A lone gunman was shot dead after opening fire on former
President Donald Trump at a crowded campaign rally this past weekend.
You likely have seen the headline and watched
the video a dozen or more times of Trump getting shot and ducking for cover
before rising bravely and waving an angry fist in the air to send his
supporters and enemies a strong message.
Pundits will talk of a divided nation and blame heated
political rhetoric for instigating and motivating people to resort to settling
political battles with guns and violence. But the public still doesn’t know why
a 20-year-old took a shot at Trump.
I will tell you why, for the answer is sitting
in plain sight.
Society has failed in how it has raised Gen Z.
Plain and simple. It is a weaker generation despite all of the social and
psychological help made available to them — and the lowering of education and
employment standards given to them. For a lowered bar, we seem to receive even
less back.
Suicide rates in the nation are rising annually
and are at an all-time high, more common than homicide by double.
Addiction is soaring and opioid overdoses are at
an all-time high.
Meanwhile, test scores of Gen Z are in the
toilet. Somehow, we have an epidemic of over-anxious, addicted, and medicated
kids who can’t perform in the real world, lost to video games, social media,
and the endless streaming of content. They are socially awkward, bubble-wrapped,
and indoctrinated into a world so woke it is asleep.
Now add in the crazed gun culture. America’s
fascination with guns is out of control. The endless arms build-up does not
make us safer against a hidden enemy; it makes us more volatile to turning
against ourselves and those around us.
Why did a guy not old enough to legally drink
have access to his dad’s collection of a dozen guns? Why does his father need
so many guns? Why does his dad hand over basically a machine gun, like a toy,
to his kid?
Why did a high school have teenagers on a rifle
team? Playing with guns is a sport?
This kid was rejected by the rifle team as a bad
shooter. Looks like he wanted to desperately prove them wrong, so he practiced
and joined a nearby gun club. Why do we have clubs like this? Can’t we have
hobbies that don’t obsess over killing and using violence for mere
entertainment?
So, why did a bullied and isolated boy who was not
in college or learning a trade, at a dead-end job serving meals to elderly
senior in a depressing setting (nursing home), take to using an AR-15 against
Trump?
It would appear this kid is the poster boy for a
lost generation of the bullied and babied, who have easy access to monstrous
weapons in a society that normalizes seeing a mass-casualty gun as an embraced
toy.
The shooter doesn’t appear to be anti-Trump. No
statements online, in writing, or verbally have been linked to such views.
He does not appear to hate Republicans. He is a
registered Republican.
The shooting was a matter of laziness. It came
to him, right there near his hometown, when Trump came for a visit. This
shooter was not training to hunt Trump down across the country. Trump became a
convenient target. That’s all.
What better way to force people to see the
invisible boy than to take down a man who is seen as a hero to some?
And what better way to kill yourself than
suicide-by-cop?
This shooter died way before a Secret Service
sniper took him out. We know why he did it. The question now is: How do we
address all of the contributing factors?
The nation needs to answer that question and it
will require those of all political affiliations to come together on this.
Otherwise, I will be reprinting this and
crossing out a few names for when the next mass shooting or assassination
attempt takes place.
Can the book world help with this?
There are already plenty of books on suicide prevention,
improving our mental health, reducing gun violence, and on parenting. Yet,
with all of this book advice and mental healthcare, the world is more violent,
depressed, and filled with anxious and unproductive people than it was only a
generation or two ago.
Now, to be fair, not everyone in the younger generation is having trouble functioning in life. Many are normal, successful, and thriving. But there are many who are not and we have to look deeper into why — and find some path to move forward to collectively be better at raising our youth, for society has failed too often so far.
If there are writers who can find a way to help our society —
and not just preach, blame, or propose unachievable things — we need them to
step forward fast.
Generation Alpha needs our help..
Need PR Help?
Brian
Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page
views, can be reached at [email protected] He is available to help authors promote their story,
sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in
successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your
advocate, teacher, and motivator!
About Brian
Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be
followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now
resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue
dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a “best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses,
Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres,
right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark
Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay,
Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan
RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah
Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, &
Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured
in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
