Yesterday’s Florida shooting is only the latest of 18 school shootings since the beginning of 2018, which means that now there’s a school shooting in America every 60 hours.
When former New York police chief says, “this reality is the new normal,” and “will just continue to occur,” America should recognize its problem is much greater than gun control laws – it’s about how it has become a culture that is desensitized to obscene levels of violence.
Declaring such school shootings as acts of “pure evil,” as Florida Governor Rick Scott just did, amounts to ignoring any cultural conditions that create them.
Take a look at the trend: The Columbine massacre was carried out by an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old, Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old, Sandy Hook by a 20-year-old, and now in Florida, another 19-year-old. And these are only the big names etched into America’s collective memory. Between them there were more than 200 other school shootings, most of which follow the same pattern, with a young adult becoming a murderer.
By the time they are 18, American kids watch 200,000 acts of violence, 16,000 of which are murders, and that’s just on TV. Now add to that what they see when they go to the movies, wander the net, and the violent video games they play. When you consider the impact of the above on a developing mind, who might also be struggling with difficult life circumstances, is it really so surprising that horrific violent scenes are playing out in real life?
When people feel like their life is not necessarily worth living, their senseless acts reflect the worst their culture has taught them.
The way towards a less violent in America goes beyond laws and regulations. America must read the writing on the wall and initiate a massive socio-educational endeavor to infuse its culture with new examples, norms and values.
Posted on Facebook February 15, 2018