Thursday, December 06, 2007

It's terrorism, is what it is

What's the difference between Robert A. Hawkins and an al Qaida terrorist?

Nothing. Except, perhaps, that the al Qaida terrorist has access to better technology for even more efficient slaughter than can come from the barrel of an old Russian assault rifle.

Perhaps the difference is that -- unlike the al Qaida bigs who direct the foot soldiers of international terror -- Bellevue, Nebraska's high-school dropout and homegrown suicide shooter just was too damned stupid to graduate to suicide bomber. After all, you have to know how to wire up a bomb vest and have the scratch to buy the TNT or plastique.

And it's hard to come up with that kind of money when you can't even hold down a job at McDonald's. So stealing Daddy's rifle it was.

But why does a mass murderer -- an all-American Terrorist Without a Cause -- do it?

Michael Kelly looks for an answer in this morning's Omaha World-Herald:
But why at all? Why do some become mass killers?

"More often than not," [James Alan Fox, criminal justice professor at Boston's Northeastern University] said, "they see themselves as victims of injustice. They seek vengeance against people they blame.

"They tend to be loners and losers, people who failed at work or at home. They externalize blame. A lot of us, when things go wrong, blame ourselves - whereas these individuals always blame someone else."

Sometimes, he said, it starts with a specific grudge - a job or relationship gone bad, and a desire to get even. Along the way, the shooter may kill others.

They tend to use guns because guns create distance. "It's a lot easier to stand back, pull a trigger and shoot people without having any contact with them."
AND MAYBE an explosive suicide vest was just too icky for a depressed, demented American youth who wanted to "go out in style."

Robert A. Hawkins was a terrorist just as much as is Osama bin Laden. Osama's a big leaguer;
Robbie Hawkins was a rookie-league screwball pitcher. How do you like your newfound fame, kid?

I can appreciate that Hawkins was a sad, tormented and pathological young adult. I can. So were Hank Williams and Janis Joplin, but they still managed to leave behind much beauty in this world and killed no one but, ultimately, themselves.

And let's not forget Vincent van Gogh.

Robbie Hawkins' legacy is death, panic, mayhem, gore and heartbreak. Thousands of years of human tradition and theology tell us mayhem and death are the province of the Evil One, and modern psychology can offer no treatment -- no effective prophylactic -- for the demonic.

Robert A. Hawkins, age 20, was a sick young man. A sick young man who listened to the devil inside. A sick young man for whom self-murder just wasn't good enough.

No, he had to take eight others with him on his way out.

I grieve for the hell Robbie Hawkins' life became, just as I weep over the hell on earth he brought to innocent Christmas shoppers and salespeople. I will not, however, make excuses for what he did -- what he did to eight fellow humans, what he did to their families and friends, what he did to this city.

This city . . . Omaha. My home.

With great difficulty, I pray that God has more mercy on Robbie Hawkins' tormented soul than Robbie Hawkins had on a bunch of innocent people he knew not from Adam. But that doesn't change what Hawkins decided to become Wednesday afternoon -- a terrorist. Albeit one without a clue.

WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY that has fetishized sex, violence, death and materialism. None of the above can fill the void that haunts our being. None of the above can give adequate meaning to young lives like the one Robert A. Hawkins threw away in that Omaha shopping mall.

Americans are quick to mock those young, Islamic terrorists who embrace suicide, murder and carnage for the greater glory of Allah -- and the chance to screw themselves silly in Paradise with 72 hot virgins.

But at least they kill -- and die -- for something, no matter how warped.

For what did Robbie Hawkins -- and all his youthful predecessors like Harris,
Klebold and Cho -- kill . . . and die?

For what?

4 comments:

brian hagan from gts said...

But at least they kill -- and die -- for something...

Ummm, no, actually, they don't, because there is no paradise, no virgins, and no god.

Worshipping false gods--whether it's the current favorites of greed and love of violence or the more old fashioned false gods named Allah, Jesus, Shiva, Zeus--turns ordinary humans into hateful, bloody oppressors.

Give up your false gods; you're better than that.

The Mighty Favog said...

Brian wished that I give up my false gods and live in the eternal light of . . . what, exactly?

What, sir, do you worship? Because, as Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody.

Serving nothingness is no impetus to being "better" than anything. Serving the atheist god of self has led mankind to no moral heights.

It has led, however, to 30 million dead in the Ukraine, millions dead in China, millions dead in the Killing Fields, tens of millions slaughtered in World War II. . . .

Die to yourself and live in the light of the Triune God. Because, trust me, you're NOT better than that.

Anonymous said...

I can appreciate that Hawkins was a sad, tormented and pathological young adult. I can. So were Hank Williams and Janis Joplin, but they still managed to leave behind much beauty in this world and killed no one but, ultimately, themselves.

And let's not forget Vincent van Gogh.

Martha
Look at that... look look... see I told you, Martha, those folks really do expect people to make pretty for them even when a sufferin'.

Fred, Honey , I think she meant those a suffering folks was a entertaining type...

Martha gosh durn, doncha know those folks trade good for death and violence? Sex and violence they gots lots of that trading there. That is what is so admired by them folks.

Well Fred, guess you right they rightly do not care about iffin' a person is a sufferin'

No no martha... what I am saying is they want their people to suffer. They like that kinda stuff. It makes them happy. I tell you Martha those folks sit around in the evening time playing games of nothing but violence and using up people. Matter of fact them folks are encouraged by the government just to have more of there own kind just so they can be a killed off. They actually raise a whole crop of themselves just to be just to kill and be killed. I think they take turns or somthing. Matter of fact, I heard that they do not even think twice about them selves all a needing food clothing and shelter. Heck, I bet they do not even have rules for how a family is supposed to act.

Fred, you talk to much.

Anonymous said...

Brian is another pathetic Church-of-Atheism word-whoring wannabe aiming to exploit horrific situation. Sure, that human scum killed people because that was a Christian thing to do. Love thy neighbor and shoot him. Yeah, sure.

I was born in Soviet Union, and lived in ex-USSR until 1999. I can attest to the true fact that Atheists (especially Communists) killed more people in 20th Century alone (including my family members) than all religious extremists of all creeds ever.