So Ramos was a loner, bullied because of his poverty status. A rant.
And, I'm guessing that the demeaning environment made it too easy for him to drop out of school, making his situation worse.
Not going to defend him, but, this was foreseeable. The Columbine killer was also bullied. Ramos was a child that was left behind, and instead of getting help to rebuild his confidence and try again as an adult to find a productive place in this world, he instead did what this country does best. He purchased a military style weapon because our laws are permissive. And now we have a new massacre on the books.
I want to point out that this was not your ordinary Anglo-incel. This is something else. Maybe he was an incel, since he was aggressive to women, but not the typical White Supremacist type. And this should be a major concern for us because the American school environment is about to get worse for minority children in this country, and others who don't fit the Anglo mold.
I think the schools, in the way that Republicans are trying to change it, are creating a harsh place for non-white, non-conservative children to grow up in. The objective of the Anglo conservative culture has always been to make their perspective, the dominant one. It has confused young white men who are growing up in a world that is growing diverse and doesn't recognize their "birth-right" as the top dogs. Raised by racist parents, no surprised that they grow up believing that all their problems are due to people who do not look like them. Even if they know how absurd this is, they know that they will receive quiet approval from the people who believe like they do. The only people that matter to them.
Ramos suggest a different kind of misadaption, but with the same gruesome results. Young American men are solving identity problems by blasting away at defenseless people. It has now crossed cultural lines.
What we do now can save lives in the future. This should be enough for us to fight for our schools, and fight for our children. Subject material and topics taught in schools matter. Children are getting mixed messages from all sources, but school should no be one of them. We are a diverse country and we need to teach children how to deal with the differences of diversity in a safe school setting. And that includes the issue of poverty, which is what slowly destroyed Ramos.
And poverty isn't insurmountable. My own father was born on the floor of a migrant worker's shack and he still managed to rise up the ranks and reach his full potential. In my father's case, community was everything. The public school teachers in Ohio gave him the tools he needed at the right time in his life. When this country was faced with WWII, he answered the call and this country gave him the opportunity to serve. There was one blatant example of racism in the military, when no one offered to team up with him to put on his pack. Military packs were heavy back then, filled with equipment that today would feel like ironman material, which is why soldiers were taught to use the buddy system. My father just handled it the way he always handled these kind of things. On his own. He devised a way to prop up the pack on his bunk and sat on the ground, with his back to the pack and stood up, sliding into the straps.
The thing is, he would always end these kind of stories with such a positive spin. He would say, "learn to do things for yourself. People will respect you for it." But I don't believe that any more. This is not the kind of culture I would find when it was my turn to come to America. I see a lot of self-interested people coming together for all the wrong reasons, usually in secrecy, and it inevitably undermines the process that is supposed to protect all of us.
I guess my father lived in another time. He would find respect and strength through military service* AND through my mother's family in Panama. Most everyone that I knew in that country overcame some sort of poverty. But community and family kept everyone strong and they helped each other through it. I don't ever remember anyone mocking another for their financial status. There was lots of support for education, and recriminations for those who steered away from the straight and narrow. Family was family.
On the other hand, in America, poverty is mocked and put down, usually by those across the aisle. A double offense, because conservatives are the ones that create the obstacles that will make sure that people remain in poverty. By my observation, it is now creating mental issues in the young, who decide to take things out with guns. So, congratulations conservatives. Another assimilation hurdle conquered.
In sum, we need to go back to the lessons of Columbine and reaffirm anti-bullying programs. But we also need to create an environment in schools that doesn't mock children because they don't fit into the box that Anglo conservative are trying to define as an ideal. We are a diverse country, and the sooner we embrace this reality, the sooner we can raise well-adapted American children.
*After WWII, my father would use the GI Bill to get higher education. He would always remain close to the military, afterwards, working as a civilian for the Army and serving in the Reserves.
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Means more than you'll ever realize!
