Sadly, No quick fix
Interesting thread, and full of reasonable discussion. After having read through, I have a few observations.
In my opinion (which is worth what you pay for it), the basic underlying cause is society, but not the way usually thought. 40-50 years ago, even 30 years ago we did not have this aberration, at least as a common phenomenon. Even though guns were more common, and much more easily available, these kinds of mass shootings just didn't happen. Mabye one in a decade, but mostly not even that. So what is different about today?
Lots of things are diffferent, but which one(s) are the reason so many disturbed individuals are so willing to take a gun and kill innocents (planning in the process the ending of their own lives)?
Here are some points to ponder;
Selfishness / Greed
The oft repeated (and accurate) claim that one reason these things happen is that parents are not doing a proper job of being parents. But WHY are parents not doing the same job that parents did in previous generations?
Perhaps selfishness is a possible answer. And by selfishness I mean the whole idea of having what you want, and when you want it, and the linked idea that the world owes it to you. Call it greed, or selfishness, or another name, the results are clear, at least to me. Too many people are only interested in themselves, and their own gratification. Most are not directly to blame for this, as our society in general has trained (and raised) them to be this way, over the past 40 years or so. The "progressive" thinkers and ideas that came out of the later 1960s focus on it. And we have spent the last few decades glorifying it in our entertainment media, and teaching it in our schools and colleges. We have shaped our society this way, and we are reaping the results.
All the popular explanations, lack of parenting, breakup of the family unit, loss of moral foundations, etc. etc., it all comes back to the individual greed and selfishness, and the idea that these things are not only OK, but something to be sought after.
Too many parents are too interested in their children only as a status symbol. To them, their children are only one more material possession, and although they deny the very thought, it is how they act.
The two income household. Why? One answer is greed. Nothing more, and nothing less. Why must both parents work full time? To make enough money, right? But enough for what? Enough money so they can enjoy themselves. Nice house, new cars, all the comsumer toys they want, in short all the recognised material signs of success. They don't need them, but they do want them. And to get them, they ignore their base responsibilitites as parents, to be parents. If this isn't greed (a form of selfishness) please explain to me what it is.
Another side of the coin is (and this coin has many sides) the fact that too few parents today understand what it is to be a parent. They ignore their children to earn the money to give their children everything, in a desperate desire to be liked. And the end result is that while they may be liked by their children, they are seldom respected. And if children do not respect their parents (the most basic authority figures in their lives) it is that much more difficult for them to respect any other (and more distant) authority figures such as schools and govt.
Our social systems, govt and schools have gone a long way to ensuring that parents, even if so inclined, are not free to raise (and discipline) their children in the manner of our ancestors. In our overwhelming zeal to prevent cases of real abuse, we have sown the seeds of what we are dealing with today. The idea that because what we used to do wasn't perfect (and nothing involving humans is or can be) so all our past ideas are wrong and should no longer be used is, I feel, drastically flawed.
Loss of influence of religion is another factor. I don't mean zealotry, or going to church every sunday, or to prayers five times a day (or what ever your creed requires of you), I mean the basic underlying belief that there is a right and wrong, a good and an evil, and that there is certain punishment (in this life or the next) for evil. Most folks still claim a belief, but how many actually do believe, deep down inside? With a constant 24/7 bombardment from the entertainment media of (mostly) the opposite message, can you blame them?
And here is yet another side of that coin, the electronic media (including the Internet). A tool for shaping the hearts and minds of men unlike any other in history in it's influence and pervasiveness. And, because of our "free" society, we get what sells. No matter what that is. Again, greed. News is sold to us, so we get the news that sells. And it is the greed of those who sell us our entertainment that continually pushes for more, more, more. To make money, everyone is out to give us more for our buck, so our buck will go to them. Movies, TV, all of it, it just keeps getting more and more graphic and extreme. Because it sells. Because what was entertaining yesterday is passe today, and we will send our bucks elsewhere. So we wind up with our entertainment being only somewhat more civilised than the Roman Arena. Violence and sex predominate. How many fictional murders does the average child see on the tube every year? And how graphic? And then they see the same actor in a different role the next week, or even the next hour. Do this over decades, and how can it not have an effect?
Chronic exposure to poisions either kills outright, or builds up a tolerance. Where does it look like we are now?
I commend those folks who believe the parents ought to be responsible, but I wonder at the wisdom of punishing the parents for their child's actions. The idea has some merit, but only if the parents can actually have an influence on their child's actions. Punishment of the parent(s) by fines, or even jail, may have some benefit in some situations, but if applied uniformly has the potential to harm more than help. And it doesn't even get to the root of the problem. Like gun control laws, it is a feel good response that has little or no real world benefit. Little Johnny skips school, fine Mom & Dad. Great. End of problem, right? Sorry, no. If Mom & Dad are well off, a fine is an inconvience, nothing more. And if they are barely making a living, fines can cause great hardship, and to no real benefit, as society has reached a point where, generally, parents are punished for physically disciplining children, what do the parents have left to ensure their children do behave? Not very much.
We glorify the killers in our media, we revel in victim status, we train children daily to do what we claim are the wrong things, we remove the authority of parents (when they actually try to use it), and the state does a really poor job trying to replace the parents, and then we wonder what happened?
We didn't get here overnight, and we won't get out of this mess overnight either. One small step (and one I practiced) is to teach our children that they need not be sheep, nor cattle to the slaughter. No matter what a teacher might say, it is wrong just to hunker down and hope evil passes you by. "do not go gentle into that good night" is more than just poetry, it is something that when realised may mean you do not go into that good night at all. Or if you do, at least you go with the knowledge you tried.
Anybody wonder what might have been the outcome if the VT shooter had opened the door to the second classroom and been met with a fire axe instead of cowering students? When it was "common sense" that violence was met by violence in return, we did not have mass shootings. Are we really better off today?
Just some points to ponder (and not all by any means).
