Systematic Desensitization

The Washington Post has this about the latest shooting:

"Authorities said Thursday they are looking for a motive behind the deadliest U.S. mass shooting in nearly three years, even as they revealed that the attackers had amassed a stockpile of explosives and ammunition.

"The rampage by two shooters Wednesday killed 14 people and wounded 21. Four hours later, 23 law enforcement officers from seven different agencies engaged in a frenzied shootout that left the two suspects -- a husband and wife -- dead on a residential street.

"Police said Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a county health worker born in Chicago, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, his Pakistani wife in the U.S. on a visa, were both dressed in tactical gear and armed with rifles, handguns and multiple ammunition magazines when they strode into a holiday party for county workers Wednesday morning. They opened fire, spraying 65 to 75 rounds and leaving behind an unexploded pipe bomb before fleeing in a rented black Ford Expedition."

What does it mean, Truthseekers, when you learn that the latest mass shooting was domestic instead of foreign, and you breathe a sigh of relief? The WaPo continues:

"The attack came just five days after police say a gunman in Colorado Springs killed three people and injured nine others, the latest in a recent run of mass shootings that terrorized a community college in Roseburg, Ore., a church in Charleston, S.C., and a movie theater in Lafayette, La.

"Anxiety also lingers from the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. The Islamic State, a violent militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack that triggered a crackdown on migrants in Europe and calls for heightened security in the United States."

With the massacres coming once or twice a week, it becomes routine. Expected. How horrifying is that? A (very) long time ago, in Psych 101 we learned about systematic desensitization. It applies to a form of phobia treatment where the patient is gradually exposed to their anxiety-producing stimulant so that it no longer elicits a fear reaction.

For example, say you're afraid of snakes. Or Republicans, whichever. A therapist would lead the patient into a large room with a caged snake, or...whatever. Over several sessions the patient would move closer to the snake, then touch the snake, then hold the snake until the fear of snakes was extinguished. It's basic conditioning.

When a society becomes desensitized to mass killing of innocents, there is no therapeutic benefit. Whether theater-goers, Planned Parenthood employees and patients, or 6-year old school children. Sandy Hook elementary, that was the litmus test. first graders and teachers were slaughtered and nothing happened. There were no consequences, no legislative reform, no increased restrictions to safeguard against future tragedies.

We tacitly agreed that where it concerned guns, they were more sacred and deserving of our love and protection than our own little children. Well, of course we didn't all agree, but our elected representatives did, and that's all that matters. Fast forward three years and umpteen mass killings and it's just business as usual in the USA. The ammosexuals would tell us the solution would be to arm everyone. Every concert attendee, every movie patron, every first-grader. Yeah, that will lead to fewer gun deaths. Sure it will.

So while we argue about Starbucks greeting cups or the virtue of store closings on Black Friday, another armed psycho is planning the next massacre. And the one after that. They are legion and they are unstoppable. All we can do is hold our breath, swallow hard, and hope it's not our child/husband/mother/friend.

God bless the almighty NRA.