Back in March, I laid out several important reasons why police should release the Tennessee shooter’s manifesto, which they claimed to be in possession of. In short, leaving such things to the public’s imagination lets the worst people on all sides project their sick visions of the world into the void. This, in turn, raises the risk of pointless violence while people who are truly responsible for contributing to the crime — if any — escape scrutiny.
Recently, I sort of got my wish…and it was pretty disappointing. To explain further, let’s first look at what a manifesto is:
Basically, there needs to be some sort of a coherent statement of policy and aims for something to be considered a manifesto. It has to say something that lets people know where one stands. But, the portion Steven Crowder leaked from the Nashville PD evidence room was basically three diary entries from a person with not only a diseased mind, but little command of the English language.
Of the three pages that were released (out of who knows how many more, plus there may also be a 10-minute video), only one page has anything resembling a manifesto. It was a diary entry from almost two months before the shooting that rambled on about killing.
If this were an actual manifesto, it would have laid out some detailed ideas for the killing, and, as most do, a call to action of some sort. Most people who bother to write a manifesto before going on a shooting spree are killing for attention, and they hope that others will be inspired to do something, too.
The Nashville shooter’s page gives us an idea of her motives, but wanting to kill wealthy, white “faggots” who attend a private church school makes little sense when the shooter is white, is part of the LGBT community, and attended that same school as a child. She was everything that her scribblings say she hated. If anything, this is a manifestation of intense self-hatred that lacks even a hint of self-awareness.
In other words, this isn’t a manifesto as much as the sick rantings of a diseased mind. There’s really nothing important to be learned from this that people in the future can use to save lives. Focusing on the shooter’s motives as if there was some form of rational thought involved is just a distraction.
I know some readers will disagree, but keep in mind that if you’re running a private Christian school, you already know that it’s a potential target for sick people of a range of different ideological persuasions. Instead of wasting time trying gazing into the abyss of Audrey Hale’s mind, we should take practical steps that can actually protect innocent lives.
The One Useful Thing We Can Learn From The Nashville Shooter
There is one useful here, but we have to look at two more pages of this person’s diseased ranting. First, let’s look at what was written the day Hale changed irregular verbs were . . .
The one thing that jumps out from this page: “Can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready…I hope my victims aren’t. My only fear is if anything goes wrong.”
On another page, we find out what Hale’s biggest fear that day was . . .
Upon arrival, and before getting guns out of the vehicle, the shooter planned to check the parking lot for any armed security personnel.
As we now know, no security personnel were found, and the shooter was able to take time entering the school without any armed opposition. The killing didn’t stop until police officers entered the school and did their actual jobs (something the Uvalde Police Department in Texas could learn a thing or three from).
The bottom line is this: the one thing this shooter feared was armed security. She had no fear of the law. There was no fear what anyone in the Republican Party was going to say about transgender people afterwards. There was no fear of what anyone in the Democrat Party was going to say about guns afterwards. There was no revulsion at the idea of murdering innocent children, and thus no moral restraints.
There may be something useful on the other pages that haven’t been released, but based on what we’ve seen so far, the only useful takeaway is that places with vulnerable people need armed people to protect them. Let’s focus on doing that.
Read the full article here
