In the media barrage following the Santa Barbara and Santee incidents, the public was subjected to an even greater than normal amount of bad medicine. Not surprisingly, the Santee incident, although less deadly, got much more publicity. The notion of a car being used as a lethal weapon (Santa Barbara) doesn't exactly fit the agenda of the gun control freaks. Still, the gun debate is old news.

A new topic, gaining some traction in bleeding heart circles, is that one of our perps, Andy Williams of Santee, was teased and bullied. Imagine that! A kid who gets picked on. How perceptive of our rent- a-pundits to identify a phenomenon that has been occurring for maybe 50,000 years. Carefully stating that the taunts did not justify his actions, the experts called for schools to stop the harassment. Yes, friends, the killers are victims, too.

Perhaps the highlight of this travesty was when the principal of the Santee high school expressed how proud he was of its violence prevention program--on the very day of the shooting. The adjective "surreal" comes to mind.

If my intent were to parody the institutionalized stupidity of this whole business, I would have material enough for 20 essays. If we turn instead to the etiology of the societal disease of school violence, far fewer words are necessary, even if implementation of the treatment will require a miracle.

Quite simply, school violence is but one of the symptoms of an atheistic culture. All the details follow from this concept.

With no God, a paternalistic government becomes the surrogate. The only faith demanded now is to pay without question. Big Brother will take care of you. However, since we are not yet in a full police state, there will be flaws in the control, so a school death may occur once in a while. The psychotropic drugs are sometimes leaky.

Personal responsibility is discouraged. Uncle Sugar will come to the rescue. If you take care of yourself too well, Uncle Sugar will attack you with antitrust.

With God out of the picture, Man becomes God, now making decisions on when to artificially end life. How much self-worth is a kid born after 1973 supposed to have? Did he barely make it through the "choice" gamut, or was he really wanted? Besides, with 40 million abortions under our belt, what's a few dead school kids, anyhow?

As the government leviathan grows, the family breaks down. Who needs it? As the family breaks down, the manly virtues become obsolete. The ideal man becomes a sensitive, crying Tom Hanks; the ideal woman a single parent Murphy Brown.

Because the culture must worship itself, factions spring up, each established on some "denomination" : Black, White, Democrat, Republican, Gay, Straight, Urban, Rural, and hundreds more. No matter what the issue, reasoned discourse is not possible, since by mere identity, lifetime tribalism is assured. If you doubt this assertion, think about the recent presidential election. If you still doubt this assertion, consider our miserable criminal justice system's pardons, plea bargains, and dubious acquittals.

And, as the culture worships itself, there can, of course, be no evil. If bad acts occur, it is only because the perpetrator has not been properly educated or indoctrinated. No one of sound mind can choose to do evil, because the society is perfect. Heaven is here on earth. There is no virtue in striving or sacrifice. In fact, there's no virtue at all, as the word is properly defined. There should only be gain, no pain.

Now, look into the heart of a David Attias or Andy Williams, just before they commit their violent acts. Narcissistic self-pity eclipses any sense of facing their problems. That place in their soul reserved for God is filled with hate and an energy to strike back. Even if their self-esteem is high, nobody else cares. They function only as comic relief. Do they turn the weapon on themselves, or others?

Government enriches itself by treating the symptoms, though it knows well the root cause. When shall we stop taking the aspirin for the headache, and instead, remove the tumor?

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