New York City
In New York City, three young women were randomly punched in the face by men on Manhattan streets and subways in the span of a few days in September.“I wanted to talk about this because this situation really shook me up,” she said. “It was very traumatic, and it makes me very scared to be walking around New York alone, which is not something I’ve really been scared of.
“If you are a woman living in New York City, please protect yourself.”
Dallas
In Dallas, Texas, Martin Ramirez says his 19-year-old niece was shot and killed after opening her front door to a random stranger who was ringing the bell on Sept. 25. “Supposedly someone came up to the door and rang the doorbell,” Mr. Ramirez told CBS Texas. “And Savannah, my niece, answered the door. The gunman opened fire right directly, right at her.”Denver
Last month in Denver, Colorado, a rideshare driver was killed, and a security guard was severely injured in what law enforcement believes to be only the most recent random act of violence in the city.Earlier that week, a woman allegedly shot five innocent people after she wasn’t allowed into a club, according to police. Days earlier, in a separate incident, a man stabbed and killed another man on a bus before getting off and killing a woman nearby on the street, which police say were both unprovoked attacks.
“It’s frustrating and concerning because how do you prevent a crime like that as a police department? It’s a random act of violence,” Doug Schepman, spokesperson for the Denver Police Department, told CBS Colorado.
Sliding Backward
The surge in thefts, harassment, and violent crimes experienced in cities nationwide during much of 2020 and 2021 had been expected by many experts to be a temporary blip as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a reaction and aftermath to the death of George Floyd.However, more than a year after officials declared an end to the COVID-19 emergency and officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death were convicted and sentenced, lawlessness continues to persist at a high level.
Ian Church, an associate professor of philosophy at Hillsdale College, told The Epoch Times that the rise in random acts of violence could indicate that society may be moving backward and toward a pre-Enlightenment mindset.
“Humans naturally have a moral sense, but humans are also naturally tribalistic. Throughout most of our history as a species, we’ve prioritized members of our tribe over and against outsiders or the ‘other,’” said Mr. Church.
“The Enlightenment, however, allowed us to transcend our tribalistic impulses to deeply reflect on and appreciate our moral obligations to all people. Humans qua humans are worthy of basic decency. Humans qua humans should not be treated as mere means to our personal ends.
“My fear is that those Enlightenment values have deteriorated.”
Mr. Church said that the rise in random attacks across the country is “especially shocking and disturbing” and “a sign of complete callousness to our fellow man.”
“As much as it may seem senseless, there needs to be hope that people can come to a better understanding of what is causing a rise in these kinds of incidents, and only then can we begin to find a solution.”