Malcolm Gladwell wrote a fascinating piece on the viral nature of school shootings back in 2015. The essential argument is that there are, at all times, an unknown number of kids out there thinking about shooting up their schools and that a some of them only need a trigger to decide to do it. And often that trigger is seeing another kid do it first.
But, it seems to me that there’s no reason why this would only apply to school shootings. Which is why, I believe, you tend to see mass shootings happen in clusters. So something like the Colorado shooting happens right on the heels of the Alabama shooting. The problem is we never know how many people are out there waiting and watching for a trigger. Which means we may be in for one or two more of these before the current shooting virus burns out.
Stay vigilant and be ready, because as these incidents prove, when the shooting starts, you are on your own. The cops will show up just in time to draw a chalk line around your body.
UPDATE: Suspect reported as Ahmad Al-Issa, an ISIS sympathizer. I can’t wait to learn how supporting ISIS is akshully part of systemic White Supremacy.