Root Causes of Terror
One of the frequent, and perhaps valid, criticisms that Aunt Agatha receives is that she is uninterested in the root causes of terrorism - with the human suffering, with the legitimate reasons that a group would turn to terrorism.
Sometimes it seems like I just don’t have a heart, but this story has changed all that. I am beginning to understand.
Consider the adolescent school shooter, the youngster that becomes so upset with the unfair burden of suddenly finding himself in the 9th grade, that he has no choice - he must kill.
CAZENOVIA, Wisconsin (AP) — A teenager who pried open his family’s gun cabinet brought two weapons to his rural school Friday and shot the principal to death after a struggle with adults and other students, authorities said.
He targeted only the oppressor - his principal - and none of the other students. And naturally, the oppressive system resonded disproportionately to his expression of pain:
Eric Hainstock, 15, was taken into custody and charged as an adult with murder, District Attorney Patricia Barrett said.
These events, whether in and around Israel, or Lebanon, or Madrid or New York, always have their roots in the oppression of the weakest and the growing despair and frustration that said weakest endures - for days, for weeks, or, in the case of my own children, for years:
Authorities said the teen had complained about being teased by other students and decided to confront teachers and the principal using a shotgun and handgun taken from his parents’ bedroom. The shooting also came one day after Weston Schools Principal John Klang gave him a disciplinary warning for having tobacco, according to a criminal complaint.
How humiliating. Here he is, old enough to bring semi-automatic weapons to school, and the abusive authorities refuse him the dignity of a cigarette. Threaten suspension - how is that any different than a separation barrier? Threatening to separate him from those he would destroy. No wonder he was hurt.
Sophomore Shelly Rupp, 16, described Hainstock as a freshman with few friends and said he was “just weird in the head.”
“He always used to kid around about bringing things to school and hurting kids,” she said at a gas station nearby where students and townspeople had gathered.
I also think that simple sensitivity would have led the editors to delete this:
Klang, 49, was shot in the head, chest and leg, authorities said. He died hours later at a hospital in Madison.
Those details only serve to raise anxiety. And they take the focus away from the suffering of the student/victim. I am all about supporting the suffering of deranged students, wherever they are found.
The administration (oppressors) have responded with group punishment. Homecoming events have been cancelled for this weekend. That will only raise the level of despair and lead to more violence. And so the cycle continues. Will we ever learn?
-Aggie