The Deep, Misunderstood Meaning of the Trump Assassination Attempt
Apart from the baffling incompetence of those charged with securing Trump’s safety, unless there is more than meets the eye, the motive of Trump’s shooter, 20 year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, should be clear. Crooks, a loner, had been constantly bullied in school, possibly also by his father (a Trump supporter… you are who you like and vote for), while Trump is the embodiment of bullies. So, most likely, the Trump shooting was Thomas Crooks’ exasperated revenge against bullies. But the much more important point is another, related one.
The significant point which seems to escape most Americans is that the Crooks shooting, along with all our mass shootings and violence in general, is emblematic of the great numbers of mentally disturbed Americans, which our society has done nothing to reduce. Who can rationally deny that if all our high schools had a four-year course on psychology accompanied by group therapy and good parenting workshops, complemented by individual assistance for youths having psychological difficulties, we would greatly reduce the numbers of mentally disturbed individuals, as well as the numbers of violent, abusive, depressed, suicidal, and addicted Americans? Why have we not had such a course for decades already?
Only unthinking people and those in denial about our mental health crisis will not enthusiastically endorse a four-year course in psychology for all our public high schools. To the psychology course should be added four-year courses on empathy and ethics, as well as on logic/critical thinking, always illustrated by case histories and accompanied by class discussion. The fact that we still do not have such courses in any of our public high schools is an indictment of our political class, as well as of our academic leadership, for not focusing on prevention.
The case can be made that Trump himself was in great need of a well-designed psychology course in high school, as he is clearly mentally disturbed. So are citizens who are abusive, violent, unethical, unempathetic, and dishonest; who are criminals, habitual cheaters, habitual liars, admirers of dictators, and inciters of violence; who are affected by an acute inferiority complex. The cause? Bad parenting. Along with a society which does nothing to compensate for bad parenting.
What can one say of a nation that continually self-congratulates itself out loud as being the greatest nation on Earth, even while having widespread poverty, violence of all sorts (including world-leading mass shootings), crime, addiction (dishonestly or delusionally blaming fentanyl addiction on China, as though it is force-feeding Americans who do not want it!), and rampant dishonesty? Of a nation having many citizens and politicians who admire dictators, aspiring dictators, and criminal insurrectionists? One can rationally say that such nation has a severe inferiority complex, that it has many mentally disturbed, poorly educated citizens, and that it has lost its way socially and politically. Due to what? Due to all too many mediocre public schools with severely deficient curriculums, leaving their students misinformed, undereducated, ignorant of world history (including the rise of Hitler and other murderous dictators), with little or no culture, confused, insecure, with little or no understanding of themselves or others, living in wastelands. If we end up with a fascist dictatorship, it will be because of our disgraceful, imbecilic collective fault for not making all our public schools truly excellent with enlightened curriculums, an imperative investment with enormous social, political, and economic benefits. (Expensive? No need to raise taxes when you have Federal Reserve QE financing!)
© Edward Sonnino 2024
July 17, 2024
