Is there a rage in America?

Is there rage against reason? I for one happen to think so. And yesterday's attack in Arizona on an Arizona congresswoman and numerous others speaks directly to that rising rage in America.


There certainly is a rage that now courses daily through the minds of untold millions of Americans. I can't put a number to it, I could only guess, but it is safe to assume that their is a sizable number of people in this country, who are one hair's breath away from lashing out and attacking us all. By any means available and for no particularly discernible reason, other than their psychosis and rage demands it.

Who are these people? They come from all sectors of society, but they seemingly are predominantly young and impressionable. Those who for a variety of expressed and stated reasons, find anger with the world and hatred of their existence as a justification for murder. These monsters are fed by their music and those in the entertainment world who provide the catalyst for their twisted belief structure to take hold and flourish.


They seek to end their own torment and they seemingly always gravitate toward the extremes that society offers as entertainment and alternative music. Therefore, should we be surprised to see the human tragedy of these lunatics when they finally explode and go on their killing sprees?


Was America not shocked to reality by the Columbine killers? Or any number of others who have followed since? Apparently not. Or at least not shocked enough. It seems to me that this nation is living in an ongoing loop of reality TV and angst based entertainment. A reality whose only purpose appears to be to service the diseased minds that perpetrate these crimes. Our young people are daily turned away from meaningful moral lessons and faith based character building relationships and instead turned over to the Jerry Springer mentality of anger and rage. Both as their outlets to entertainment and as a means and release of their own emotional demons.


The individual responsible for the shootings in Arizona that resulted in six dead and over a dozen injured, is typical of an ongoing generation of youth living on the extreme edge of sanity in America today. From what we know to this point, he is atypical of everything that we as society know to be sane or rational. One glimpse of his internet postings on youtube, clearly reflects a sick and twisted mind and a corrupted soul. How else do you explain the ramblings and ranting.


Of course there are those who desire to grab this instance rage and the person involved as their own interpretation and representation of the uncontrolled hate and prejudice that they perceive is being generated by their enemies. But what those so quick to leap to judgment always miss in their haste for political leverage, is that the individual involved is devoid of political ideologies. This maniac wasn't/isn't a republican or a democrat, or a conservative or a liberal. And if he has been listening to groups like the Drowning Pool? I can promise you that he neither listens to or follows Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck. Nor does he listen to or follow Keith Dobermann or Nancy Pelosi.

All the facts are not in, but what is known so far, is that this young man's rage as it has so far been determined, rests squarely inside his own psychosis. A cursory review of his posting on youtube clearly demonstrates a sick and twisted perception of reality. Someone who is paranoid and seemingly obsessed with mind control. Both of his own mind and of the minds of others.


And then there is the video of him dressed in a large black plastic bag. Reminiscent of either a large diaper or some form of tribal dress. Wearing his trash bag and a black hoodie, while he performs some ritualistic act of desecration to an America flag, while the song "let the bodies hit the floor" by Drowning Pool rages in the background.


I for one had never heard that 'song,' and after a short search of the internet for that lyric, I found both the group and their supposed reasoning for the lyric. The author sees the world as one giant 'mosh pit.' And the bodies hitting the floor (according to the author) are his expression of a release and a letting go of all emotion in the 'mosh pit.'

Why is it that I never get these subliminal meanings of altruistic emotional release in alternative music? Perhaps it is because I don't listen to the mind numbing rage that passes as 'alternative music.'


We seem to have a sizable number of those among us, who live in these surrealistic landscapes of the mind. Places permeated by angst and anger and the visualizations of bodies, death and violent lashing out as expressions of their attempts to deal with their own day to day lives. Anyone else see a pattern to any of this.


Lyrics like the Drowning Pool's "let the bodies hit the floor" speak to what? This underlying rage of the mind? Groups with names like 'Rage Against the Machine.' The parallels are endless once you lift the stones and look underneath at the seething underbelly of the beast that we have allowed to flourish amongst our children in this country.


Marilyn Manson's reaction to the Columbine killers is poignant and worth repeating in my opinion.Especially in light of yesterday's most recent attack against society in Arizona


"The media has unfairly scapegoated the music industry and so-called Goth kids and has speculated, with no basis in truth, that artists like myself are in some way to blame. This tragedy was a product of ignorance, hatred and an access to guns. I hope the media's irresponsible finger-pointing doesn't create more discrimination against kids who look different."

No, we certainly don't want to point any fingers at kids or young adults who are engaged in rage against society, or discriminate against them in any manner. Let them post their videos and let them listen to their rage music. Let them watch the reality angst that passes as entertainment in media. Then let their mentors blame their rage on ignorance, hatred and access to guns. (And Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin and The Tea Party).

Millions are listening to the daily drone of this rage culture all across America. It is in their music, it is in their movies and it is in their television programming, yet no one seems to care or worry about the effect that it is having on our youth in general. Or worse, those who are psychologically unable to function in a lawful society period and are susceptible to this type of programming.

Make no mistake, we as a society are creating these monsters. We are cultivating a culture of death and destruction and we are masking it behind a wall of supposed protections of rights and freedoms, while all the while allowing our creation of societal demons to disassemble the very rights that we are supposedly protecting by allowing their existence.

As this week passes, the metaphors will spill forth endlessly. This individual had a 'troubled past' will be one of the favorites. And there will be those who will continue at all costs to attempt to paint him squarely inside the Tea Party box, or as a follower of those already identified by the liberal left as his Tea Party mentors. But make no mistake, those allegations will not stick. They have no basis in reality. No more than this individual's perception of the world has any basis in reality.

This sick and twisted individual is no more the product of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, than he is the product of Keith Obermann or Michael Moore. What he is a product of is a society out of control and consumed with the false gods of unrestricted and unlimited media freedom. And unless and until we as a society accept our responsibility to reestablish morals and law in this nation, then these acts will continue and the rage will continue.

And like the song says.....'let the bodies hit the floor.'