tyme2climb
Plinker
I posted this on FB a while back-thought I would post it here for some honest feedback:
I would like to weigh in on the current firearms debate-not the legislation or politics but the fundamental issue which seems to be forgotten: our children and young adults are dying at the hands of their peers. We accept this fact when we send young, healthy men into combat to kill another nation's young, healthy men. The media paints an unrealistic picture of war. Sanitized and digitized, the "fighting" is always seen from afar, detached from our immediate reality. Out of self preservation (and self interest perhaps), we do not own the truth; that just beyond the digital horizon created for us limbs are being severed by shrapnel, screams and wailing cries of loss fill the air as mothers and fathers cradle dead children.
When an incident like the school shooting at Sandy Hook occurs, we are reminded of the ugliness of human violence and our blinders are temporarily removed-we become reconnected to humanity in a vey real and painful way that we are unequipped to process. We genuinely mourn and empathize, yet we ask questions and seek answers that lead us away from the teachable moment of this crisis by preferring our old comfortable misery to an awkening. Bottom line-American culture glorifies and monetizes violence. Ultra-realistic video game play essentialy "trains" youth in hunting and killing-skills which were once taught father to son, in the woods, for the purposes of undestanding where our food comes from and illustrating the fragile nature of life and the consequence of the decision to pull the trigger-now replaced by gratuitous and endless on-screen violence toward our fellow man with no consequences, no guilt, no tactile feedback, no anchor in reality. We live what I call "reality life". We model our very existence after the unconvincing, imposible scenarios of television programs, fashion magazines, religious and cultural dogma, popular music culture, etc. and sever our connection with nature and reality in the process. The disconnect is so real and so confusing, that occasionally a young man feels it is necessary to execute several young children. But somehow, we don't allow that we helped to create an environment where love of nature and sanctity of life are so far removed from our understanding that we focus on banning guns instead of addressing the underlying issues, attitudes and practices that contribute to our recent problems with mass violence.
I would like to weigh in on the current firearms debate-not the legislation or politics but the fundamental issue which seems to be forgotten: our children and young adults are dying at the hands of their peers. We accept this fact when we send young, healthy men into combat to kill another nation's young, healthy men. The media paints an unrealistic picture of war. Sanitized and digitized, the "fighting" is always seen from afar, detached from our immediate reality. Out of self preservation (and self interest perhaps), we do not own the truth; that just beyond the digital horizon created for us limbs are being severed by shrapnel, screams and wailing cries of loss fill the air as mothers and fathers cradle dead children.
When an incident like the school shooting at Sandy Hook occurs, we are reminded of the ugliness of human violence and our blinders are temporarily removed-we become reconnected to humanity in a vey real and painful way that we are unequipped to process. We genuinely mourn and empathize, yet we ask questions and seek answers that lead us away from the teachable moment of this crisis by preferring our old comfortable misery to an awkening. Bottom line-American culture glorifies and monetizes violence. Ultra-realistic video game play essentialy "trains" youth in hunting and killing-skills which were once taught father to son, in the woods, for the purposes of undestanding where our food comes from and illustrating the fragile nature of life and the consequence of the decision to pull the trigger-now replaced by gratuitous and endless on-screen violence toward our fellow man with no consequences, no guilt, no tactile feedback, no anchor in reality. We live what I call "reality life". We model our very existence after the unconvincing, imposible scenarios of television programs, fashion magazines, religious and cultural dogma, popular music culture, etc. and sever our connection with nature and reality in the process. The disconnect is so real and so confusing, that occasionally a young man feels it is necessary to execute several young children. But somehow, we don't allow that we helped to create an environment where love of nature and sanctity of life are so far removed from our understanding that we focus on banning guns instead of addressing the underlying issues, attitudes and practices that contribute to our recent problems with mass violence.
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on that topic.
