Violent society
A sad reality once again as the past weekend saw 31 dead in 13 hours in mass shootings and more people were killed in mass shootings prior to last weekend.
In its usual on television the experts say “the psycho’s with guns, the problem is violent video games” and on and on the experts proclaiming they know the answer and what to do. As the President of the New Jersey Violence Prevention Institute I have been investigating the causes of violence and solutions for over 20 years. I can tell you that the problem is not mental illness as mental ill people cannot organize as a shooter does. The problem is also not the presence of guns as the majority of gun owners do not kill other people. The main drive behind mass killings is the emotion of anger which produces a strong urge to hurt someone else and blame for the anger.
Violence is predictable when you know what to look for. It is determined by a four step process with the first step being justification; the person feels some grievance or need. The second is, alternative; what are the alternatives the person has for solving the grievance. The third is, the “C” or consequences’ what happens if they do something that results is followed. The fourth predictor is ability; which is the presence of guns or bombs. Most programs want to focus on number four, the presence of guns or number two, to prevent violence, consequences for those who commit such crimes which mean little for those interested in dying. To prevent violence the most significant place to address would be alternatives, providing programs that give people alternatives, of healing the pain of anger much the same as I have done for over 20 years in working with domestic abusers. Fifteen years ago, I began writing on the need for our schools to teach compassion in all grades and if that had been enacted we would have had our first graduates this year that have had over 15 years of compassion training. Secondly, all the mass killers will give off some kind of clues or indicators with web postings, etc. telling other people that they are attempting to carry out an event. In the threat assessment literature called “PINS” or Pre incident Indicators. If programs could be designed by people with technology skills to identify when hate postings are put online, when people are taught more about what to look for in terms of indicators like gathering weapons. This could be the first step in preventing a mass shooting from occurring by teaching our society and our experts in technology signs of the pre incident indicators.
In any event, until we determine and accurately address the actual cause of these atrocious acts of painful violence in our society the carnage is most likely going to continue and even increase in our culture.
— Ronald J. Coughlin, Mercerville