The newscast is alarming. A couple shoots three people in Arizona before dying violently themselves. A gunman shoots up a school in Oregon. Two little girls knife their classmate in Wisconsin. A little boy brings heroin to his elementary school in Philadelphia.
Two conclusions can be reached.
1. We live in an increasingly violent and dangerous nation.
2. In a nation of more than 300 million people and 3.79 million square miles, the news people needed to travel more than 3,000 miles to find four violent and dangerous acts.
One conclusion ramps up fear and the desire for a stronger police state. One conclusion concedes that people are generally peaceable and nearly always will not commit violence against one another.
Yes, murder and mayhem happen every day – SOMEWHERE within those 3.79 million square miles.
Millions of planes land safely every day. Scores of millions of people resolve their conflicts far short of harming or killing one another. The reason the violence is news is because it is so rare, so unusual.
But don't mention that fact to the demagogues building your cage.
What you're overlooking is that it's not rare enough. Much of the "rare" violence is easily preventable.
ReplyDelete"Easily preventable" how? By disarming the populace? That's the usual suggestion.
ReplyDelete