Many of you would have come across this story of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer who was shot dead in Kansas, US. For people who haven’t here are some of the links to go through.
LA Times
CNN – Widow of the victim speaking
Quartz
Reuters
Before I start, let me tell you that I have nothing but utmost sympathies for the family of the victim and tremendous respect for people who tried to prevent this incident. However, my view on the nature of the issue is slight different.
Adam Purinton, the perpetrator is a 51 year old Navy veteran. I have deliberately ignored his race as I deem it unimportant. I have probably lost half of you now, but continue on if you want to understand the systemic issue underneath. Here are my 4 major reasons for this crime according to me.
- He is a Navy veteran, who has been indoctrinated to think in a way
- Think of his economic situation
- Support for ex-service people
- The seriously dumb gun laws
Long back I worked with an army veteran from India. In a casual chat, I could realise his deep rooted hatred for people from Pakistan. He wasn’t able to think beyond his biases to feel the people from the other side of the border have equal needs and wants as him. That brought me to another realisation, it is not possible for him to wage a war with those people if he starts empathising with their situation. I can’t essentially shoot a person down if I start feeling for his family. To take someone’s life for an ideology needs one to be indoctrinated deeply in its favour. There cannot be a moral predicament in a situation of need. Imagine such a person with strong faith in certain ideologies getting hold of weapons. The situation is bound to get out of control soon. The accused in this instance, Adam is one such. He has been trained to attack people of a certain skin tone or religion or both. He was fighting wars against them. All of a sudden, he starts seeing them in his midst and he has weapons. How does that work?
It is easy to attribute every violent behaviour by white people as racist. Racism in most instances is the facade or in some instances is the trigger. I do not believe that Adam has insulted every non-white he has met till date. He is probably facing the same economic turmoil as most dwindling US middle class. The bottom 60% of the society has been ignored for decades and the pent-up grievances are showing up as anger. Adam has probably seen the US economy move from something that worked for him to something that will never work for him. He finds people whom he has classified as outsiders (as discussed above) living a decent life. How does he act?
The United States of America has been fighting wars for decades now. I can’t remember a time when they were not in war, with a country. What happens to all these war veterans when they go back. It is economically impossible to wage a war continuously and provide the necessary support for the veterans. People who have fought a war, need lot of mental and economic support. If they are not provided, then they are left to act on their instincts, which is most instances is actually quite depressing. Again in this instance, we have a veteran, with a gun, not in the best spirits looking at a person whom he has been taught to kill. What does he think?
Why is the US congress unable to look at the need for gun control? What is the fascination in holding a gun? Kids shooting in schools, depressed men shooting women, terrorists shooting innocents, random shootings and list goes on. It is time for people to mature and look at the calendar to realise that we are in 2017 and not 1700s. There is no need for common people to have a weapon. If someone needs it, then they can loan it for a purpose e.g. I want to scare animals from my farm etc.
Connecting the dots, you have got a ex-Navy person, who has been indoctrinated to kill brown people or a certain religion, in deep economic crisis, looking at people looking similar to people he killed doing well, has no support from the government and has access to guns. It is the gross failure on the part of the US government which has engaged in series of wars and hasn’t done enough for the veterans or have good gun control laws. Yes, the perpetrator should be brought to justice but so should the system which has failed Srinivas and countless other innocents.
Again, it is sad that we have lost a life and it is worse for that family. As rational people, we need to think through the problem. I do agree that apart from my reasons, there have been lot of other instigators and reasons for this incident. However, unless these systemic risks are addressed, people will be addressing the symptom and not the issue.
Demystifying a skeptic's world 