Author and commentator John Steppling says the latest shooting in the northwestern US state of Idaho reflects a deeper pattern of violence in the United States, arguing that such incidents have become so routine they “barely make the news.”
Steppling describes the US as a “hyper violent society” shaped by a long history of slavery, genocide, expansionism, and a cultural glorification of the gunfight — a mindset he believes now permeates politics, policing, and everyday life.
He points to police killings, ICE raids, and Israeli style counterinsurgency training as evidence that the state increasingly treats its own population as an enemy.