One of the symptoms of a culture rebelling against truth and moral order is its propensity to willfully overlook the most obvious explanations for its traumas, in exchange for committing the most fantastic logical contortions to render indictments on whatever fits the prevailing narrative of the moment.
Take the recent horror that occurred in three different Asian massage parlors in Georgia. The killer apparently had no compunction about admitting his motive, compliantly telling officers he was a "sex addict" and he saw these massage parlors, which officers believe he had previously frequented, as feeding into the temptation that was endangering his soul – "a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," as the sheriff's office described.
His extremely distraught parents, "very helpful" to law enforcement by immediately calling 911 when they saw the initial news, then helping officers track his cell phone to capture him and prevent further carnage, fully corroborated the motive. Their son's incessant, hours-long viewing of online pornography had become so corrosive and destructive that they had felt compelled to kick him out of their house the day before he purchased his gun and conducted the rampage.
For as much as the massacre shocks our conscience, it is anything but a novelty among those so heavily affected by an obsession with pornography. A day before his execution in 1989, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy acknowledged how deep of a connection he had to pornography from the age of 12. Bundy said that he became so obsessed with hard-core and violent pornography that he reached a "jumping-off point," cautioning the world that he was far from alone:
Bundy: "Listen. I'm no social scientist, and I haven't done a survey. I mean, I don't pretend that I know what John Q. Citizen thinks about this. But I've lived in prison for a long time now. And I've met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography--without question, without exception--deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography. There's no question about it. The FBI's own study on serial homicide shows that the most common interest among serial killers is pornography."
None of this is to excuse the Atlanta spa shooter's behavior. Identifying a motive isn't about justifying the action, it's about determining the influences that prompted the violence. But in a society:
- Where nearly every advertising campaign is awash in sex
- Where children are introduced to sexual themes beginning in kindergarten
- Where young people are brainwashed to believe that sexuality is central to their entire identity
- Where pop culture's icons and idols preach the ultimate good of all sexual experimentation and expression
- Where the highest-paid entertainers wallow in explicit sex before millions watching a music-awards show on TV
- Where technology can usher the centerfold pages of dirty magazines at the mere tap of a button at any moment of the day
- Where cell phone apps make creating and exchanging your own pornographic content with others absurdly convenient
…in a society like that, one where the gears of education, entertainment, and commerce are all greased by sex, don't expect any serious introspection and admission that perhaps we're reaping the whirlwind.
No, instead of self-honesty and self-reflection, our media machine will dutifully play down the discomforting realities we want to ignore, and shroud them in angles that may woefully miss the mark, but that further the narrative-of-the-moment. Like this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
An angry, straight, white male fueled by white supremacy and a patriarchal, Western antipathy towards women, particularly those of minority nationalities? That may not be supported by any evidence, nor provide our culture any meaningful insights about this tragedy, but it fits the all-important narrative, so it gets the attention.
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The continued objectification of women in a pornographic society that persistently pushes already-disturbed, mentally disordered sociopaths past their "jumping-off point?" That may have just proven again to be a glaring public health hazard, but who has time to honor past victims and prevent future ones by addressing it when there are racial fires to stoke?
Maddening? Yes, but utterly predictable at this point. After all, these are the same folks who will pretend that we can't regulate or ban pornography because of the First Amendment; the same amendment they'll happily ignore as they demand to police what the killer's church must have taught.
This is the game we're playing, and until the adults stand up and stop it, it isn't going to get better.
