Las Vegas is a world unto itself. It is filled with people of all nationalities from all over the world who congregate to see concerts, amazing architecture, fancy hotels, and to taste the most delectable food and wine with a side of gambling. Las Vegas is where people go to escape their problems or to make new ones. It is a paradigm of life.
We don't know what motivated Stephen Paddock, but fear and hate had to enter it somewhere. The man purchased more than 40 guns, 16 plus of which were found in his hotel room(s). Some were fully automatic assault rifles with high capacity magazines, modified yes, but still deadly.
Mr. Paddock was aiming to kill.
Hatred by choice
You would think this strangely unknowable killer an enigma and certainly not someone who could polarize a nation. Yet, the hatred on social media is astounding. Fear rises in tentacles of smoke from both sides of the isle and neither has any tolerance for the other. Conservatives and liberals can't even converse without an argument ensuing.
In George Orwell's classic novel, "1984," citizens are required to participate in hate speak. Each day for 2 minutes, citizens gather in front of the television screen to listen to a documentary critical of their government. Halfway in, they begin to scream and throw objects at the screen in support of their current leaders.
Citizens have been pre-programmed to hate and their programmers are good at what they do. So too are ours.
If you do not think you are being indoctrinated, put down the cell phone, turn off CNN and/or FOX, and go find a quiet corner to contemplate exactly what is happening in our communities and in our country. There are some who are afraid to speak the truth because it is politically incorrect and there are those who spout lies because the power they crave is just a few short words away.
There is something critically wrong with our world and it is up to each individual to extend a hand of acceptance and listen to things they do not want to hear. We must find a way to common ground or risk the alternative. We need to initiate think speak before hate speak and always end the question with: Who profits?
A human being's ability to hate may actually have come about as an evolutionary adaptation.
It is possible that hatred made it easier to take food from competing groups without guilt. Hatred can also come as a reaction to a doctrine -- whether it be religious or racist. Hatred is always in opposition to something; it is an inability to accept an action or reaction in another person whose opinions and ideas do not match our own. We are animals after all and in our animalistic surroundings our group must win.
Hatred is born of fear
We don't yet know who will benefit from Stephen Paddock's actions. If it turns out he was radicalized then fear will have won. If it turns out he was spurned by a former lover, then Paddock hoped she would suffer because he feared living without her. If it is true Antifa was involved then this man's fear drove him to support their agenda and by his actions the revolution would finally take hold and the marches in the streets would become even more violent and bloody.
If this sad, little man did it because he had too many losses in Vegas, then he feared bankruptcy and his fear drove him to try and stop gambling casino profits and to drive away tourists. If the motive remains forever unknown, I guarantee you he was filled with hatred and fear when he took his last breath.
The rhetoric
There will always be people who can be manipulated by hate groups and there will always be people who will act on that hatred if it is fanned long enough and blazes hot enough. The stronger the reason, the more action is taken. In some cases there is nothing that can be said or done that will stop a murderous action. However, we can choose love over hate and learn how to push the flaming rhetoric to the side.
We must understand that someone always loses and someone always profits with any action. It is important to learn that we have the necessary brain power to ascertain what is right and wrong. It is just that sometimes the hardest action to take is the right one and learning to love out of hatred is never an easy path.
If one understands that what is seen can never be erased, we will become more discerning with what we put in our minds. Fill it with garbage and garbage rules your life. Mr. Paddock was filled with fear and sought a reason to hate. He acted upon that hatred in the most horrific way. Had he looked for love, the outcome would have been far different.
