According to a new report by BBC, a Mississippi girl died after allegedly being shot by her brother over video games.
The report lays out the situation as currently known:
“They said the boy grabbed a gun on Saturday afternoon after his sister would not give up the controller. He allegedly shot her from behind, and the bullet entered her brain. A local sheriff announced on Sunday that the teen had died of her injuries in a Memphis hospital. It was unclear how the boy obtained the gun.”
According to the report, the mother was in the other room making lunch at the time of the incident.
Since the shooting in Parkland, Florida, increased attention has been paid to the conversation of gun violence in the country, and the president has previously blamed video games for gun violence in America.
Beyond video games; however, one issue often overlooked is male aggression, and the ways it permeates the consciousness of even the youngest members of society.
In his new book, sociologist Michael Kimmel talks about how male entitlement might explain phenomena like this.
“In his famous statement, Osama bin Laden talked about how the west had humiliated the Muslim world…that conservative Muslims have been humiliated by hyper-modern society and the cosmopolitan McDonaldization of the world. For them, restoring the seventh-century caliphate is their way of reinstating traditional masculinity.
I call this “aggrieved entitlement.” If you feel entitled and you have not gotten what you expected, that is a recipe for humiliation.”
The “aggrieved entitlement” Kimmel is referring to could be best described by a line from the report, stating:
“Sheriff Cecil Cantrell said the girl would not give up a video game controller when her brother wanted it.”
Part of solving the problem of gun violence in America will come with an answer about easy access to guns. But it will also come by having an answer to male aggression and entitlement.
Featured Image via YouTube Video.
