I mentioned on my last blog post how there are many contributing factors to our gun violence problem, many of which nobody talks about. Every time there is a school shooting the first thing we hear is that guns are the problem and that they must be banned and taken away. The media then proceeds to make an analysis of the weapon and a list of all the reasons of why it is bad and scary. At the same time they suppress information like the motive and mental state of the perpetrator, just as they did with the 2023 Nashville, Tennessee school shooting.
When this tragedy happened everyone wanted to know why the killer did what she did, after all she left a whole diary where she wrote the details of her plan and of her motivations. It was a clear blueprint of the killer's state of mind and strong evidence of her serious mental health issues. However, local authorities withheld this information for over a year following a recommendation from the FBI to keep it on the hush hush. At the same time all we saw on the news was a manipulation of these tragic events to further the gun control agenda. All focus was on the firearm she used and not on the real issue, which was her mental state. They knew the perp was ongoing treatment for mental illness, they knew she owned guns, they knew this could have been prevented and nobody reported on that.
The FBI and corrupt news medias will go far and beyond to make sure we hear only what they want us to hear, that we believe only the things that further their political agendas. They know that if they keep us in a perpetual state of fear they will have control over us.
This time I want to touch on social media and mental health which I believe are big contributors to the rise in gun violence we see today.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH
We humans are social creatures and we have evolved to live in small communities. We lived in nomadic hunter gathering tribes for about two million years until the agricultural revolution when we started to build small towns and cities. After this we spent about 12,000 years living this way, with small social circles. Even within our big cities the average human interacted with about 150 individuals at maximum and maintained intimate and meaningful relationships with far less.
Technology has changed the way we interact with others as well as the size of our social circles, In less than 300 years we have drastically changed 12,000 years of human social behavior and evolutionary psychology. This has had a great impact in the way we value life and our relationships with others and it would be a mistake not to acknowledge the negative effects this has had on our mental health.
KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY
Technology, without a doubt, has been a great tool for the social evolution of our species, it has enabled us to live longer, to live better, and to cooperate with each other like never before. Our communication systems have allowed us to build great cities and strong economies in a global civilization unlike anything this planet has ever seen.
The harnessing of fire, the invention of the wheel, the bow and arrow, the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, the telegraph, cars, radio, airplanes, television, nuclear energy, and every mayor product of technology, brought with it a disruption of our way of life. Changes were usually for the better, but many times for the worst. In the worst of these cases we found a way to recover, we made legislation, international treaties and guidelines for the proper use of these technologies. After sometime we then moved on, adapting to a new way of life with its new benefits and its own risks.
Historically, advances in technology came slowly and far apart, this gave us enough time to incorporate new tools into our way of life and to adapt to its benefits and it's downsides before the next big thing came along. In other words, it allowed us to keep up.
About 120 years ago the world was a bigger place, you would sail for weeks or months to cross the ocean and see new continents, it took as long to communicate with people across the country or the world. This made life and our relationships very valuable, you couldn't just block your friend because you had an argument and talk to another person 100 miles away. We had to develop tolerance and social skills to be part of the community around us.
It has only been in the past 30 years that we have seen the rise of the internet and social media. We went from postal mail and newspapers to YouTube, Myspace, and Facebook; we have never been more connected than we are now. Since then, advancements in new technology have come fast, barely giving us any time to adapt or to assess the risks of their mass adoption and I believe we can no longer keep up.
IMPUT OVERLOAD AND DEPRESSION
Today everyone has a smartphone, practically a pocket super-computer, everyone is connected to everyone in the whole world, the planet is no longer a big place and it takes but a few keystrokes on your pc or taps on your smart phone and you can broadcast any information to millions of people. What a wonderful time to be alive indeed, when you can connect with millions across the globe and access all human knowledge at the tap of your fingertip, but it comes at a price.
A great deal of our mental health depends on the quality and duration of the bonds we form with others. At any given time we have access to millions of people and potential interactions and like in any free market, the value of something is dictated by supply and demand. The more we have of something, the easier it becomes to obtain, when something is easy and abundant it loses its value. A thousand friends on Facebook make friendships and relationships less valuable and less rewarding. This is very apparent in today's society where many have lost appreciation for friends, family and human life. This in return makes it easier to hurt others.
We did not evolve to care about so many people or to receive so much social input and opinions as we do today. Everyday, on social media, we see dozens of posts of our so called friends, smiling, living their best lives and as happy as ever. We compare their lives to our own lives, we compare them to ourselves, and we fail to see that it's a façade. No one has a perfect life, everyone has trauma and everyone has problems, people just don't show that on social media. This makes people become depressed, numb, and resentful towards society.
THERE BE MONSTERS
There has never been a better time for the propagation of good ideas, but on the other hand, the same can be said of all the bad ones. We often see wild trends on social media such as absurd and dangerous challenges. This nonsense usually plagues the minds of the most vulnerable such as our kids. We see teenagers making videos of themselves hurting others, punching people in the face, and calling it a prank, all for attention online, anything for the views, anything for the clout.
Online bullying has become a modern epidemic. Its no longer just the school bully that takes our lunch money or the two to three kids that tease us in school, now people of all ages gather by the hundreds or thousands online to bully one or two people. No human is prepared to deal with so much, the way we socialize now doesn't just create mental health issues, it creates tyrants, it creates monsters. These monsters don't hide in the closet or under the bed, they live among us in plain sight, they shop at our malls and go to our schools. The build up of hate, resentment, and social frustration manifest itself in the tragedies we see today.
IT'S NOT A GUN PROBLEM, IT'S A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM
Mental health is at the heart of our gun issues, lets not forget that. We must accept it as a problem so that it can be dealt with. We must work together to find solutions to this mental health epidemic that is taking innocent lives. When the mental state of a person breaks down there is no telling what they might do, we have to be more aware of the things that drive people to such horrible actions as murder and violence. The gun is not a problem, it is our mental state and our intentions that cause the issue.
We should have more counseling and mental health resources in schools, and we should be more aware of how our kids are doing and how they are feeling. We should make therapy and medication more accessible to those who ever need it. More importantly we should strive for a healthier environment in our society to improve mental wellness for all its people.
Again, my heart goes out to all the victims of gun violence and their families, may you all find solace, peace, and the strength to keep moving forward.
Lets be kinder to one another in person and online, lets be more respectful and considerate of others. Lets remember that we are all in this together and that every life matters.
If you have read this far I extend my deepest gratitude. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one and want to share I encourage you to do so, as we can all learn something new from each other.
Tune in next time, I'll be writing on the subjects of parenting and education and how they contribute to the violence we see today.
Please feel free to comment and leave your opinions or questions on this thread. If you have any advice or just want to share, write it below or link to your blog.
Remember Lions, stay safe, stay strong, and stay free!