Crime

By the time you finish reading my thoughts, here, a violent crime has occurred somewhere or reporting about it is being sold to the media. Unless it happened to you, before the internet you didn’t read or hear about it as often, and we weren’t able to tally up the events as fast. Humanity has changed. We used to read about all of the evils that men do from the Department of Justice Uniform Crime Report once a year (if it was prepared) for statistics. Now all you have to do is set your browser to pull up all the mayhem daily. As a people we have a morbid fascination with crime. Look at what we watch on television.

As a result, there is money to be made in carrying stories that scare us. Our society is violence loving. Our children dulled by it, accepting of it and apathetic. Our morals overall are dying. We care more for our pets than our children. We care more about our appearances and food than we do our overall good. Common sense is not as common as it used to be. We believe most of what is printed or endorsed by celebrities no matter how dumb it is. We want instant results, faster food and less wait time on everything. We love to adopt a hopeless solution if it sounds good. This is evident in the prevalence of “Gun Violence” articles.

People kill with vehicles, garden tools, kitchen utensils and everything possible but it doesn’t evoke the same response as the word “gun”. We don’t appreciate life as much as we should. Nor do we think much of ourselves and how ignorant we sound when we parrot incorrect statistics, sound bytes or get enraged by the skillful manipulation of video or words. We have become weaker, easy to extort, and even easier to control.

Analytically, the term “gun violence” really means guns are perpetrating violence on other guns. You have to admit the term sounds good though. It is a successfully used emotional hot button for anyone who is or has been a victim. It also sounds good to anyone trying to persuade you into buying something. But we don’t want to deal with reality. We have a problem with respect of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have a problem with equality and justice. We have a problem with education and communication.

Some version of a gun has been around since the Chinese invented gunpowder. Can you see how far we have come? Crime happens now because we have changed. Few of us have noticed. I can get elected, increase my ratings; make money on your response to fear and loss all in the name of gun violence. The emperor has no clothes. Who do you want to blame for that?