The losers are coming

Well it's spring, and boys and men the world over are tending to their weapons, making sure everything is just right before setting off to destroy as many lives as they can. It's a duty that weighs heavy on their subtle consciences. How can they kill as many innocent people as possible so that everyone might know of their thorough dissatisfaction with the world? How might they convey their impression that life has been unfair to them, that their allotted portion of body, space and time lacks a certain justice? On the cusp of spring, as the worms get to working the soil, allowing ambitious sprouts an early peek at the world, angry young men are also stirring, slaughtering here, there and everywhere, letting everyone know that they just don't like it here very much.

In North America, we look to several varieties of the inscrutable rodent to help us with our long-term forecasting. When those sleepy ground hogs emerge from their burrows for a stretch and a fart, we monitor their gaze very closely. If they are observed to locate the shadow cast by their diminutive though not unimpressive bodies, we can rest easy knowing that cold weather will continue for some time. But if the little bugger spies a maiden rising from her own dwellings, perhaps with a garland of wild flowers atop her fair head, he will ignore his shadow completely, indeed the cunning meteorologist will like Romeo mistake the maiden for the sun. And if she happens to make her way past our hero, he will no doubt lose himself completely when the pleasant fragrance of rosemary or cinnamon wafting behind her lingers a while in his exceptionally sensitive nostrils.

But what is stirring our modern violent sociopaths? Why do they get out of their beds one day to shoot the guns they bought, borrowed or stole at innocents, often strangers? I certainly don't know. My guess is that years pass with said sociopath slowly or quickly developing facade realities, which those closest to him either deny or reluctantly tolerate (The slightly more famous Erasmus noted that the world was filled with fools always mistaking their son's squint for a wink). In his mind, the world and its contents are ever poised against his interests, everyone and everything conspires to ruin him, to deny him what he most plainly deserves: attention. And if no one notices him, he will find a way to make them notice. These men and boys aren't Raskolnikovs, disgusted with the inferiority of those around them and compelled by a perverse survival-of-the-smartest morality, rather they see only darkness and decay. There is nothing good about the world, indeed their thoughts show them over and over just how vile, gruesome and violent the world can be.

A wise beardless old man has fortunately offered some thoughts to help us explain the disturbing phenomenon of seemingly random male violence: The Radical Loser. This exciting essay offers what amounts to a natural history of the radical loser, whom author Hans Enzensberger distinguishes above all else by their desire to hurt others without cause save the vague delusions nurtured in their heads. They are to be found on every continent (probably especially Antarctica - I joke) on earth, they speak every language, wear every garment and curse furiously at every idiot they see on TV. And there is no one but idiots, or unbelievers, or wrong believers, on TV so their poor throats inevitably grow course from all the ranting they're forced to unleash. Enzensberger's essay seems to me to identify and deal squarely with an alarmingly common phenomena more directly than most similar undertakings. It's not a work of academic subtlety or patience, but cuts right to the chase, which is probably what all thinking people do should they be so lucky to age with their critical abilities intact. Everyone has a duty to read, memorize and discuss this illuminating essay by a truly wise old man.