By that time, the shocked nation had been counselled back into normality. These events have become ordinary. There is one common factor in the public response - these actions are the consequences of the derangement of a lone crazy, a pathological individual, a psychopath. Its guiltlessness is asserted by implication that the motives for such slayings are incomprehensible, unfathomable. The tireless insomniac media, which always have an answer for everything, are, on this one point, unequivocal.
Human wickedness is at the root of the evil.
The script is now word-perfect. Whenever some violent event erupts in the US, the chronology is identical. The shock is followed by flowers at the site of the deed, which is transformed into a temporary shrine, the comforting of the bereaved and injured, the assertion of solidarity, the lessons to be learned. In the end, American society becomes the hero of the tragedy, with its perpetual penitence, its never-again reflex, its openness to the cleansing effects of trauma, its avowals of solidarity, its ritualistic counselling which is a form of cancelling, as people come to terms with their grief. No Entry signs are posted on all avenues of exploration where some clue is most likely to be found.