Thread by @timjacobwise

1/ A primer on the absurdity of right-wing explanations for mass shootings (especially the grandiose public kind) & hi US crime rates generally..

"It's the video games." No, people around the world play the same games (= or more in Japan), & they don't have the same problem...

2/ Well ok, but then:

"It's bc they took God out of school or teach evolution!" No. Other nations we compare ourselves to are less religious than we are (less church attendance, no prayer in school, definitely teach evolution, without hesitation), but don't have this problem...

3/ Um, ok, ok, but then...

"It's because of mental illness!" Perhaps in certain cases, yes, but there is no inherent reason why there would be more mental illness of the type that can cause violence in the U.S. versus other places...

4/ ...and if there is a mental health link, perhaps we should provide comprehensive and affordable mental health care to all Americans, rather than cutting funds for the same, or leaving that to the "free market"...

5/ Ok, ok, but...

"It's really because we have a culture of death and a disrespect for life ever since abortion was made legal!"

So much wrong here...

a. Other nations that have legal abortion do not have this problem...

6/ Furthermore...

b. Many of the mass shootings involve misogynists who despise women. They haven't been taught to devalue life by pro-choice folks but apparently devalue women's lives and rights, much as the anti-abortion folks do...

7/ Oh, and...

c. Overall violent crime has actually fallen dramatically during the period of legal abortion. There are about 1/2 as many violent crimes, numerically, and per capita, today as there were in 1973, for instance, according to DOJ data...

8/ Of course the racist right has their "answer"...

"It's the diversity!" No, again...

a. Violent crime rates aren't that much higher here than in other nations including less diverse ones (Zimring and Hawkins). It's lethal violence that is much higher...why?

9/ According to the research...

b. ...it's bc of weapon availability & conditions specifically correlated w/ homicide (economic inequality, crowded housing, etc)...urbanicity alone (holding race constant) explains over 1/2 the difference in homicide btw US and others..

10/ And of course...

c. When it comes to these mass PUBLIC shootings (disproportionately a US problem), about 70% are done by white men (over 3/4 of the mass shootings at schools), so it's not people of color driving this...

11/ And...

d. Violent crime has been dropping during the period of increased immigration from the "global south," and the browning of America. As the nation has gotten less white crime rates have plummeted.

12/ Oh, and one more thing, bc people say this shit too...

e. You can't blame rap music or hip hop culture: during the period of hip-hop's dramatic rise to prominence violent crime has plummeted by about 2/3 (1992-present)...

13/ Oops, one more thing the right says (forgot to put this one up higher, but better late than never)...

"It's the single parent homes!" No...

a. first off, it's simply not true that most of the mass public shooters have come from such homes...

14/ Furthermore...

b. Even if they did, what's the causation? With regular violent crime two parents might help (just bc less economic stress correlates with less crime) but how is that related to MASS public violence?

15/ And...

c. Those most likely to grow up in single parent homes (black folk) are not mostly doing these shootings & black girls/women who grew up in same homes don't do these at all. And as % of black kids born to single moms rose, black crime rate dropped by over half...

16/ Also, of course...

d. Even if single parent homes are correlated with this somehow, what is the answer? Don't allow people to get divorced? So, the boys would be better off in dysfunctional, possibly violent/volatile home environments?...

17/ Or...

e. ...just shame people into not having kids before they're married? What suggests that would work? How does a focus on single parenthood help solve this problem at all? Perhaps provide economic support to help families form and remain stable then?

18/ So basically, none of the right wing reasons hold up. The difference between us and other nations is a) absurdly easy weapon availability (without registration, licensing, training, or other checks on ownership), b) a culture steeped in violence from the start...

19/ ...going back to the frontier and use of violence to conquer/marginalize others and settle disputes over land, etc. Indeed, Scots-Irish culture in the south (steeped in notions of "honor" and avenging disrespect w/violence) are culturally ingrained today...

20/ Even Thomas Sowell (black conservative I rarely agree with) notes in his book Black Rednecks & White Liberals, that black crime rates/violence are not due to black culture, but the Scots-Irish culture to which blacks were exposed in the south...Avenging dishonor w/violence..

21/ ...is a very European thing. Dueling, for instance, over the smallest slight. That shit is not African. These tendencies to violence became uniquely American things, passed down by particularly violent founding populations...

22/ Then of course we have the way in which American manhood has long been defined: as macho, aggressive, violent, cowboy bullshit. Most other nations do not define manhood martially in the same way. Our history as a settler colony encouraged this kind of toxicity...

23/ And our reliance on violence to control "others" (indigenous folks, black folks, white women, non-Christians, or the "wrong kinds" of Christians, etc) became a cultural norm, more so than elsewhere...

24/ So there may be cultural reasons, in addition to the guns, which explain these things: but if so, it's a culture developed by the majority, by the mainstream. Not the fault of POC or subcultural deviations. It's America...we are our problem.