5 dead at 4th of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois

rogermortimer wrote:

I am from this town. Schools are excellent - beyond compare for public schools. My aunt insisted we move to a small duplex there to go to the schools - a surprise because my brother and I were expected to go live with my grandparents to run for Joe Newton at York. Where I lived you could go to the high school in Highland Park right near this shooting - or go to the sister high school in the same district which was marginally better at sports. Highland Park had the indoor track, and the lake, bu I chose the latter school, and the schools and the two towns were incredibly safe, to the point of making jokes (accurate ones) about how the police in the towns - who I liked by the way and had a good vibe with teenagers - had the cushiest jobs in the nation. A big case was investigating someone getting eggs thrown at their house. I am no gun guy at all but there is a gun culture here which is apparently intractable.

The shooter is apparently an 18 -20 year old male. One could generate a hypothetical profile and likely be very accurate. No father around, desperate mother at wits end, drug use, mental history and so on. If one was compelled to commit such a crime, Highland Park unfortunately is easy pickings. The downtown is centered around the commuter rail station, and the building are no more than 3 stories high, and the citizens and the police are simply not used to this kind of thing. The shooter is at large, and if he had access to a vehicle, he could be in Green Bay by now. 41 is down the hill from downtown Highland Park, and points north don't involve much traffic and with no tolls or cameras on 294. A tragedy, and no way to know if the shooter will strike again. My lifelong friend is a teacher, and she and her twin grandsons were at a park today three miles west of Highland Park (the site of my first race, a 50 yard Jaycee event). The police came and evacuated the entire park, no small thing on July 4th, probably shooing away thousands. All residents in the area are being told not to leave their houses. She is predictably scared to do death, and is sending updates to me every 15 minutes.

rogermortimer wrote:

I think we go off course by hurriedly making assumptions of motive, other than the obvious that this is a very troubled and evil young man. He was caught in Lake Forest, a few blocks from where my mother was raised, right across the street from the Bears headquarters. He is no expert criminal. I can't think of a worse place to hide if you are wanted than Lake Forest, Illinois. My family goes back four generations in Lake Forest. The first forebears were servants for the McCormick estate in Lake Forest.

The kid is from Highwood. It is in the Highland Park high school district, and it is largely a hard working Italian and Hispanic community with roots in supporting business connected with Fort Sheridan when it was operating. Highland Park is both liberal and very Jewish (indeed, the first place my wife and I lived after getting married - she is Jewish and felt very comfortable in Highland Park). Highland Park has wealth along the lake, lots of it. Highwood likely votes blue, but is a far different culture than Highland Park. My brother's first wife is from Highwood, and I know the people well. While in general I observed no problems there when I was growing up, and the kids were more fun than many of the academic drones, I could see where an erstwhile rapper with social interaction problems like this kid (his photos speak to being odd) could feel alienated in a high performance academic culture. But Highland Park is very tolerant as things go, so no excuse there. It is just too early to speculate on politics and motive.

His parents are toast - they are going to have to move and their life will not be pleasant. Small potatoes compared to the victims.

Precious Roy wrote:

I am not a fan of political youtube videos. It just takes too long to get through and is much easier to just ready an essay in a fraction of the time it takes to get through the video. But this one is an exception, mainly because the content isn't otherwise available and is really good.

FD Signifier is a youtuber who also is an academic who has worked on issues in sociology related to mass shootings. In short, his theory is that young men find themselves in a state of nihilism due to many factors (social isolation/atomization, dim prospects in late capitalism society, etc.). That nihilism manifests itself as either active or passive. Passive nihilism expresses itself in isolation, self harm, suicide, etc. but can also be liberating when people realize that nothing really matters so they are free to do what ever they want. But it is usually the former. Active nihilism is also based on a realization that everything is purposeless and BS. But instead of turning inward, active nihilism causes people to lash out at the world. These people are inspired by Edgelords on the internet, social media and pop culture. The Joker and Defense in Falling Down are examples of Edgelords in pop culture. James Holmes, the Aurora movie shooter, died his hair orange because he was inspired by the Joker. The alt right/white supremacist social media ecosystem is full of edgelords who attract disaffected and disturbed young men to their nihilism and inspire them to lash out at society, which ends up in mass shootings.

Setting aside the broader social implications of the problems of pervasive nihilism among young men in our society, it is now amazing that after so many shootings where these young men were exhibiting all the tell tale signs of someone who is on the edge and in need of serious mental health interventions we are still incapable of taking any action to keep these people away from firearms. They literally just walk into a store and arm themselves for battle without anyone blinking an eye.

Video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1FkO7Tr70A