MRMacrum (Lost in the Bozone) posted about the violence in American society today.
I have witnessed a cultural change over the last sixty years that has brought us to the dysfunctional chaos that is twenty-first century America.
I was raised in the south during the 1950 by my grandmother. I owned and hunted with a shotgun and a 22 rifle throughout my teen years. Every boy in my school owned guns and every man I knew owned guns and hunted. But, in that era the idea of shooting up a school, or public venue, or mass killing wasn't even imaginable. When some violent crime occurred it was immediately denounced and people were horrified.
Today gun violence, shootings and even mass shootings are so commonplace that we talk of them for a few days and then move on. We are a more violent society today then we were sixty years ago. We are a different society, a people and with different value, and the ready availability of military type weapons has unleashed a dark place in our psyche.
I don't glorify 'the old days' for there were many social injustices and the world as a whole was still fucked up; but we didn't live in fear of our neighbors.
Back then I thought the human race would become smarter into the future; but that doesn't seem to fit the trend.
the Ol'Buzzard
Where did we go wrong? If we could figure it out then maybe we could do something to fix it. I'm at a loss as to when and why.
ReplyDeleteNo discussion of violence in America is complete without bringing up video games. The brain washed youth don't associate guns with real life consequences. It's all a game to them.
ReplyDeleteWe've always been a violent society, but people used to deal with their grievances by beating the crap out of people or getting into knife fights. Now they seem to think the solution to everything and anything is to shoot somebody.
ReplyDeleteThe country ignored Ike's warnings about the military-industrial complex and its hunger for power, money, and lives. When most of the nation's investment is made in promoting and prolonging conflict abroad, how could we not expect it to eventually come home to roost?
ReplyDeleteSha-la-la-la-la-la live for today . . . .
Intelliwench is right.
ReplyDeleteI had that same misconception about things getting better in the future. I hope to be gone by the time the shit REALLY hits the fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what happened but there's been a major paradigm shift over the years since Vietnam. I recall it starting with burglaries in my home town, then the hippie thing, Vietnam marches, and major drug use amongst the middle class. From my perspective much of the violence seems to have stemmed from hard drug trade - gangs forming and moving throughout the country. It amazes me how commonplace heroin is on the streets of any town. Where does it come from? That's one thing but even worse is the way we treat people who are different from our selves. People who can't assimilate (or are not allowed to) move to the fringes and it is these marginalized people who are now rebelling against the way they are treated. And now it seems certain politicians are trying to play on this and are creating a kind of hysteria that perpetuates the problems of marginalized people. And it goes on with some people leaning toward hysteria and wanting to see a police state. I'm very afraid we will see this police state evolve and can only wonder if it all was/is orchestrated. It's so sad to see this happening and I truly do not understand the violence.
ReplyDeleteHi Buzz. I hope you are well.
Modern mobility is a factor.
ReplyDelete