How America has silently accepted the rage of white men

[ehrnst]

In fact, America has been here 273 times in 2017 alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which compiles deaths and injuries from shooting incidents and defines a mass shooting as any incident where four or more people are wounded or killed. According to their tally, there have also been 11,698 deaths as a result of gun violence so far this year. Between 2001 and 2014, 440,095 deaths by firearms occurred on US soil, while deaths by terrorism during those years numbered 3,412. Today, America faces approximately one mass shooting per day on average.

Mass shootings are a violent epidemic that have been met with fatal passivity for far too long. If mass shootings were perpetrated mostly by brown bodies, this would quickly be reframed and reformed as an immigration issue. If thousands died at the hands of black men, it would be used to excuse police brutality, minimize the Black Lives Matter movement and exacerbate the "raging black man" stereotype. If mass shooters identified as Muslim, it would quickly become terrorism and catalyze defense and security expenditures.

But this is a white man's problem. According to an analysis by Mother Jones, out of 62 cases between 1982 and 2012 (a time period that would not include the actions of Dylann Roof or Stephen Paddock, among others), 44 of the killers were white men and only one was a woman. Since 1982, mass shootings in the United States have been committed by white men who are often labeled "lone wolves" or "psychologically impaired." As a result, the government that would otherwise be mobilizing its institutions to bring about reform remains a stalwart of the Second Amendment and mass shootings' greatest ally. An over-affinity for guns among white men, dangerous against any other backdrop, gets defended as patriotism by many conservatives or even as white pride by those on the alt-right.

In fact, according to a 2014 poll conducted by Fox News, nearly seven in 10 Republicans believed that gun ownership is patriotic. If espoused by other groups, this sentiment and this number might be considered threatening. Instead, it is welcomed in a way that many believe gives tacit encouragement to potential mass shooters.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/03/opinions/mass-shootings-white-male-rage-modan-opinion/index.html

[Doodley]

1. The rage of white men - It is all starting to sound a little bit racist.

[yardwork]

2. Really?

[Doodley]

5. f you replace white with another color, it also looks racist. That said I agree

totally with the article. It is also white men that put a bigot idiot in the White House.

[yardwork]

6. The whole point is that people defend white men even when theyre guilty.

It’s a fact.

[Doodley]

7. I agree. I hear that all the time. Sickening.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Sorry . . .

. . . when you hold all the cards, you aren't allowed any more Aces.

[ehrnst]

9. When a demographic statement is correct, it's not racist. (nt)

[Doodley]

14. As I said, insert another color and tell me if it sound racist.

We can use that sentence as a template for other "demographic truths" about people of other color and I would find that unacceptable too.

[ehrnst]

19. If it's not factual about another demographic, how could it be a "template?"

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Not really.

[SweetieD]

12. People talk about black on black crime all the time. For decades. So much so everyone knows the

term by heart. But no one talks about the rage of white men that leads to their suicide rate dwarfing any other demographic and also mass shootings by them or domestic violence cases. It is never pathologized in the same way despite how destructive this violence is to their communities.

[Doodley]

15. Black-on-black crime is not the same, because it doesn't

imply all blacks are part of the problem. We could take other crimes committed more frequently by a particular race and add a word to the racial identifier like "rage," and it would sound very racist. Maybe I am far to the left on political correctness, but I do not apologize for that.

[ehrnst]

20. When you say something about the dominant culture/demographic

especially on certain issues, it isn't the same when you say it about a non-dominant culture/demographic.

If you don't get that, you aren't "too far left" or "politically correct."

[Doodley]

22. Are you saying that when whites become a minority (and I hope

that is soon) that talk, using terms like "white rage" will suddenly change from being acceptable to unacceptable?

[ehrnst]

23. If the dominant culture changes then the discussion will change

I don't know what will be "acceptable," because I don't have a way to see into the future.

[LanternWaste]

13. Is the headline "the despair of the American black male" racist as well?

Is the headline "the despair of the American black male" racist as well?

If not, what is the precise and relevant difference?

If so, are all demographics then, by definition, racist, sexist or ageist to use as well-- or do you limit it merely to one demographic?

[Doodley]

16. Yes, I think that sounds racist. I think we need to be careful

about the language we use, and I also think we shouldn't be manipulated by the "political correctness" is bad argument on the right, which is saying it is okay to use language that is potentially divisive and offensive.

[ehrnst]

21. The effect of saying something about the dominant culture is different

when you say it about a non-dominant culture.

See also the B word among women....

[yardwork]

4. Not just silently. Im reading that a middle aged white man cant possibly be responsible for this.

Just on DU I’ve read posts insisting that:

“Successful” older white men never do anything violent.

The foreign girlfriend must be behind it.

Muslim terrorists must be behind it.

[Doodley]

17. None of those arguments are based on fact and some may be

based on racial prejudice, so I obviously agree with the points you are making.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. K&R. The country accepts it because toxic white masculinity is what built this country.

[Doodley]

18. I understand that. This is a culture that told older folks in cinema, books and playgrounds that

a hero kills native Americans because they are savages, and guns represent a way of resolving problems. White male supremacy is an obnoxious disease that is still prevalent in America. The election of the most bigoted candidate we have ever seen illustrates that.

[Johonny]

11. Silently? Their rage is on TV 24/7 on FOX news.