Are White Men Mentally Challenged and Perhaps Cowards?

It seems every month of every year a White male commits a mass murder.  I’ll start with April 20, 1999, the Columbine mass murders.  This mass shooting was committed by two white males who later killed themselves.  Months after the massacre, psychiatrists and psychologists determined that these “boys” were more troubled and misguided than we thought.

In between all the other murders committed by white males, where the killer was auspiciously described as being mentally ill, the most recent is the Parkland mass shooting.  “Accused school killer Nikolas Cruz is a remorseful and broken child whose life came apart after the devastating loss of his mother in November,” said his public defender Melissa McNeil.  She repeated at a news conference, “He is a broken human being. He is a broken child.”  As they stood before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica, McNeil stood next to Cruz with her hand on his shoulder.  Really?  This young man just finished killing 17 people at his high school and she was mothering and coddling him.

On March 2, 2018, the first bomb went off which killed 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House.  And then there was a second bomb, killing Draylen Mason, student and bass player.  Both victims were African Americans.  The bombers name is Mark Anthony Conditt, a white man.  

As reported by CNN, the Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt, whose string of package bombs killed two people and wounded five in Texas, blew himself up in his vehicle as a SWAT team closed in on him.  Interim Austin police Chief Brian Manley said Conditt’s cell phone was found in his car with a recorded 25-minute video confessing to building the explosive devices.  Manley said there was no explanation as to why he targeted his victims. 

"It is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his life that led him to this point," the interim chief said. "I know everybody is interested in a motive and understanding why. And we're never going to be able to put a (rationale) behind these acts," Manley told reporters. 

Is it difficult for white people to recognize terrorism when the murder is committed by a white male?  Terrorists are often "true believers," convinced of the rightness of their actions. Where the rest of the world sees empty violence and senseless destruction, terrorists see themselves as heroes fighting for a noble purpose, one based on high ideals.  When these acts are committed on home soil they are considered domestic terrorist acts. 

A friend on Facebook wrote, “It's hard to recognize an evil monster (for being an evil monster) when they resemble you.”  Perhaps that is the dilemma people experience when someone of their nationality commits a deadly crime.

Police Officers let it be known “I was afraid for my life” when they've encountered someone who was not white, while stopping that person for a traffic infraction or some other action that required a police officer’s intervention and that person ends up dead.  For example, Philando Castile.  Castile was stopped in the daytime by Officer Yanez because his brake light was out.  Castile told the officer that he had a gun.  (Castile was a licensed gun owner.)  Apparently, fear immediately eroded in Officer Yanez’ mind and he stopped thinking logically.  Moments later, 40 seconds to be exact, Castile lay dead in the car where his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter were passengers.  Officer Yanez was acquitted of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety.  He was able to go home and sleep in his bed.  The fear that these officers are experiencing should be studied.  This fear of other race of people could be considered a mental illness. 

Are white males more susceptible to mental illness?  Each time one of these mass murders occurs, the cause is usually linked to “mental illness.”  Or, when an officer kills, that officer feared for his life.  Seemingly, with all these mentally disturbed white men, it is possible to surmise that a large percentage of white male are indeed in need of mental health treatment.  To my knowledge, no other racial group are continuously labeled as mentally ill. 

Gun owners are more than often white males who want to be ready.  Ready for what?  Presumably, there is always a world disaster lurking, or an unsuspecting danger around the corner, inside the home, at work, where ever life takes you.

©2018 Radiance Smith (aka Radiance Lite) 

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