As Americans, we crossed a threshold and entered a very dark place in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting. Twenty innocent children slaughtered, babies really (and not slaughtered by a Muslim). That was our moment to shine, and to institute common sense gun laws. We paused, and then chose to do nothing. We buried our collective soul along with those children.
Yes, the body count in Orlando was higher, but what of it? Is it about the numbers? If that is the case, then our personal pain over the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women, children, and women with child, would be unbearable, but we seem to be OK with it, wouldn't you say? I suspect that is because we were complicit in their murders and chose not to entertain feelings of the unimaginable.
Sorry, but vigils, holding candles and singing sad songs doesn't cut it for me anymore. I turned on the television the other day and channel surfed. Eighty percent of what I saw dealt with —and glorified — violence, from crime and horror shows to superheroes. Something for all ages. The violence of the top video games is horrific, from Battlefield: Hardline to Bloodborne to Hatred. The premise of Hatred? As described online: “Players act out the role of a sociopath who attempts to kill innocent bystanders and police officers with guns, flamethrowers, and bombs to satisfy his hatred of humanity. Blood and gore is rampant, as are characters begging for mercy before they're executed, frequently during profanity-laced rants.” Recommended viewing? 10-year-olds and up.
There are well over 300 million guns in our country. By the age of 8, the typical American child will have watched thousands of hours of violence on TV and video games at a time when his brain is being hard-wired. Boys in particular identify with fictional characters and emulate their behavior. And the only ones who can forget the violence of our favorite national sport are the ones who took too many direct hits to the head – which doesn't seem to slow ticket sales or ad revenue.
A-list actors come together and produce slick, professional videos in the aftermath of each mass shooting: Perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect lighting, perfect script, perfect performances, asking – with dramatic flair – when the violence will end. They then fly off and earn tens of millions of dollars per film glorifying violence and turning it into a blockbuster source of entertainment. We'll each pay $15 a ticket to watch the movie, with a bucket of popcorn in our laps, enjoying the super-sweet visual effects of bodies being dismembered, with each movie having to outdo its competitors in terms of "realism" and gore if it hopes to capture the audience’s attention – and share of box-office receipts. We are a nation satiated with violence. (Remember the cowboy movies of the 1950s and ‘60s? The victim is shot, then hits the dirt without a trace of the wound, or blood, to be seen. Very neat. But don't deceive yourself into believing today's "realism" is a more honest depiction. Real gunshot wounds to the chest will never be a source of entertainment.)
I am becoming either more cynical or more pragmatic. Looking at our culture, we lead such disjointed lives. We glorify, promote and profit from violence, while feigning surprise when life imitates art. And I strongly suspect that our culture of guns and violence is inextricably linked with our culture of domestic abuse and rape.
We need a more holistic view of life and not give in only to sentimentality. Yes we can mourn the dead, but make the deaths in Orlando count toward something. Or will they have died in vain like the children at Newtown? The most recent Senate vote rejecting all modifications to gun laws came as no surprise. Why should all the violence?