A good friend went down south to hunt oryx this weekend. He'd stopped by to have me check on his house and let the cat back in whenever it was done wandering. I jokingly told him to watch himself while shooting the animals, because there are people going crazy out there.

A week or so ago, a hunting party turned into the hunted. Someone decided going after deer wasn't sport enough, so he turned on his fellow man (and hunters).

The man says he was provoked.

However, the results of the rampage speak to something different. Six dead and two wounded. The assailant has no injuries. Even if the guy was provoked, his unilateral justice seems a little harsh.

It reminds me of a scene in Young Guns when the guys at the dinner table ask Billy the Kid why he shot and killed someone.

"He was hackin' on me," Billy says with a grin. Y'see, Billy was provoked.

At about the same time as the Wisconsin Hunting Massacre of 2004, there was another man who was attacking because someone was hackin' on him.

At the end of an NBA game, an Indiana Pacer committed a hard foul against a Detroit Piston. It was an unnecessary foul (aren't they all?), and the Piston pushed the Pacer back. Then the crowd got into it. Drinks flew, chairs sailed and the basketball players jumped into the stands to seek quick justice.

No one was killed. But the Pacers are without a few starters for most, if not all, of the season.

People are losin' it.

Maybe that's a harsh judgment considering these are two isolated incidents. Around the country at the same time these events occurred, most people were able to keep their wits about them and didn't hurt or kill their fellow man.

Freak things happen all the time. Earlier this year a man tried to run across an Interstate here in Albuquerque at dawn. He was hit by about 20 cars, and there was so little left of him to identify, the police told people to report any missing family or friend to try to figure out who this person was.

Kurt Vonnegut specialized in stories about people who lose it. Often in his novels, everything turns on someone who loses their senses. And it is this insanity which turns the plot.

You can't predict or protect against these events. People go crazy. And we have so many people in this country, the chances of this happening are bigger than we like to think.

What good is Homeland Security when it's our own cancer we're talking about?

So are these recent extremities of human behavior a trend? Are we all losing our minds a bit, getting that much closer to snapping? Did the election really cause such a schism that everyone on both sides are starting to think government doesn't work. Matters must be taken into our own hands. The fix is will happen one person at a time. Are we all maneuvering ourselves into a situation where losing it is the only choice?

I saw four preachers talk about moral values this morning. As one brought up things like poverty, war and health care as being "moral" issues, another preacher interrupted immediately and shouted "gay marriage!" Because, y'know, people starving, dying, being killed in the name of our nation and not being given adequate health care is really secondary when put up against a couple of guys having a long term (sexual!) relationship with each other.

Maybe we've already lost it. Maybe the election was the first salvo in the next civil war. I asked a friend the other day if it was truly time for me to buy that shotgun. Buying the shotgun, y'see, is the sign I've given up on the goodwill of man. I must protect myself from this goodwill.

I haven't bought the gun. I haven't beat up the guy in the wheelchair who rails against Planned Parenthood every other day of the week. I haven't smeared goat's blood on churches, spelling out "war is a moral issue, too!"

I haven't done any of these things yet.

I've heard reports of a new trend in getting lucky: Show a profound sense of loss and disillusionment because of the election. The girls are losing it for the guys who voted for the loser.

So it's not all bad.

Matt Worley lost it this weekend, but he's back safe and sound. And he didn't hurt anyone.