed with a firearm continued a declining trend which began in 1969. In 2003, fewer than 16% of homicides involved firearms. Looks like the downward trend started well before your fascist gun grabber did his ban.
“They banned semi automatics and assault rifles.”
That would be because they are stupid, and you are bringing it up here because you are proud of your national stupidity.
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/07/doing-math-guns
Wow, you guys defend mass murder of your own citizens.
I thought some of you were Christians.
Of course Australia has gun crime usually with bikie gangs and the odd robbery. Theres a difference between organised criminals who get their guns off the black market and someone with an axe to grind taking their mums assault rifle to shoot up a group of kids. Or a movie theatre.
Maybe thats too hard for you to understand.
No, we defend mass self defense. We understand it has, does, and will, keep us safer than say Norway were Andrew Breivak went on a 90 minute killing spree because the victims were unarmed.
Also we understand that the worst mass murders in history have been perpetrated by governments, against their own citizens, after they were dis-armed.
Obviously this is too deep a subject for you to understand.
Speakin’ of being Christian.
Luke 22:36
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
Well fantom since Australia banned automatic weapons we havent had to defend ourselves against mass murderers. Maybe thats too hard to understand. You’d rather sacrifice your kids then give up your guns.
Do you think Jesus would arm Himself with a Glock or latest assault rifle? Ppp
Jesus did not arm himself with a sword. But He did instruct us to arm ourselves. Glocks and rifles included. In the future it may be particle weapons. I am sure Jesus is just fine with whatever weapons are needed to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the depredations of evil… be they criminals or governments.
It is clear in the Bible that one may use force, including deadly force to defend ones self and ones property.
And that means the weapons needed to face whatever threat to ones life and property that may come. In LA when blacks went on a racial rampage after the Rodney King verdict. Asian shop owners used AR 15′s to defend their lively hood. Lessor weapons may not have s’ficed. Likewise , criminals will have whatever they want. A wise man is armed in a manner to defend himself from them. Whether it is a group of armed ganbangers, or racist mobs bent on killing you because you are not their color.
I’ll be keepin’ my AR 15, thank you very much. It is my God given Right.
Perhaps you can give an example of the disciples defending themselves in the bible.
Like when Peter cut off the guys ear who came to arrest jesus.
Jesus’s response hits right at US John Wayne
He who lives by the sword dies by the sword
ergo he who lives by the gun dies by the gun.
Seems you don’t understand basic scripture. Peter was defending Jesus with a sword which could just as well been a glock. You want guns in your society. Face up to the consequences like in Newtown.
talk about not understanding basic scripture, Jesus said he did not bring peace to the world, he also told his apostles buy a sword.
It’s funny how you skip the part about Jesus telling the apostles to sell their cloaks and buy swords – you phony.
Australia has a higher murder rate than Switzerland where everyone has true assault rifles.
Jesus could call down legions of angels to protect himself numnuts. Last I looked you nor anyone else on earth can do that, thus we need to protect ourselves. Plus your argument is phony anyway, Australia has a higher murder rate than Switzerland, where everyone has true assault rifles in their home.
a, had to use a different email address as mine looks like its been banned. Funny that. See you at the next massacre. Maybe it’ll be your kids.
It will not be my kids hater. I am armed and have a carry permit. Hopefully the gun phobic left will be voted down and we can end the gun free killing zones they have imposed at our schools.
And yes, you have had more mass killings since 1996, some by fire what 179 in 2009? Some by bombs, one in 2002 by guns. You will have more with real assault weapons at some point now that you have banned guns.
You should know, it is almost impossible and prohibitively expensive, to legally own an assault weapon here in the US. They are class 3 firearms. They are restricted to pre 1986 manufacture. As an example a M16 will cost about $25,000 then you have to pass an extensive FBI background test.
Now you can get a semi-auto that looks like an assault weapon. However those are very rarely used in crimes.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/23/dispelling-gun-myths/
“Though it is one of the most popular rifles sold to civilians, the AR-15 is rarely used in crimes, presumably because it’s not readily concealed. The most recent FBI figures show just 358 of the 8,775 murders by firearm in 2010 involved rifles of any type. By comparison, 745 people were beaten to death with only hands that year, but no one has called for outlawing fists.
Mrs. Feinstein joins notorious gun-grabbers like New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in seeking to vilify guns based on their appearance, not their performance. The AR-15 series was designed to look like the military’s M-16, but it is semi-automatic. That means it fires only one round when the trigger is pulled, and that round is no more powerful than any shot by an ordinary hunting rifle.”
And fortunately the majority of Americans agree with my position, and value their Second Amendment Rights. We are carrying more across more and more states. And it is because we love our children that we do not buy the anti-gun hysteria and lies.
Well that should make the families of the kids killed on friday feel better. Anyway you nutters over there keep your guns and sacrifice your kids on the altar of your idols. You’ll be having this discussion again very soon when it happens again.
I’m glad I dont live and work over there and our politicians arent pussies scared of the gun lobby.
We’re pretty glad you do not live over here either. We have enough progressive idiots of our own to deal with.
Yeah you win. I dont need to pack an m16 to go to work or have my school guarded with security armed with m60s.
Your world of Rambo is much better.
moron, you have a higher murder rate than Switzerland where everyone has true assault rifles.
“a, had to use a different email address as mine looks like its been banned.”
Yeah, that’s what malignent narcissists do when they get their asses handed to them in a debate. Keep saying it over and over and over and over and over and over and over! If you’re louder than everyone else, you win the argument! Right?
Mr. Adams, you would be as good a conservative writer as any to take on a project that there seems to be a shortage of. Conservatives/Christians have been warning for decades what liberalism would result in. Why not go back and document all of these warnings and the results of not heeding them?
Its almost as if we keep reinventing the wheel, like every catastrophe that comes along was unexpected. The destruction of the Christian moral fiber of our nation has grave consequences and our nation will never recover unless it recovers its Christian ethic.
So what does the ever so perspicacious Mr. Adams think of the reports the shooter had more than an emotional disorder, that he was literally unable to feel pain, that his teachers when he was in school had to watch him to be sure that he hadn’t cut or burned himself, because he wouldn’t know.
This was done by a person not personally acquainted with pain.
You keep calling it evil, I’m going with, “should not have been mainstreamed”.
I’d want to check the veracity of those reports. First of all, because inability to feel physical pain, anywhere on one’s body, is an extremely rare condition. Second, because that in itself doesn’t necessarily have any bearing on a person’s ability to make moral judgements.
Why, Tom, do you want to let the shooter off the hook? Are you a plaintiff’s attorney?
This is true.
“A culture that values goodness is a necessary prerequisite to discouraging evil.”
But that is not what Mr. Adams wrote which I am objecting to.
There is no supernatural or magical evil, there is no evil agent but ourselves.
This is no tautology, but it is the pointlessness of the scapegoat, and the falsity in the intercession of saints, and is the falsity in the supposed other than placebo effect of the sacraments.
What pleases God to exist for us, is individual freewill and randomness. There is no union between that truth and the nonexistence of good or evil, instead it demands we do our utmost to do good and to pray for forgiveness of our sins–because no witch doctor ritual of priests or pastors can relieve us of them. I do believe in the perception the Holy Spirit is grabbing your ear, but I know it is the better angels your nature, and nought else.
This is no cant, this is no hyper-technical language I do not expect you to know. Mr. Adams, this is the truth as I know it in English. If I were to be uncharitable, I might observe that as a lawyer, I don’t expect you to be conversant with that concept, plain language used for the communication of truth–but I do think you are better than that, and I don’t mean that in the sense of, more capable than your peers.
Magic has never happened.
Christ’s word is still be best news we’ve ever had, or are likely too, however poorly reported in the vernacular of the testaments. His light shines through.
C.S. Lewis, a former atheist and author of ‘Mere Christianity’:
“I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him— ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be G-d.’ That is the one thing we must not say…a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would NOT be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of G-d: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and G-d. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
What you say would be true if:
a) The people writing the Gospels some 70 to 300 hundred years after Christ’s death got everything correct.
b) Christ was always speaking literally and not metaphorically.
c) “He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” Yes he did, I think that is exactly what he meant to do. That’s not what the people taking up collections to build fancy churches wanted us to believe to be true, however.
Believing all those things to be true is a foolishness on par with imagining the Roman soldiers surrounding the Council of Nicea weren’t there to put a thumb on the scale in the way the Emperor wanted.
“I might observe that as a lawyer…” A-ha! You *are* a plaintiff’s attorney! How’s the ambulance-chasing going? Have any of the parents hired you yet?
I guaranty all of you, everyone has the nature of Satan in your heart, that man is a fallen creature and must redeemed. That redemption takes place in Christ alone. Yet until we are completely transformed into Christs “likeness”, we saved always need to be on the alert for evil, even within our own selves and in our own surroundings, for the potential is always there. Why do you think it is said Christ trusted no man? It is because he knew what was in man.
So what to do? Well first we must keep our eyes on Christ our savior which is keeping your eyes on goodness so you’ll not forget what goodness is. Secondly don’t let evil fester in your midst, your neighborhood, your town, your state, your country or indeed anywhere it is found. Thirdly pray always, the spirit of God will help all who pray.
The reason there is so much darkness today is that people who know the difference are not calling evil, evil until it is too late or not at all.
We cannot tolerate evil or partner with it as so many in this country have done.
But always remember one thing, the wicked always destroy themselves that’s why we must separate ourselves from them. The wicked are identified by their deeds.
Sorry but satan’s in Australia as well and for some reason we dont have mass shootings. Thats because we banned automatic weapons and assault rifles. That stopped satan from killing kids in mass shootings.
Moronic. Have you ever been to Australia? One of the safest and happiest countries I’ve ever visited. And no one is getting shot every two seconds.
“And no one is getting shot every two seconds.”
That doesn’t happen in America either. Inner cities and this RARE incident aside.
That lie has already been exposed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monash_University_shooting
Nonsense, you have a higher murder rate than Switzerland where everyone has true assault rifles.
Hey, I’ll give you the monash shootings although only 2 people were killed which wouldn’t make the news in your country.
And of course we tightened our trafficking laws as thats th he only way you can get those guns in Australia.
That only puts you 30 school shootings ahead.
How many more will it take? 50 or 100?
Normal people don’t need assault rifles. I’d say those who do have psycholigical issues.
again: Nonsense, you have a higher murder rate than Switzerland where everyone has true assault rifles.
….SSRI psychotropic drugs…the common factor in virtually every mass shooting in schools the past twenty-odd years. They cause mania, delusion, intense restlessness, and ideation with suicide/homicide. They are pushed by pharma on family physicians to prescribe for any case of mild blues to moderate depression. They have black box warnings to the suicidality and restlessness side effects, but they do not go far enough. Newpoint shooter probable schizophrenic on a very strong drug (originally unapproved by FDA but then miraculously approved upon resubmission in 2009) Fanapt. Elephant in the room.
Adam Lanza was a psychopath or a sociopath. This is not mental illness and there is no treatment beyond drugging them into an apathetic stupor. So yes, evil. There is no other name for it, it is knowing, deliberate destruction. And while there may be some religious context for good and evil – evil does not rely on religious doctrine for its existence. If you don’t believe in evil, I suggest you do a little study of serial killers and mass murderers throughout history. And personally, I believe that one of the reason why so many sociopaths slip by in life and manage to do wreak their havoc is because by and large people are unwilling to confront evil. They would rather believe there is some outside source or cause making unwitting dupes perform such evil. But the facts don’t bear that out.
This link http://cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath_2.htm Goes into great detail about this type of person and much of the it mirrors descriptions of Adam Lanza given by friends, family and acquaintances.
Perhaps if and when society is willing to accept and confront the fact that there are those who are evil and stop making useless excuses for these perpetrators things will improve. And the press will stop glorifying these monsters (oh yes, they live for the glorification of their evil acts, again read up on serial killers and rapists)maybe we will have less of these instances.
But as long as we can feel okay describing and accepting these folks as mentally ill and therefore not truly responsible for their own acts, things will not improve.