The Las Vegas Tragedy — Are We In a Free Fall

[markdohle 4,318]

This is a piece I wrote for the Christian Review online Magazine:

The Las Vegas Tragedy — Are We In a Free Fall

I often wonder about the future, even though I know it is a fool’s errand to do so. We seem to be in ‘free fall,’ and the bottom is probably some way off, but one day we will come to some form of landing. It could be a crash landing, or perhaps things will crack but heal and maybe, and perhaps we can learn from what we are going through at this time.  I have my doubts, but there is always hope.

http://www.thechristianreview.com/the-las-vegas-tragedy-are-we-in-a-free-fall/

[papageorge1 1,566]

@markdohle

I think you are showing an overreaction to this Las Vegas tragedy. With six plus billion people, it just seems statistically predictable that some will go off mentally and violently every so often. We can try to improve things with better mental health services and gun control laws, but it is still going to happen and I accept that.  Yes, there is a one in some millions chance it could be me as the next victim and I just accept that and don't feel that the entire society is going into a free fall or something. In the big picture, I see the world has gradually gotten better over time and will continue to do so.

[markdohle 4,318]

1 hour ago, papageorge1 said:

@markdohle

I think you are showing an overreaction to this Las Vegas tragedy. With six plus billion people, it just seems statistically predictable that some will go off mentally and violently every so often. We can try to improve things with better mental health services and gun control laws, but it is still going to happen and I accept that.  Yes, there is a one in some millions chance it could be me as the next victim and I just accept that and don't feel that the entire society is going into a free fall or something. In the big picture, I see the world has gradually gotten better over time and will continue to do so.

 Cultures rise and fall, before the final death things fragment, as the saying goes "the center does not hold".  Is that happening now?  I would say that we might have passed the point of no return, or hopefully, we can learn.  Things are not better, so yes, some aspects of culture are better, yet not enough to stop what is going on.  People of my generation, who have given up their 'faith' still are led by their unconscious which is filled with Christian archetypes.  When a generation is brought up on what is happening today, they don't have that to draw from, but only what is fed them by our entertainment culture and schooling.  Which is shallow, hollow and not life-giving.  

Things were never perfect in the past, nor can we go back, we can only go forward at an ever faster clip.  So no, I am not overreacting.  If you think things are better, I will not argue with you, in fact, I hope you are right, but it does not seem so.  Everything dies, ages, sickens, weakens, that includes cultures. 

Peace

Mark

[ouija ouija 28,155]

I agree with you, Mark. More individuals are getting out of control, to different degrees. The Las Vegas shooter was at the extreme edge of things. 

edit to say: 'free fall' is exactly what it feels like to me. There is no turning back.

Edited October 13, 2017 by ouija ouija

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

6 hours ago, papageorge1 said:

@markdohle

I think you are showing an overreaction to this Las Vegas tragedy. With six plus billion people, it just seems statistically predictable that some will go off mentally and violently every so often. We can try to improve things with better mental health services and gun control laws, but it is still going to happen and I accept that.  Yes, there is a one in some millions chance it could be me as the next victim and I just accept that and don't feel that the entire society is going into a free fall or something. In the big picture, I see the world has gradually gotten better over time and will continue to do so.

The crime rate is down from what it was in the past. There likely are more mass shootings these days, though. People often blame guns or culture, but we need to look more closely at psychotropic drugs. As for free fall, look at how horrid past eras were (ancient Rome, Black Plague, witch hunts, Hitler/Stalin). 

[markdohle 4,318]

32 minutes ago, Paranormal Panther said:

The crime rate is down from what it was in the past. There likely are more mass shootings these days, though. People often blame guns or culture, but we need to look more closely at psychotropic drugs. As for free fall, look at how horrid past eras were (ancient Rome, Black Plague, witch hunts, Hitler/Stalin). 

Yes, there has always been evil, chaos, and it often led to the death of empires, cultural etc.  We are not immune ;-).  As for crime, well stats change all the time.  I do hope crime continues to go down, but what brings down a culture is the people and the way they live and the values they have.  The violence is just a symptom of something much deeper, that I fear we all share in.  

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

7 hours ago, markdohle said:

Yes, there has always been evil, chaos, and it often led to the death of empires, cultural etc.  We are not immune ;-).  As for crime, well stats change all the time.  I do hope crime continues to go down, but what brings down a culture is the people and the way they live and the values they have.  The violence is just a symptom of something much deeper, that I fear we all share in.  

They say that both abortion and incarceration led to the reduction in crime. If so, it means that our society didn't become more moral. I see no indications that our society is more moral. We still face the same problems. Our mainstream culture is less wholesome than it was in the past. The fringe has entered the mainstream. Some *pop* acts combine the occult and pornography in their performances and songs. The Top Forty wasn't like that when I was a kid.

[From There 8]

1 hour ago, Paranormal Panther said:

They say that both abortion and incarceration led to the reduction in crime. If so, it means that our society didn't become more moral. I see no indications that our society is more moral. We still face the same problems. Our mainstream culture is less wholesome than it was in the past. The fringe has entered the mainstream. Some *pop* acts combine the occult and pornography in their performances and songs. The Top Forty wasn't like that when I was a kid.

What was the Top Forty like when you were a kid? 

When my parents were kids the Top Forty was helmed by the paedophile Jimmy Saville and featured such rapists as that guy in the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter. While a young Harvey Weinstein cemented his place in the movie business.

I think the wholesome popular culture business of the past five decades came at the expense of many ruined lives. Glad they are being exposed and i'd take the pornography of now over the fake family entertainment of the rape decades. 

[markdohle 4,318]

4 hours ago, Paranormal Panther said:

They say that both abortion and incarceration led to the reduction in crime. If so, it means that our society didn't become more moral. I see no indications that our society is more moral. We still face the same problems. Our mainstream culture is less wholesome than it was in the past. The fringe has entered the mainstream. Some *pop* acts combine the occult and pornography in their performances and songs. The Top Forty wasn't like that when I was a kid.

I am not sure crime is really getting better.  For instances, White Collor crime, is that less than in the past?  Perhaps things are never really good at any era, it just matures into something else that leads to the final death of a way of life, thought and government.  Just think what it was like for non-whites in the south 50 years ago.  Red lights districts are needed, now, however, a very large part of our society is a red light district.   History is a big wave, at this time we are the ones riding its crest. 

Peace
Mark

[markdohle 4,318]

2 hours ago, From There said:

What was the Top Forty like when you were a kid? 

When my parents were kids the Top Forty was helmed by the paedophile Jimmy Saville and featured such rapists as that guy in the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter. While a young Harvey Weinstein cemented his place in the movie business.

I think the wholesome popular culture business of the past five decades came at the expense of many ruined lives. Glad they are being exposed and i'd take the pornography of now over the fake family entertainment of the rape decades. 

Yes, popular entertainment is based on greed, so of course, you are right.  It is the scope that has changed.  Yet there is some good as well.

Peace

Mark

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

10 hours ago, markdohle said:

I am not sure crime is really getting better.  For instances, White Collor crime, is that less than in the past?  Perhaps things are never really good at any era, it just matures into something else that leads to the final death of a way of life, thought and government.  Just think what it was like for non-whites in the south 50 years ago.  Red lights districts are needed, now, however, a very large part of our society is a red light district.   History is a big wave, at this time we are the ones riding its crest. 

Peace
Mark

That's a good point. Each era presents its own mistakes and problems. I heard stories, about segregation, from my elders. My generation has it *much* better in that regard, but many Millennials are too selfish to appreciate that. There also was a time when women couldn't even vote! That was just in the first fourth of the previous century in the USA. It sounds like Saudi Arabia or Yemen. Some people are old enough to recall those days.

I recently looked at crime statistics. There was more "ordinary" crime in the '80s and the '90s. This includes violent crime. I'm not sure about white collar crime. I do know that there were big financial crimes back then too. They say that abortion and incarceration affected the crime rate. You hate to think of things that way, but it makes sense. Fewer people in the "crime demographic" leads to fewer crimes. 

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

13 hours ago, From There said:

What was the Top Forty like when you were a kid? 

When my parents were kids the Top Forty was helmed by the paedophile Jimmy Saville and featured such rapists as that guy in the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter. While a young Harvey Weinstein cemented his place in the movie business.

I think the wholesome popular culture business of the past five decades came at the expense of many ruined lives. Glad they are being exposed and i'd take the pornography of now over the fake family entertainment of the rape decades. 

Michael Jackson and Prince ruled the pop charts here. There was this new Irish band called U2. MTV actually played music videos. Synth pop was the new thing. I don't deny that there were sordid acts and lives *behind the scenes*. That is my point. The sickness was kept out of the performances of Top Forty pop artists. By the way, I don't share the false dichotomy of "it's either private sickness or it's public sickness", because both can exist at the same time. 

[markdohle 4,318]

19 minutes ago, Paranormal Panther said:

That's a good point. Each era presents its own mistakes and problems. I heard stories, about segregation, from my elders. My generation has it *much* better in that regard, but many Millennials are too selfish to appreciate that. There also was a time when women couldn't even vote! That was just in the first fourth of the previous century in the USA. It sounds like Saudi Arabia or Yemen. Some people are old enough to recall those days.

I recently looked at crime statistics. There was more "ordinary" crime in the '80s and the '90s. This includes violent crime. I'm not sure about white collar crime. I do know that there were big financial crimes back then too. They say that abortion and incarceration affected the crime rate. You hate to think of things that way, but it makes sense. Fewer people in the "crime demographic" leads to fewer crimes. 

I believe that abortion is murder, just legal.  So it is not a crime perse, however, now abortion is mostly for convenience, though I know there are tragic stories of women and men are involved.   The sexual revolution for instances.  It benefits men for the most part.  I doubt Hugh Hefner helped women at all, just made them into bunnies, after they were 25 they were let go.  All this has an effect on society.  Greed, when companies main concern is for profit but not for what is actually good for their consumers, or even thinking about that at all.  I guess the sale of cigarettes is a good example or fast foods.  False advertising, the list is a long one.  Legal acts that are in fact harmful to the overall society.   Of course, it is not all black and white.  There are companies that do care about how they affect society and think about the future.  Also, we have a society that does not offer much support for those in trouble, I am not judging any one person, not my place and to use a Christian term, I am a sinner as well.

The Ten Commandments if followed for just a year by everyone, I wonder what kind of society we would have.  No stealing, or killing, or seeking to take someone spouse away from their partner.  To respect the sacredness of others and not objective them, to take one's faith seriously if one is a believer, to set aside one day for prayer and family, or if not a believer to simply rest and be with loved ones.  However many feel that commandments from God of any kind are a burden.  Yet when we continue to act out of our own 'way of thinking' we end up with what we have today. 

None of us are perfect, we all fail, but when we refuse to admit it or to call our excesses 'good' then we are in trouble.

 

Peace
mark

[pallidin 8,342]

On 10/13/2017 at 10:35 AM, markdohle said:

The Las Vegas Tragedy — Are We In a Free Fall

 

 

[markdohle 4,318]

On 10/15/2017 at 3:57 PM, pallidin said:

 

 

Great singer......he will be missed.

[Gingitsune 1,159]

On 10/14/2017 at 3:47 AM, Paranormal Panther said:

They say that both abortion and incarceration led to the reduction in crime.

They also say it was a lead contamination problem and since they worked to phase it out of our daily life, the problem fixed itself out. As for incarceration, crime felt in countries where there was no tougher on crime trend, it has to be something else. I don't know for abortion though.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export
 

Quote

At first it seemed preposterous. The hypothesis was so exotic that I laughed. The rise and fall of violent crime during the second half of the 20th century and first years of the 21st were caused, it proposed, not by changes in policing or imprisonment, single parenthood, recession, crack cocaine or the legalisation of abortion, but mainly by … lead.

[...]

There is only one remaining manufacturer of tetraethyl lead on earth [used for leaded fuel]. It's based in Ellesmere Port in Britain, and it's called Innospec. The product has long been banned from general sale in the UK, but the company admits on its website that it's still selling this poison to other countries. Innospec refuses to talk to me, but other reports claim that tetraethyl lead is being exported to Afghanistan, Algeria, Burma, Iraq, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Yemen, countries afflicted either by chaos or by governments who don't give a damn about their people.

 

[spartan max2 7,431]

As a 23 year old I always find it kind of amusing when older people say things like today's youth are crazy and society is falling apart.

But I'm sure when I get old I'll feel the same way about the youngsters 

[.ZZ. 26,862]

20 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

As a 23 year old I always find it kind of amusing when older people say things like today's youth are crazy and society is falling apart.

But I'm sure when I get old I'll feel the same way about the youngsters 

Right now I am wearing a T-shirt that is older than you are.

[markdohle 4,318]

14 hours ago, .ZZ. said:

Right now I am wearing a T-shirt that is older than you are.

I truly hope so young man ;-)

[.ZZ. 26,862]

37 minutes ago, markdohle said:

I truly hope so young man ;-)

LOL, I just checked, and I'm about 8 months older than you are. 

[markdohle 4,318]

LOL, the big 70 or almost.  I meant to answer the 23 years old.....my brain ain't what it used to be.

 

Peace
Mark

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

20 hours ago, Gingitsune said:

They also say it was a lead contamination problem and since they worked to phase it out of our daily life, the problem fixed itself out. As for incarceration, crime felt in countries where there was no tougher on crime trend, it has to be something else. I don't know for abortion though.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export
 

 

Our country and culture are unique, so comparisons might not be that helpful when we look at contributing factors to crime rates. The argument on abortion is that potential criminals are aborted, which sounds extremely cold to me. The argument on incarceration is that criminals are kept off the streets where they would raise the crime rate. It sounds like lead exposure is another component since it can lead to impulsive behavior.

[Gingitsune 1,159]

7 hours ago, Paranormal Panther said:

Our country and culture are unique, so comparisons might not be that helpful when we look at contributing factors to crime rates. The argument on abortion is that potential criminals are aborted, which sounds extremely cold to me. The argument on incarceration is that criminals are kept off the streets where they would raise the crime rate. It sounds like lead exposure is another component since it can lead to impulsive behavior.

I took the first decent link (I mean not fromobvious "ecolo-facist" site), which happen to be from Britain, but the same studies were done in the United States:

 

Quote

There are three basic reasons why this theory should be believed. First, as Drum points out, the numbers correlate almost perfectly. "If you add a lag time of 23 years," he writes. "Lead emissions from automobiles explain 90 percent of the variation in violent crime in America. Toddlers who ingested high levels of lead in the '40s and '50s really were more likely to become violent criminals in the '60s, '70s, and '80s."

Within the United States, you can see the data at the state level. Where lead concentrations declined quickly, crime declined quickly. Where it declined slowly, crime declined slowly. The data even holds true at the neighborhood level - high lead concentrations correlate so well that you can overlay maps of crime rates over maps of lead concentrations and get an almost perfect fit.

Third, and probably most important, the data goes beyond just these models. As Drum himself points out, "if econometric studies were all there were to the story of lead, you'd be justified in remaining skeptical no matter how good the statistics look." But the chemistry and neuroscience of lead gives us good reason to believe the connection. Decades of research has shown that lead poisoning causes significant and probably irreversible damage to the brain. Not only does lead degrade cognitive abilities and lower intelligence, it also degrades a person's ability to make decisions by damaging areas of the brain responsible for "emotional regulation, impulse control, attention, verbal reasoning, and mental flexibility."

The bottom line, as Drum points out, is that "even moderately high levels of lead exposure are associated with aggressivity, impulsivity, ADHD, and lower IQ. And right there, you've practically defined the profile of a violent young offender."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/01/03/how-lead-caused-americas-violent-crime-epidemic/#22215c8312c4

As for abortion, I understand the theory, that less unwanted, unloved and neglected children mean less criminals, but I haven't seen numbers or studies about it. Did, say, Ireland, which have no legal abortion on her territory, have higher crime than in Northern Ireland?

As for incarceration, Japan has very little incarceration and very little crime, for example, there must be something else, even if it helped a little in the United-States.

[Paranormal Panther 9,726]

14 hours ago, Gingitsune said:

I took the first decent link (I mean not fromobvious "ecolo-facist" site), which happen to be from Britain, but the same studies were done in the United States:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/01/03/how-lead-caused-americas-violent-crime-epidemic/#22215c8312c4

As for abortion, I understand the theory, that less unwanted, unloved and neglected children mean less criminals, but I haven't seen numbers or studies about it. Did, say, Ireland, which have no legal abortion on her territory, have higher crime than in Northern Ireland?

As for incarceration, Japan has very little incarceration and very little crime, for example, there must be something else, even if it helped a little in the United-States.

Like I said, it's unfair to compare our country to other countries because there are so many differences in demographics and regions. Some of our regions have a lot of crime due to a variety of factors. Some of our regions have little to no crime. Your stats on lead back up what I said in my other post.