Yeah, It's So Hard To Imagine

It's been a while since I've written out a rant. A good long while. That's not to say I didn't start a few; but, then they would get talked out instead of written out, and in the post-rant coma, the moment passed without publication. I know; how sad.

 

But today's school shooting tragedy in Connecticut and the resulting media attention and FaceBook activity got me going on my first written rant in quite a while, which I am posting and slightly expanding here as well. Before the ranting commences, however, I send thoughts and prayers out to all the poor souls affected by today's absolutely horrible events. My heart breaks for all those children, teachers, parents and families, and the community at large. There are no possible words of consolation; prayers are all that can be offered for those who suffer.

Now for the rant.

As we struggle to make sense of another senseless tragedy, I see that, once again, there are many calls for stronger gun control laws, including some calls to repeal the Second Amendment. "Our Founding Fathers only had single shot guns; they never would have approved of public gun ownership if they had the sorts of firearms available today...", and so on. Something I think is missing in this blossoming discussion is that our Founding Fathers would also not have approved of the levels of violence that are considered not only commonplace in our "modern" US society, but are aggressively promoted by popular media and the entertainment industries as being "fun". The systemic violence and horror in our current culture are at levels that would make our Founding Fathers puke.

So many people are wondering out loud "How someone could think of doing such a thing??" Well, ponder on this. Consider that shooting, killing, and generally blowing and cutting people into bloody bitlets to splatter across the screen in HD is considered "fun", "interesting", and is "stress relief" for children from 9 to 90. I can't tell you how many times I have heard from those near and dear to me the rationalizations.... "Oh, it's just a game", or "They are just actors", "I like to watch it for the characters", and one of my personal favorites: "It is an adrenaline rush and/or it lets me blow off some steam".

Gee, really?? Killing people, or watching others torture and kill people, is somehow relaxing and invigorating?? A great way to get in some "family time"? How about date night with your beloved? Yeah, eat your popcorn and drink your carbonated malted battery acid while those "actors" are tortured, mutilated, killed. Am I the only one who sees something wrong here??

Throw into this mix our fascination with and glorification of war. We laud our amazing killing capabilities and machines and all the "games" that go along with that, and we pat ourselves on the back for our patriotism and ingenuity. Any time you have a child who plays with soldiers and fighters and makes those bombing, shooting, blowing up noises to go along with it (and by the way, I have one of my own, right here with me now, with whom I have to have this discussion from time to time), you have a child who is learning that war is somehow "fun". By playing at war, that child is learning to dissociate from the pain and horror that is not just a part of war - it IS war. War is horrific under ANY circumstances, and it should be regarded and treated as such.

Incidentally, before someone flames me because they think I am just down on soldiers, let me be clear: service to one's country is EXTREMELY honorable. I just choose to further my respect for the lives and well-being of those who put themselves in harm's way for a righteous cause (itself subject to debate, but not at the moment) by NOT thinking of war as something that should ever be considered something to do for amusement.

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ENTERTAINING WHATSOEVER about killing under any circumstances. Period.

I'm looking in your directions, "Grand Theft Auto", or "Sons of Anarchy", any of the "Saw" movies, and all of the rest of a disgusting parade of "action" or "horror" movies and games - all masquerading in the guise of "entertainment". My list of revolting games and shows foisted off as "entertainment" isn't limited to those I have named; those are just some of the ones that I have the misfortune of being able to call by name.

So, if you are one of those who is wondering "How could someone have done such a horrific thing?", consider that perhaps, just maybe, if violence is ubiquitous and glorified in a society, and is used as "stress relief" or "relaxation"-- well, this might at least be HOW "someone could have thought of doing such a thing". Garbage in = garbage out, folks.

If it turns out that it is an innate quality failing of Homo "sapiens" that we can find any enjoyment in even "just" the imagery of pain, suffering, and violent death, then, yeah, I guess we don't deserve to have guns. Or explosives of any kind, or pointy sticks, or rocks, for that matter. If, however, we can actually be HUMAN and not think of killing as any kind of play or amusement, then we can have all the firepower and blowy-uppy things that we want. Maybe we would want a lot less of them. What kind of society do you want to support? Just something to perhaps think about when you choose a toy, game, movie, ....

Again, it's all heartbreaking, in every way. For all of those who are the victims of violence, everywhere, may comfort and blessings come to you.