A ton of stuff has been written about Sandy Hook. What's not being said is the real tragedy. As a people anhd a society, we have become desensitized to violence.
Case in point: September 11, 2001. I live in a neighborhood of about 140 homes. For three weeks following the attack, every house had a flag flying on it. After 2 months, it was half the houses. After 6 months, it was about 10% of the houses. Within days of the first anniversary, it was myself and about 3 others.
We forget. Only when the next wingnut strikes do we even acknowledge that the prior attacks even happened. We have the attention span of a housefly. Six months from now we will have moved on to the Crisis DuJour of June 11, 2013 at 10.26 AM.
We are also fascinated with violence. The most popular spectator sport is an incredibly boring game which is predicated on violence. Our most popular TV shows and movies revolve around the depiction of violence. We relish hearing about it when it doesn't happen to us.
When things like this happen, I am reminded of a quote from the character Mr. Spock on the old Star Trek series:
"You humans have glorified organized violence for 40 centuries - yet you imprison those who employ it privately."
We must stop the mindset that ANY violence is justified. Or we may actually destroy ourselves someday very soon.
Case in point: September 11, 2001. I live in a neighborhood of about 140 homes. For three weeks following the attack, every house had a flag flying on it. After 2 months, it was half the houses. After 6 months, it was about 10% of the houses. Within days of the first anniversary, it was myself and about 3 others.
We forget. Only when the next wingnut strikes do we even acknowledge that the prior attacks even happened. We have the attention span of a housefly. Six months from now we will have moved on to the Crisis DuJour of June 11, 2013 at 10.26 AM.
We are also fascinated with violence. The most popular spectator sport is an incredibly boring game which is predicated on violence. Our most popular TV shows and movies revolve around the depiction of violence. We relish hearing about it when it doesn't happen to us.
When things like this happen, I am reminded of a quote from the character Mr. Spock on the old Star Trek series:
"You humans have glorified organized violence for 40 centuries - yet you imprison those who employ it privately."
We must stop the mindset that ANY violence is justified. Or we may actually destroy ourselves someday very soon.