Nihilist rule is sinking America

Why the gun "debate" fails to deliver from Uvalde to Louisville *spoiler alert*

I thought that this week would be too late to react to the recent mass shooting episodes that have broken out in Nashville and Louisville. The recent Passover holiday and my work schedule meant that writing a properly researched article for this topic would be difficult to pull off in a timely manner, so I didn’t. But the topic didn’t fade away, not in Louisville at least. The Old National Bank shooting that left five people dead was not followed by even one afternoon to reflect on the tragedy before another shooting occurred on the campus of Jefferson Community and Technical College (JCTC), killing one victim and wounding another. Then on April 15 there was yet another mass shooting at Chickasaw Park where two were killed and four wounded.

The reaction to the latter two incidents was significantly different from the one at the bank, which made national news and featured a tearful reaction from Mayor Craig Greenberg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. They did respond to the latter two shootings, however not with the full press conference and statement. Why? The answer might be - unlike in many other instances when it’s invoked - racism. Whereas all but one of the victims at the bank were white as was the shooter, in the other two shootings both the perpetrator and the victims were black. Public officials in the USA attach different labels to shooting incidents: When white offenders are involved they often attach a label like “white nationalist”, “incel”, or “gun nut” to the crime, however when it is any other race of shooter it is “gun violence”. The prevailing theme among media and politicians seems to be that when one race of victims (whites) is claimed by a shooting it is a major social anomaly, while for the others especially blacks it is hardly worth an extra remark.

This is only one way that the violent cycle is perpetuated without solution, but it’s rather important. A lot of those that are packaging their policies as “progressive” are actually feeding the trends that lead to more shootings and loss of life. Take for example Los Angeles where District Attorney George Gascón has introduced policies that almost incentivize offenders. Recently gang member Justin Flores was killed in a shootout after he had killed two police officers that were responding to a report that he had stabbed his girlfriend. Gascón’s office had proposed lenient sentencing for a previous offense of possessing a weapon as a convicted felon.

Cases like this and the attitudes that excuse them have been called by congressman Ron Paul the result of nihilism. Years ago the term “nihilist” was largely obscure, lampooned through the German villains from The Big Lebowski that held a millionaire’s wife for ransom. The joke was that in real life nihilists are hardly ever self-identified since to do so would be admitting they have no hopes or ambitions and deny the meaningfulness of their own existence. In a climactic scene of the film, one of the “nihilists” fumes that it is “not fair” that they will not be getting the money since they had not actually performed the kidnapping. This exclamation belies his identification as a nihilist, since if he truly believed in nothing than he would not expect fairness.

Much of the American public is living this contradiction, bewildered at the number of shootings and violent crimes yet ignoring the way that in the name of progress real hardened criminals are getting a second chance - to attack and hurt other people. Last year police officer Noah Shahnavaz’s life was taken in a similar incident by Carl Boards II, a career criminal who had served three different terms in prison for violent crimes, most recently being released in 2019 to a “community transition program”. After each release Boards, a convicted felon, succeeded in illegally acquiring firearms. No one was asking whether gun laws could have prevented this since Boards had repeatedly flouted gun laws in committing most of his crimes, such as in 2006 when he was convicted of attempted murder and led police on a chase while firing at them. Perhaps the better question should be: What sort of rehabilitation is even possible for offenders that have repeatedly harmed people and show no ability to stay out of trouble when they leave prison?

How bad has it become? Comedian and TV host Bill Maher said during his show this past week “most of the shootings are young black men killing other young black men. Is that not correct?” He was referring to homicides in Chicago, and was indeed correct as 78% of the city’s 2023 homicide victims were black and 84% were men as of today. Maher has spent the last several years as the poster boy for the irreverent atheist liberal being forced to face the reality that he helped create. He is weekly making complaints about crime, cancel culture, and declining living standards in California where he lives. But the truth is that the nihilism did not start recently, it was fostered along by people like Bill Maher and the libertine attitudes that we as Americans have adopted during years of living high on the hog. When there was low crime, a growing economy buoyed by high tech, and a vibrant Hollywood industry that embraced freedom of speech it was easy for liberal entertainers like him to endorse drug use, bash the rich, bemoan racism behind everything, and talk about how the world needed to tolerate debauchery and sexual hedonism. Since then California embraced all of the policies that they supported, and now there are daily reports of Whole Foods, Walgreens, and even discount stores closing in San Francisco and the surrounding area. Even the Oakland Athletics, a baseball team that has played there since 1967, is working on a deal to move to Las Vegas to join another former Oakland team, the Raiders. Bill Maher is late to the game - he spent most of his career promoting all that is profane and amoral. Now that he is reaching old age he is confronting the results of it: Nihilistic generations that have continued along his original course - school shooters - looting mobs - and gender bending social influencers like Sam Smith and “Elliott” Page that demand the world acknowledge they are things that they are not. He is reaping what he sowed.

Red Rock Future?

The A’s possible move to Las Vegas allows me a segue for discussing my recent trip to “Sin City”. I was there for a conference and was able to have my wife join me. There are many areas of stark difference between my native Ohio and Las Vegas, but what stood out to me the most was how few people we found that were originally from the city. All but one of our ride share drivers was a transplant from a different US city or an immigrant for that matter. Perhaps if we had ventured further from the Strip we would have met some of the native residents. The city was a study in contrasts, with breathtaking art and entertainment standing next to shocking poverty and unhealthy living. While we enjoyed as much of the stay as we could, Vegas provides a window into the type of future being foisted on Americans: a superficial, expensive, congested city where personal connections are shallow and temporary. I was never naive enough to think it didn’t exist, but it was a bit different to walk through the casino lobby and see patrons pour money into electronic slot machines until they would throw their hands up with exasperation and stare into space with a vacant look of desperation.

But circling back to our original topic, one thing kept me worried about the trip: The fact that I would be completely unarmed the entire time. I was not as concerned as I normally would be back home venturing out unarmed, given that there were plenty of armed security and police at the airports, hotels, casinos, and convention centers. However, it did scrape against my personal sensibility which is that each person should be responsible for his own safety and security unless or until they’re incapacitated. It often gives me pause when I meet people in my daily life that seem to think that the solution is more police, surveillance, and tracking will save people’s lives. They never ask the question “who watches the watchers?” This is why I will continue to stress that an act is not only the product of the tool used in its commission, but of the mind that guides the hand holding it.