Podcaster Megyn Kelly slammed the family members of the suspected Highland Park shooter and said they need to “be a better parent” because “our society depends on you.”
During Wednesday’s Sirius XM “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast, the host spoke with Chicago-based columnist John Kass about the Independence Day tragedy. Kelly claimed that society is often hesitant to scrutinize mass shooters’ families, and maybe reversing that tendency would stop future massacres.
“Well, it got me thinking, maybe we’re putting, maybe we’re too reluctant to take a hard look at the families who produce these mass shooters,” the host said. “If your son is a sociopath, that’s one thing. You can’t therapize him out of it.”
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“But if your son is somebody who was, a well child in terms of his brain chemistry,” she added. “And got bullied or just didn’t fit in. And became reclusive and became obsessed with online sites like 4-Chan or whatever it is, and you, in this case, understood he was suicidal as recently as 2019.”
“And then you assist him in getting a firearm [as has been reported],” Kelly continued. “And the uncle, who I guess reportedly may have lived with them…He comes out and says ‘there were no signs’ that would make him. Bulls***! Be a better uncle. Be a better parent. Our society depends on you. Our free society can only do so much.”
The former Fox News anchor added that we as a society can “do more,” but “there are limits to our powers.” She noted how the family of the alleged shooter and needed to “pay attention.”
Kass replied that back in the day, when he was a young boy surrounded by Greek immigrants, there was a “feature” in this country called “shame.”
“Shame was the overriding cudgel when I grew up,” the columnist noted. “Shame was a real thing, and not only for Greeks but for everybody in this country. Like ‘what will the neighbors say’…I think that we’ve forgotten that.”
“That shame can inspire people to behave better and judgment is required,” he added.