A suppressed rant

Below is what I was initially going to post after hearing about the shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado, but I held off.  I figured it wouldn’t be read anyway (yes, that same stance again).  A few days ago there was the shooting of six Sikhs at a gurdwara in Wisconsin and recently another shooting was, apparently, averted – a copycat of the TDKR one…

As some say: ‘better out than in’ so, rather than holding the rant back…I’m going to let it out…

As news of what can only be described as the ‘actions of a mad man’ (no, I’m not referring to events in the Middle East) filter through, I just can’t help wondering what it is that this person’s friends and family missed…or dismissed.

I’m in no way saying that we should critique the behaviour of everyone we know, or be paranoid about things, but there has to be a certain level of awareness…and inquiry.  The warning signs are almost always there…

With the Columbine shootings, for example, there were numerous signs about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and their intentions:

-         website stating pipe bombs were being made; naming people they wanted to kill (they had a hitlist)

-         they already had a criminal file for breaking into a van

-         police warning the school but no action taken (a year before the shooting)

-         showing the weapons to friends

-         the story Klebold wrote mere months before the shooting

Then there’s the aspect of none of their parents having any idea that there was an arsenal in their respective houses.  Sure, there’s respecting the privacy of one’s offspring…but, personally, this ‘ignorance’ of what was going on under their own roofs is disturbing…

Here, so far, we have someone who started buying numerous firearms over a short period of time (from May), but that didn’t cause any eyebrows to be raised (apparently).  I’m not going to call it an ‘arsenal’ because that’s exaggerating and distorting, but he had a good amount of firepower.

Then we find out that a psychiatrist at the university he was attended had identified him to the university’s ‘threat-assessment team’, but they decided not to do anything about it.

This seems to happen often, generally speaking – those in a position to do something, who are provided the information needed…not acting upon the information.  Whether it be football coaches, social services workers, etc…action has to be taken.  Yes, it’s time consuming but rather that than ‘uh oh, we knew about such-and-such.  Sorry.’

And now…the new shootings…

Which has hardly been in the news…

Six Sikhs shot dead.

Why?  Because someone didn’t like them, wanted to make an example of them, and hoped his actions would encourage others to do the same…

Thing is…just as we’ve had potential copy-cats after the TDKR shooting…we’re going to have the same here.

Over in Nigeria we have ‘Islamic militants’ murdering 19 Christian worshippers.  They expect to establish Islamic law in Nigeria by going against Islamic teachings and Islamic laws?!