Schrödinger’s Serial Killers

Notes on the complexity and simplicity of evil.

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Dear Reader (Including those of you who don’t have the stomach for today’s “news”letter),

I’ve been forcing myself to follow the coverage of the Uvalde school massacre, and I do mean forcing myself. Even more difficult, I am forcing myself to write about this horror, even though I sincerely don’t want to. I’m not doing it out of some great obligation to explain, never mind solve, anything, because I don’t have any explanation you haven’t heard before and I don’t think there are any perfect or comprehensive solutions. I just feel like ignoring something like this because we’ve become so accustomed to the horror or because the topic is so complicated and exhausting is a little cowardly. When something this evil happens, it should dominate the conversation, even if I’d much rather discuss something else.  

So let’s discuss solutions. 

My colleague, David French has done everything shy of wearing a sandwich board and clanging a cowbell to make the case for red flag laws. 

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  1. Tim Moore

    The shooter allegedly was refused graduation (with the implication that was one of, or the causative reason(s) for the rampage). However, he shot up a grade school, not his high school. Further allegations are circulating that previous to this, he was known, at least by peers, to be vicious to animals, supposedly showing off a bag of dead bloody cats. The word "evil" doe not seem to even approach the matter.

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    Chris

    If anyone had the damnedest idea how to seriously, significantly, and decisively respond bullying, it would've ended generations ago. In fact, empty promises from authorities to stop the bullies, followed by failure to actually accomplish that impossible goal, is a big part of why victims feel resentment towards their teachers, principals, and 'the system' itself. When the bad guys win and the good guys don't deliver on their promises, the world can feel like a place without any hope.

    Jonah, you were right to point out that more of the antibullying stuff might not help.

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  3. Kurt Von Fuchs

    You either need to drink a lot more or a lot less or as you said maybe both

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  4. Charley

    The whole premise of this piece - "it's complicated" - is wrong. It isn't complicated. We have too many guns around, too easily available. We have a lot more mass shootings than other countries because we have a lot more guns.

    The "it's complicated" narrative is just the political talking point used by people who support loose gun regulations in their effort to distract people from the consequences of their preferred policy.

    Just once, I would appreciate someone who is honest with themselves, someone who can say: I favor the second amendment, I favor loose gun laws, I favor our society having many guns and easy availability, even though it is the reason we have more shootings and more suicides than other countries; I believe the benefit is worth the cost". I think this is a rational position to take (though in my view an immoral one), but nobody ever admits to it. Just be honest with yourselves!

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    Donald E. L. Johnson

    In his book, One Damn Thing after Another, former AG Bill Barr advocates using Federal and state laws to jail violent criminals. He calls for making juvenile delinquency records permanent so when someone commits a crime, their records can be examined to determine whether they are violent and they should be put away in jail for a long time.

    His point: Taking violent people off the streets drastically cuts murder and other crime rates within a couple of years.

    Most important, he attacks the pro-crime DAs who have been elected in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere. By allowing violent criminals to return to the streets, Barr says, those DAs and irresponsible judges are "killing people."

    Further, he makes the best case for capital punishment I've read in a long time. That Europeans banned the death penalty just shows how degraded Europe's values have become.

    A lot of chapters in this great book would make very readable op-ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal.

    As with former Sec. of Defense Mark Esper's book, A Sacred Oath, this is a must read for historians who want to understand what Trumps best appointees experience while working in his administration.

    I see that The Dispatch doesn't publish book reviews.

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      Ben Connelly

      The Dispatch does publish book reviews. Saturdays typically have some “culture” feature and while I wish it was primarily books it’s more often movies and shows and very occasionally books.

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        Donald E. L. Johnson

        When I searched for "Bill Barr", I didn't seen a review of his book. A good one is needed. I'll check your Substack newsletter. Thanks.

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          Ben Connelly

          For clarification, the Dispatch didn’t review Bill Barr’s book and neither did I. I’m not affiliated with the Dispatch and I don’t do book reviews generally.

          What I meant is that the Dispatch has done some book reviews in the past. Alec reviewed The Lincoln Highway (which I’m currently reading) and Jonah reviewed The Reactionary Mind.

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            Donald E. L. Johnson

            What is interesting is that the Barr and Esper books are not being reviewed by the NYT or WaPO.

            That probably is because both authors expertly, deeply and bitterly attack the mainstream media for their incompetence, biases, lies and inaccuracies.

            Also, both books were written to defend the authors, relate their encounters with Trump and his sycophants and boast about the smart, effective people who worked for and with them in DOD and DOJ.

            Both books are great reads with good indexes.

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    Ben Connelly

    “Making schools more nurturing and supportive is not in conflict with making them physically safer.”

    That’s undoubtedly true. But some activists are now claiming that bulletproof glass in schools somehow causes anxiety in students. My school had bulletproof glass and a cop with a gun and I can’t recall ever giving it much thought, let alone worrying because of it.

    “Regardless, I just don’t believe that schools have become less tolerant since Columbine. I don’t think bullying has increased. If anything, I think the opposite is true. ”

    Yes. I was in school post-Columbine and you could hardly flood the zone with anti-bullying speeches, classes, campaigns, posters, lectures, talks, PSAs etc. than was happening in my elementary and middle and high school.

    “Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff argue in The Coddling of the American Mind, safetyism—the larger mindset and policy approach—doesn’t lead to kids feeling safer. Rather, it creates an environment where young people, at least many of them, are more likely to feel unsafe more easily. We see this all around us, as teen anxiety is through the roof. ”

    Couldn’t agree more. Good book.

    “ maybe the real solution has little to do with putting bigger rocks in better places in the river. Maybe the problem is the river itself.”

    I was thinking about the same metaphor recently. Much of what we do in public policy and economics is futile. Vanity and grasping at wind. We “make an effort” and waste energy in show for no reason other than to assuage our minds which cannot handle the truth that we have no control.

    “Evil is real.”

    Yep. It isn’t a product of its environment.

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  7. Autonomian

    The ambient perception of men being not as necessary is a real thing. Our lives are so sedentary and automated that even I can change the filters on an HVAC unit and replace the 9 volt batteries in my fire alarms. But my two sons would be lost without their father ( as I would be) ... he is their touchstone for behavior and the prism through which they see the society they must live and be successful in. I believe we are living through a great transition of roles and mores ... in a scant 75 years we have seen childbirth become safe and optional, men and women's roles have converged, and the guiding lights of spirituality and civic life have become contested and doubtful.

    There are obvious steps to take to stop young men from becoming violent. Red flag reporting and intervention, limiting access to weapons that can inflict mass casualties (age limits, requiring licenses, safety classes etc) and ... lest I be pilloried here ... public or private work programs that provide an institution for work in the rocky few years after high school.

    Will we do anything? Ulvade. Jesus weeps.

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  8. Eric L.

    What an characteristically turgid slog - I had to skim past the mid-way point, then bailed altogether, so lost was I in the thicket of equivocations. It went on that way, it seems, till the end, which was a long way off.

    Some unsolicited advice: Avoid NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Morning Joe, and all the rest. They add nothing to this or any discussion. I abstain from them all and remain reasonably well-informed (from The Dispatch, for one). As with any addiction, cold turkey may be the best route. You'll thank me later.

    I know you can do it.

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    Jason Gibson

    That professors critique is at least interesting but I disagree with him

    There really is only a hairs difference between Hume and Burke as far as I can tell.

    Burke believed in the metaphysical good but believed that we could only see it through the institutions of human life. “The individual is foolish but the species is wise”. It seems to me that one can distrust human perception of categories without subscribing to humes skepticism of knowing real causes. Original sin is key here. (Jon podhoretz talked about the Jewish version of this on commentary podcast recently. Or what I would call the Jewish version of it. It was very wise and informative)

    Just because jonah doesn’t see theology as his lane doesn’t mean that he therefore subscribes to a soft stoicism (Hume)

    David Hume is for me a particular wrong turn in the philosophical history of the west. (Although there are many admirable things about his writing and ideas) and yet jonah goldberg is my favorite journalist.

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    James McDermott

    If, as Jonah seems to believe, evil exists external to human existence, as an independent entity at large in the world and perhaps under the control of a very real Satan, it would seem to be easier to counter it than the opposing idea that evil is the alter ego of human good will. Dealing with Satan and his temptations only requires human understanding of consequences and the will to refuse to cooperate. On the other hand, if evil exists within us as a subtext of free will waiting for its opportunity to strike, then the problem of evil is greatly complicated. As humans have experienced over the ages, and as Pogo so eloquently expressed, "We have met the enemy and his is us."

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