Commentary
Our greatest fears have now seemed to materialize. The school closures, social dislocation, the two years of isolation, the lockdown psychosis, plus dehumanizing masking and the resulting anxiety, depression, and despair, may have unleashed and may have enhanced depraved and murderous behavior.
Two major incidents have been in the news but the trend is larger. The FBI reports that deaths from active shooter incidents have soared. In 2021, the number of deaths reported as a result of active shootings (103 total) was a 171 percent increase from 2020. The relationship to lockdown policies should be apparent to any objective observer. Socially malevolent behavior is potentially driven by the severing of the social contract, socialization, social bonds, and support normally operational in a functional society. The lockdowns and school closures shatter a sense of the future, of belonging, of ‘mattering,’ a sense of loss and hope and dreams of tomorrow that then can drive depravity and wickedness….