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An Interesting Piece on an Economic Tragedy
By JLP | February 2, 2009
I read an interesting piece in this weekend’s Houston Chronicle about a guy who murdered his family and then took his own life. Apparantly he was depressed over the economy and his family’s finances. Very sad stuff.
I wanted to focus on this particular part of the article:
At the makeshift memorial in front of the Lupoe’s home, next to the candles and the pictures of Jesus, the stuffed bears and baby dolls, hangs an anonymous commentary: “Shame on Kaiser Permanente,” it begins, and it describes Lupoe’s act as “the ultimate sacrifice” for a family that wanted to say “enough is enough.”
But is it accurate, or even responsible, to suggest that anyone or anything other than the perpetrator is to blame for what is, in the end, a ghastly crime? To turn the act into a statement on society as a whole?
Louis Schlesinger, professor of forensic psychology at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
The people who commit them are “not angry; they’re despondent. They’re depressed. They can see no other alternative.”
And for those left behind, something like the economy can become an easy scapegoat, Schlesinger said, because it gives meaning to something otherwise incomprehensible.
“It is very, very unsettling to the average person, because many people think, ‘Could I lose control as well?’ ” he said. “If it came out that the guy was mentally ill, just released from the hospital and a drug addict, everybody would immediately calm down. But the fact that he seemed so normal with such a perfect family life, this is very unsettling to people.”
I would like to think that I would never consider such drastic measures. But, I have never been in such a dire position. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
I do like the last part of the article:
“We’ve got to re-create this country neighborhood by neighborhood, the way it used to be where neighbors really knew their neighbors and really looked out for their neighbors,” said City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents Wilmington.
“We’ve got to take care of each other,” she said.
I’m all for that as long as it doesn’t require another government program. I mean her comment almost sounds like a call for government action.
That said, think about it: how many of us really know our neighbors? I know most of my neighbors but I don’t REALLY know them. I mean we wave to each other and talk every once in a while but I don’t think that qualifies as really knowing them. Of course, my neighborhood is different. None of us seem to have financial troubles. Our part of the country has been somewhat insulated from the credit crisis. I’m thankful for that but I also realize that that could change.
Anyway, read the piece and tell me what you think.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
As with this personal tragedy, a personal perspective is everything. From my point of view, I get no “more government” alert. Rather, it reads to me as a call for personal, citizen-motivated involvement on a truly grassroots level. I look at my neighborhood and no, sadly, I only know very few of my neighbors and then only cursory basis; and I don’t want to get into the business of everyone on the block. But it wouldn’t hurt me (or them) to know a bit more about each other. I know that such involvement is why I can live 500 miles from my 74 year old mother without driving myself crazy with worry. Her friends and neighbors truly know her and her needs and they can take care of helping her meet them so that neither she or I have to relocate … for now.
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I’d say the man felt tremendous pressure to succeed and take care of his family, and he just could not do it by the rules of the system. Yes, I’d say shame on Kaiser Permanente and capitalistic society as a whole, but I’m not saying the man is not responsible for his actions. If one believes that success comes from following only one prescribed recipe, fails at that, and sees no individual alternate path, he can become despondent. As said, he saw no other alternative.
“I’m all for that as long as it doesn’t require another government program.”
Why? Is saving lives not that important, and those who can’t cope or succeed not worth considering? Survival of the fittest, meaning those who succeed through conformity?
I’m against wasteful government programs, and there are many. Basics before luxury, and sometimes luxuries are ridiculous. The problem is that management of funds in America seems to put luxuries before basics. Credit is not a basic, but the message is that we MUST all use it. We’re judged worthy or not by our numbers – meaning a credit score! The government and society teaches us this, and that bankruptcy is valid and nothing to be ashamed of – just a price we pay for failing at the game. But not *really* failing, because then we get a clean slate. Honestly, it is really a bunch of BS.
This story is very sad, but I don’t find it personally unsettling, as though I or anyone close to me could do such a thing.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
He and his wife were fired for forging documents to obtain low cost child care, so I wouldn’t blame the employer. His spending was out of control, he was heavily in debt, but worst of all his values were financial rather than human or spiritual.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Yes. We need to return to the scenario where kids are/were exposed to people/adults and how they make a living. Why can’t kids relate to school? They can’t relate to anything! All they see are abstract caricatures of reality on TV!
Read what John Taylor Gatto has to say about education and what it really means.
And yes, we need to get back to the neighborhood where everybody knows everybody else.
How many times do you want to hear about some mass murderer living among the rest of us normal hard working people who can only comment on the evening news “He was a quiet kind of guy – kept to himself mostly…”
People need to interact with other people.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
It is very sad that anyone in such a big an wealthy nation can loose the perspective so much as to kill his family and himself over financial issues… I want to believe there’s another explanation, not because I fear I might do something similar, but I fear for your nation – which for good or for bad is one of the most influential these days.
Can’t you see that the whole “crisis” thing is completely MEANINGLESS in the “big scheme” of things?
It’s meaningless in your lives – it will be over sooner or later, though you may have to give up some comfort for some time. Still there are millions of people in the world that would love to be in your situation. In fact, I am one (sort of).
It’s meaningless for humankind. Millions of people from Asian, African and South American countries live and have lived for decades in much worse conditions and going from one crisis to the next. As a South American living in Europe, I find it easier to live here in the middle of the crisis than in my country during one of the short-lived periods of prosperity. I came here with only my ability to work, and I’m doing even better now than when I came four years ago.
The US, as any other country in America (I mean the continent) is a nation of immigrants: When did you lose your guts? Do you think your ancestors would have made it without them?
How many riches did they bring from wherever they came? How important was their portfolio? How big where their houses and cars?
I feel sorry for that family, it’s sad, and I hope they rest in peace. But I also hope it is not a sign of a nation that has lost its spirit.
As I said, the crisis itself is meaningless to the world – but what YOU can do about it can be very meaningful. I’ve been to the US and I can say Americans in general seem to be nice people… and the world looks up to you. Show the world that it is NOT about WHAT you have, BUT WHO you are. Show the world that who you become overcoming obstacles towards your goals is more important than what you achieve.
It’s not like the rest of the world needs to see or live the “American dream” in a materialistic sense – there are no resources to support your way of life for everybody. Make them see that you can love your family, and struggle through your life, without regard for achieving some material benefit, but becoming better yourselves.
If you spend the time of your life becoming rich, the price you pay for your achievement is your life… You might be tempted to do it “for your children”. They might as well benefit from the gift of getting the chance to fight for what they want… Do you enjoy more receiving a gift, or achieving something through your own effort, intelligence and skills? Give them that chance. Use this crisis yo give yourselves that chance.
Don’t worry about the future. It’s in the present where we have to work.
PS. My apologies for such long-winded comment on a piece of news, I didn’t know where I was going. It’s just what those news made me feel I had to say. I wish I could tell more people. If you like this, feel free to forward it.