Frank Shamrock: “Kids Have Gotten So Disconnected. They Don’t Feel Anymore”
By Joshua Molina
MMA legend Frank Shamrock was a socially awkward kid who was abused physically and emotionally before bouncing around foster homes.
He was the goofy kid who people made fun of. So not only is he saddened by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he also brings a unique perspective as a one-time troubled kid, and now a successful husband and father of a 4-year-old girl.
“I think it’s terrible for humanity, terrible for humanity to go through,” Shamrock told Full Contact Fighter. “When we start killing our children we have a big problem.”
Shamrock, the first UFC middleweight champion in history as well as the first-ever Strikeforce middleweight champion, a man who helped build UFC in the pre-Zuffa era, turned his life around when he found martial arts and the community that comes along with it.
While he, like everyone else, can’t understand or explain why 20-year-old Adam Lanza would kill 26 people, Shamrock said he has seen an overall erosion of civilty and human respect for one another.
“Our society is getting so disconnected from each other,” Shamrock said. “We are getting so violent through social media. Social media creates these synthesized relationships that are not real, yet give people incredible power.”
Shamrock said too many people are numb to how their actions affect others. Lanza destroyed his computers before his shooting spree, but was reportedly skilled with computers and socially awkard in person.
“Kids have gotten so disconnected,” Shamrock said. “They don’t feel anymore. Through social media we can put down the neighbor three houses away and not face any retribution.”
When kids don’t feel, Shamrock said, their soul becomes drained and they say “Screw it!”
Shamrock said the traditional media continues to glorify bad behavior.
“When someone drops the F-Bomb the media likes this,” Shamrock said.
Shamrock said young people should find something that gives them a reason to believe in themselves. For him it was martial arts.
“It gave me a community, a dream, a vision, a life plan, instead of getting drunk and stealing cars,” Shamrock said.
Shamrock urged parents to be better role models for their children, and reach out and form real relationships with their children and the people in their children’s lives.
“Be a part of your school, be a part of your family,” Shamrock said. “That’s what it is all about.”