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To live in the U.S. is to live in simulations of real war. American mass shootings are, in many ways, “imperial.” The act is both magnificent conquering and expansion of place with utter disregard for human life. The random Walmart or grocery store, a center of worship, an inconspicuous employer, or, an otherwise irrelevant “place,” becomes the disgusting spectacle of highest notice. The mass shooter is a domineering emperor who meticulously researches and plans an attack, while desiring online notoriety (content, engagement) that comes in the form of going viral. A mass shooting itself is a simulacra of the U.S. genocide of Indigenous people: this land is my land, this land is [not] your land. The American empire is a manifestation of these acts over hundreds of years, e.g., land grabbing. In toddler language it is the imperial “Mine!” The current form of individualistic imperialism is best represented by the movie Top Gun: Maverick, which itself is a simulation of the original film, Top Gun: one must be the Best of the Best in order to possessively “win”. Relationally, this imperialism is the competitive exaltation of self as superior power over the Other. Survival of the fittest: kill or be killed. For the mass shooter it is kill and be killed. Using data from The Violence Project, Andrew analyzes 21st century mass shootings through the lens of Franco Berardi’s work and the late French sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s books, Simulacra & Simulation, and The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.
References:
Baudrillard, J., & Glaser, S. F. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Baudrillard, J., & Patton, P. (1995). The gulf war did not take place. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Berardi, F. (2015). Heroes: Mass murder and suicide. New York: Verso.
Berardi, F. (2021). The third unconscious: The psycho-sphere in the viral age. New York: Verso.
Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press, Inc.
Durkheim, E. (2006/1897). On suicide. Penguin Classics: New York.
Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.
Han, B.C. (2022). Non-things: Upheaval in the lifeworld. Polity Press: Medford, MA.
Peterson, J. & Densley J. (2021): The violence project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Abrams Press: New York.
Schiff, A.W. & Schiff, J. L. (1971). Passivity. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1(1), 71-78.
Solomon, C. (2003). Transactional Analysis Theory: The Basics. Transactional Analysis Journal, 33(1), 15–22
Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.