America's Kids Under Siege (guns and social media)

Maybe you remember your high school days? Peer pressure was intense, no doubt about it. Something about adolescence makes everybody want to fit in, to conform, and to win the love and approval of friends and family. The desire for success leads kids to go out for sports teams, dress in the coolest fashions and learn the lingo of the peer group. Today's kids face several new enemies (1) the social network, and (2) maniacs carrying powerful weapons on to campus.

The social network poses a bigger threat for young people.

It is very unlikely that a crazed individual will enter your kid's high school with the goal of mowing down a group of innocents. Parkland, Florida proved that it does happen. Television brought us there immediately.

Parkland, Florida felt different. We all went to high school. We could relate to being in the classrooms and the thought of an intruder with an AR-15 boggles the mind. Gun lovers complained about FBI's inept performance in not following leads and they have a point. I liked the father who appeared at Trump's White House gathering and said "9/11 happened just once. We were determined that it never happen again." He spoke angrily about why previous mass shootings did not cause enough outrage to bring the school shootings situation to a halt?

We are unlikely to see any changes in gun control laws. Gun owners do not want to be denied just because a few nut cases get out of hand and mow down the citizenry. They have a point, I suppose, and worry constantly that someone "will come and take away the guns." Not sure we have any evidence of that and I wonder where the fear comes from?

The mass shooting of a campus began in Austin, Texas-- my hometown with the infamous Charles Whitman climbing to the top of the tower on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. That was 1966--

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower with three rifles, two pistols, and a sawed-off shotgun. The 25-year-old architectural engineering major and ex-Marine—who had previously complained of searing headaches and depression—had already murdered his mother, Margaret, and his wife, Kathy, earlier that morning. He fired his first shots just before noon, aiming with chilling precision at pedestrians below. “The crime scene spanned the length of five city blocks . . . and covered the nerve center of what was then a relatively small, quiet college town,” noted executive editor Pamela Colloff in her 2006 oral history of the shootings. “Hundreds of students, professors, tourists, and store clerks witnessed the 96-minute killing spree as they crouched behind trees, hid under desks, took cover in stairwells, or, if they had been hit, played dead.”

At the time, there was no precedent for such a tragedy. Whitman “introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space,” wrote Colloff. By the time he was gunned down by an Austin police officer early that afternoon, he had shot 43 people, thirteen of whom died.

(Texas Monthly)

We've had many years to learn from the Whitman massacre. 

The Vietnam War lead to demonstrations-- and a social movement-- a movement based on peace, love and equality. Times were different. That was the television era. The medium has moved from television to the cellphone. Everybody looking into their own phone....

shape shifter

Watched a movie called "Con Man" about an imposter, James Hogue, admitted to Princeton University under the alias Alexi Indris-Santana. Hogue, a talented distance runner, posed as a "self-educated" man and requested the Princeton give him serious consideration as a freshman applicant, despite the absence of a high school transcript. He scored significantly well on standardized tests to meet the criteria of a legitimate applicant. And he posted remarkable times as a distance runner. Princeton liked the package-- he was an exotic from the heartland and possibly could help the track team. He deferred his Princeton admission so he could assist his dying mother in Switzerland through our final days. Except the real reason was-- James Hogue was completing a jail term in Utah for theft and check forgery. Princeton found out about Hogue being an imposter. They not only dismissed Hogue, but turned him over to the local police and he ended up serving another jail sentence.

Hogue did well as a Princeton student prior to the bust. It was actually his third time to college and he had strong science and math skills. But a former classmate from Palo Alto High School recognized Hogue at a Princeton track meet. He was the same guy who has enrolled at Palo Alto High School, as Jay Huntsman and posted amazing distance running performances-- before getting exposed by a suspicious local reporter.

What do we share with James Hogue?
1) He wanted to go to a great school-- Princeton.
2) He wanted a brand new start-- just what going off to college is all about.
3) He wanted to exploit a talent (running) to achieve his goals and win the applause of the crowd. The Hogue was known to be modest about his sports achievements.
4) He liked the idea of re-invention (see Madonna).

What do we not share with Hogue?
1) We cannot comfortably shift identities.
Hogue changed his name, occupation, his personal history, his locations, his social class... with impunity. Most of us struggle with changing our wardrobe.
2) Our ethics are more grounded and rooted in the Ten Commandments-- thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal... The imposter lies with flair and a little bit of genius. James Hogue was also a thief.
3) The con man is a shape shifter. Hogue loved change-- changed his look-- left Kansas and went to three or four different schools-- University of Wyoming (track scholarship winner) as himself, Palo Alto High School, as Jay Huntsman, the University to Texas at Austin, and Princeton University (full scholarship) as Alexi Idris-Santana.
4) James Hogue was almost totally cut-off from his family-- in Kansas. The separation from his family seems like a red flag for dysfunction and mental illness.
5) James Hogue, though a shy person, had tremendous confidence in his abilities. The shyness combined with confidence is a unique combination.