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Every generation has had a "great" war. Every generation has taught the next generation the virtues of violence. We have fought wars for land, strategic resources and to protect our position as the global hegemon. Every generation has benefited from this violence: especially those who pretend like our violence was/is for noble reasons. Our problem isn't violence; Americans don't like violence that doesn't make our lives easier.
Zephen Allen Xaver is the latest product of our violent culture. I know I'm supposed to feel sympathy for him. He's not like those violent "thugs" ruining our cities. He's not like those violent Muslims waging Jihad. He's not like those violent Mexicans coming to take our jobs. No, he's a real American, so we must try to understand where his violence comes from. America has to make sense of the senseless.
By the time investigative reporters track down his friends and family he will be another "lone wolf" with mental health issues. There will be people working overtime to make sure he doesn't reflect poorly on the rest of real America. Zephen's actions had to happen in a vacuum.
He, like the other real American mass shooters before him, is a victim of society. Not a victim of the violence that is a constitutive part of the American ethos, but a victim all the same. He was ignored, rejected or made to feel less than. In other words, his real "Americanism" didn't afford him what he thought it should have so he lashed out. Real Americans spend a disproportionate amount of time worrying about everyone else while Billy, Timmy, and in this case, Zephen are locking and loading. Five people lost their lives and the response has been muted. I have a hunch real Americans would be responding differently if this crime was committed by an immigrant or Muslim.
