“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life is but a waking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Macbeth, Act V Scene 5. William Shakespeare
What’s this? Not again! Over 50 dead. At least 406 injured due to a man opening fire at a Country and Western music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada. Isn’t almost always a man or men who do the shooting in mass shootings?
This seems like something that I, being a man, should write an article about for The Good Men Project. It could be my humble contribution to reducing the number of these horrific incidents.
I have written before about overcoming common male reluctance to seek psychotherapy, gun control, the depiction of male violence in movies and video games.
It is not that I have had anything unique to say about how to deal with the male tendency to kill people who are minding their own business, it just is I feel a need to write something.
I have never written about evidence that mass shootings sometimes involve fake news coverage, which is fake to an astounding degree. It is not that I have any insider information on anything like that, just an open mind in reviewing some of the evidence, presented via the internet, that grossly outweighs evidence presented that this does not occur. I haven’t seen any mention of such with yesterdays shooting yet.
In my limited exposure to this evidence the hows of fake news making is more clear and convincing then is speculation as to the “who’s” and the “they’s” that plot such shocking things. While shooters usually get shot by law enforcement those who pay to contribute fake news to coverage always get away with it.
This fact is so scary that most people who bother to pay attention to the accounts of fake news making are quick to dismiss them as being but the imaginings of conspiracy theorists. That takes care of most of the fright.
The majority of human beings don’t want to even consider that they live in a universe where evil usually prevails, so they don’t. Perhaps this is the way to go. I prefer being more awake but must admit to not feeling capable of being very aware of how deep evil runs.
Now I still feel awful for everyone that was shot in Las Vegas yesterday and their loved ones. That goes for the shooter as well. I grieve for those with post-traumatic stress disorder who were triggered by this event and for those that will have great suffering from traumatic memories due to their being at that concert. For them, Country and Western music will probably never be the same.
I am sure there will be many who were nowhere near the shooting who lost lots of many gambling that night, who now don’t feel so bad about that now. I haven’t been to Las Vegas to lose money gambling in several years. Reflecting on this shooting still inspires gratitude that nobody I know was involved, not the least of which is me.
So what do I have to write about for The Good Men Project regarding men who shoot others for no clear reason, other than to describe my sense of deep futility over there being any known path to towards making these shootings stop? I believe that when in doubt quote Shakespeare.
Us humans foolishly think we know of ways, if enough other humans believed in, this or that form of dying, other than from very old age, could at least be reduced.
Us men are particularly prone to strutting and fretting. Shakespeare goes beyond tha, however, to suggest that all human endeavor eventually amounts to not much. Yet, wait. Did Shakespeare believe this nothing still amounted to the very valuable something of making for good theatre?
If so, what good is theatre? It is the essence of being alive. To be oblivious to tragedy is to be sleepwalking through life. To believe we know for sure how we can make a difference in preventing tragedy, is comic.
More and more smart people are considering what we human beings accomplish on stage is but entertainment for some superior entities that play with us in their reality, by developing a virtual one that includes us.
There is also the theories that those who are playing us us are likewise being played by somebody else. In this case maybe only the master of all players wins. Maybe anyone at any level of gaming can have some sense of winning too if they recognize that they are being played.
Perhaps good play means doing what you can do to address tragedy you think could make a positive difference, even though there may not be any way of knowing for sure.
Today my plan includes writing this and praying the creator of all games does what only it knows what to do to stop this madness. It is the later that I have faith in.
I have no belief that the flame of evil which seems to control this universe will go out before my “brief candle” does, but that would be cool.
Photo: Pixabay