The Seed of Violence in American Culture

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

-Bill of Rights, American Constitution

It is impossible to work for peace, while preparing for war.

-Albert Einstein

One after another, the shootings have come. Though it was not the first of its kind, the Columbine, Colorado massacre shocked the American public, both for its level of cold brutality, as well as for the young age of the assailants. Though marked as a critical example of senseless violence, Columbine was not the end of these seemingly random shooting. Gun violence continues.

In April of this year, a seemingly normal student at Virginia State opened fire on campus, killing 32 of his classmates and wounding many more. For weeks afterward, the nightly news was dominated with coverage of this terrible event. People sought a theory or answer to explain the gunman’s unpredictable rampage.

As is often the case, time passed and people stopped talking. In such a tragic situation, perhaps the victim’s families just wanted to move on, quietly picking up the pieces of their shattered lives, or perhaps the answers we sought were not forthcoming. It may be true that when such chaos strikes, many of us just want to go on with our lives, to simply pretend that the insanity did not happen. That the world in which we live is not really crazy.

Now however, recent events have demonstrated that there is truly an epidemic in this country. We have a big problem. Last week, an off-duty Wisconsin police officer shot and killed 7 people, after having an argument with his girlfriend. The dead included several young children. Not long after, there was another mass shooting, this one in Ohio, the assailant was only 14.

The question begs, “why?” What can cause us to become so enraged that we would seek revenge, not just against the people or person that ‘wronged’ us, but so many innocents as well? As a people, we have come along way from ‘turn the other cheek’ to the now endless stories of massacre after massacre.

In the twentieth century, the level of violence inherent in American culture has steadily increased. Gun ownership among private citizens is popular in America than any other country. Not just the utilitarian hunting rifles of the first pioneers, but ever more hand guns and military style assault rifles, whose purpose is not hunting animals for sustenance, but the killing of another human. Why are we so fascinated and enthralled with guns and the ability to kill?

Guns are the proverbial double-edged sword. They can protect us from an aggressor with a less lethal weapon, or even another gun, but they also allow untrained, undisciplined or unstable among us to kill easily. Not just to kill one person, but to kill in volume. Hence the prominence of these recent massacres.

Though both my grandfathers fought in WWII, one in ultra-dangerous PT boats in the Mediterranean, and the other on the front lines, planning with the Corps of Engineers, since leaving the military, neither has ever owned a gun. Perhaps life is not respected in the ways it once was.

It may be time to re-evaluate more than guns. As gun enthusiasts will always say – it is not guns that kill people, it is people who kill people. Where then does so much violence inherited in our society come from?

It may be brushed off by more conservative elements in American society, but the prevalence of violence in media and culture cannot be ignored. Growing up with a TV in my bedroom, I watched every sort of program imaginable, with almost no parental oversight. I saw thousands of murders on TV before I was 16. I watched as cartoons and video games became ever more realistic and violent. When I was young we had Super Mario Brothers and Frogger. Today, some video games are so realistic that the United States Marines uses them to train soldiers. The Columbine killers learned to shoot in this way. How can we not believe these images of violence find their way into the minds of our innocent and impressionable children? Don’t we have a responsibility to them?

While we pay such close attention to these news stories flashing across our TV and computer screens, it easy to miss the violence within oneself. Lately, I have been looking to see the true level of fighting and anger that I harbor in myself. Though I have, as of yet, never gotten into a fist-fight on the street, I often find myself screaming at the crazy cab drivers who run amok on New York’s streets. They deserve it, I think to myself. But the anger is strong, it becomes hate.

The truth is ugly; the seed of violence is deep within me.

The one that is really hurt, however is me. By getting angry, I am the one that is shaken, unsteady and unfocused. I know this anger is the first step down the dark path. I'm different from the Wisconsin police officer only in the degree of violence, not the essence of it.

The question of the new Millennium remains, what can we do to promote peace and harmony? In ourselves, our country and on this earth that so patiently tolerates the insanity of mankind. If we can make a turn away from this terrible course of violence and revenge,a harmonious world awaits.