“When will this insanity stop?!”
Those were the heart-wrenching, grief-stricken and haunting words of Richard Martinez, whose son Chris was murdered in the recent massacre in California at the hands of Elliot Rodger. Martinez also stated, “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights? What about Chris’ right to live?” As I cannot even remotely imagine the pain that Mr. Martinez is going through losing his son, an all too familiar pain in our current society, I must say that he is only partially correct.
No, I am not about to tell you that old, overused cliché “guns don’t kill people; people kill people”. Guns certainly do kill people and there are all too many people in this country and in this world that are willing to pull the trigger. The NRA has done nothing to help curb the violence, rather they use the name of the 2nd Amendment to pad their purse while our politicians are more concerned about being reelected than standing up for what’s right. So, no I am not going to tell you that Mr. Martinez is wrong but he’s only partially correct.
Elliot Rodger, the 22 year old son of Hollywood film director Peter Rodger, wanted fame, glory, money and most of all sex. Elliot Rodger must have lived a privileged life as far as the average American is concerned being able to be around Hollywood’s elite and wealthy even if he himself never felt like he belonged. He wasn’t the wealthiest which angered him and he wasn’t the most handsome which enraged him. In his manifesto, “My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger” he declares why he hates his life and above all declares a war on women. Elliot hates women, as they, according to his manifesto, are the ones who control who gets sex and who does not. He hated other guys as well, those he saw as more popular, athletic and better looking. In his original plan he wanted to torture people based upon how good looking and popular he deemed them to be.
Rodger has some serious issues and that is very clear. In reading bits and pieces of his manifesto you get the impression that he was spoiled and incredibly ungrateful. His parents certainly bear some major blame. But, just like the NRA, the parents are only part of the problem. I am convinced that the societal war on sexuality is also a major contributor to the massacre of six people before Elliot took his own life.
Rodger is depressed, lonely and suicidal because he remains a “kissless virgin.” Elliot spent over $700 on the last mega-millions lottery because he believed that winning the $120mil. jackpot would above all allow him to have “all the amazing sex” he wanted with a “beautiful model girlfriend”. Why would Rodger make having sex with a beautiful model the epitome of success? Could it be that that is what our culture has pumped down his throat? Could it be that that is what every red blooded, young American male also wants? Can we not admit that this is a problem? It’s a huge problem. This is the result of a sex-driven culture.
We live in a country where the NRA spent nearly $250mil. dollars in 2010 in various expenditures and lobbying efforts but also where the porn industry in 2005 had an estimated income of 5 to 10 billion dollars. That’s billion with a capital “B”. And its only gone up from there. These dollars are certainly invested into super PACs to get officials like David Ogden into office and to protect their “right to free speech.” This is is the result of a sex-driven culture.
Even as I write this CNN wants me to visit a page that will show me the “15 hottest female golfers” and NY Daily News wants me to see the “Hottest Women on Earth”, “Celebrity Beach Bodies” and “Stars kick back and relax for Memorial Day” with a small inset picture-ad of a censored topless “star”. Rodger is sex crazed because this culture has told him that it is natural, good and to be celebrated. Rodger believes he is worthless because he’s not having sex with the hottest women because even CNN, Fox News and others have told him so. You can’t surf the news without being inundated by sex. But of course not real sex, the allusion of sex, the temptation of sex. They are making you desire something you don’t currently have! You don’t even need to go to a porn site to understand that your life needs to be centered on licentious sex. This is the result of a sex-driven culture.
Beyond all this, the most vogue thing you can do right now is declare your sexuality. Do we not get it? Our whole society is so sex-saturated, so sex-identified, so sex-obsessed that we celebrate our sexual desires as the very core of who we are. When those desires get frustrated, when boys like Elliot Rodger cannot attain the sexual status they wish, they become maddened. When porn is not enough, they rape and they kill. This is not new. This is the result of a sex-driven culture.
It is no secret that men are very driven and influenced by their sexual desires. But please do not ever make us the sum of our sexual desires. And men we should work hard, every single day, to reject the notion that we are biological robots. Your identity should never be found in your sexual status. And so Rodger blames women for his identity problem rather than himself. He declares women to be at fault because they won’t have sex with him. Rodger desperately needed a true sexual ethic, an ethic that said simply you and the girl you like are worth more than your sexual desires… but there was no one to give it to him. In his mind he deserved sex, he wasn’t getting it, so he decided to kill. This is the result of a sex-driven culture.
As we all grieve for the lives lost and over time as we justly seek to place the blame in the right places let us not forget about our blatantly immoral culture and the huge sex industry that seeks to control our lives. Sure, the NRA has some fault. The politicians might even have fault. The parents have major fault. Elliot Rodger bears the entire fault. But let us not let our sexualized culture off the hook. Not again. Let us all cry out,
“When will this insanity stop?!”
Elliot Rodger desperately needed help. He needed the Gospel.
James R. MacDonald 