Two-thirds
of Americas are temporarily outraged about the shooting of children in Uvalde,
Texas. This will pass as our collective
memories are short.
This carnage,
especially of young people, is appalling on the surface; but it is who we are. Since the early Homo Sapiens picked up stones
and wiped out the Neanderthal, mankind has been killing everything that
breathes on this earth, including its own species.
The only thing
that ever limits the carnage is the availability of weapons and the sophistication
of the weaponry.
Wars,
genocide, ethnic cleansing, retribution, retaliation, revenge, execution, jealousy. We are
creative in our cruelty: stoning, strangling, burning at the stake, hanging,
beheading, crushing, spiking, starving, drowning, stabbing, shooting…. And these are performed by organized mobs, be
they government, ethnic or religious groups; but it takes individuals to carry
them out. And we carry them out.
We glorify
war and we glorify veterans. We seek out
video games and movies premised on violence.
Is it any wonder, with the unrestricted availability of military
weaponry to our population, that young, impressionable, disturbed individuals
commit mass murder?
We are not
as outraged as we pretend, or the government elected by the people would outlaw
access to military weapons of mass destruction, and government officials that
obstruct would be replaced.
The Ol’Buzzard
