The Snake

Why do gun purchases spike after mass shootings? - CNN.com:

"the world seems to suddenly be a more violent and disturbing place than people thought," said public health expert David Studdert, a professor of law and medicine at Stanford University.

Here's a thought:  the world has always been a "violent and disturbing place", even in our fantasy literature.

Here's another thought:    We are potentially importing violence. We are making ourselves more vulnerable, but in our naivete' we refuse to protect our core values.

 Peter Pan, Eliot Ness and Superman

We have iconic "defenders" in our culture,  We like to think that, when the going gets tough, someone will magically appear from the background to defend us.

The rest of us don't have super powers, we're not bullet-proof, We don't have a pixie sidekick.

But we still have pirates, REAL Pirates. Even "Land Pirates".   They use guns, and violent intimidation of their victims is their stock in trade.   The potential for violence has been firmly grounded in our American culture since the Revolution of 1776.

Who you gonna call?  Ghostbusters?
They don't exist.

Are you going to call the police?
They have no legal obligation to protect you against violence.  It's in the book; look it up.

When people are newly awakened (again!) to the fact that Bad People Exist, and they live on your block, people tend to look around for someone to protect them; and they find ... nobody home.

Eventually some folks realize that the person responsible for your own personal protection is...
... yourself.

People are beginning to arm themselves, to learn the techniques of self-defense, and to carry a gun.  Because there's nobody out there to rescue you.  There's only yourself.

 Nobody else.


ON A NATIONAL SCALE:

Now the main-stream media have roused themselves just enough to bemoan the "fact" that the world is becoming a more dangerous place.   They haven't figured out that it has always been dangerous, and is becoming more violent .... because of liberals!

In this "Kinder, Gentler" World, we accept into our community people from a much more violent culture; from countries where racial, religious and economic paradigms are much different from our "kinder, gentler" society.   (Although, in many ways, Americans are neither "kinder", not "Gentler".)

We expect immigrants to immediately understand that the societal "norms" are different in their new home.

But they don't assimilate; they bring their hatreds and their violence with them.

Germany is learning that lesson today, because in their Gestalt of Guilt the Germans offer themselves as sacrificial lambs; and they are confused when their new neighbors not only refuse to accept their Angst, but take advantage of the naivete they find in their new home.  They accept the sanctuary, but they do not accept the culture:

Sexual violence in Germany has reached epidemic proportions since Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed into the country more than one million mostly male migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.(link above)

Obviously, the new citizens in Germany are not willingly "assimilating".   And why should they?.

Their new hosts are being nice, they are welcoming their 'new neighbors' with open arms.  The German People provide refuge, sustenance, comfort and acceptance to these people who so need a new home.


Bah!

They/we could learn from Al Wilson:






Americans, as a general rule, are not intrinsically a 'violent' people.   We have violence, in proportion to the people who find themselves "not privileged".  Young people who can't find work tend to gravitate to "other" sources of income .. often, those "sources" are remunerative because they are illegal ... and too often, violent.

CNN seems to think that violence stems from violence.

That ain't necessarily so.

Too often it stems from desperation.  Or need.  Or just because it's a helluva lot easier to take from others, than to earn from a job that ... isn't available to a young, untrained and marginalized "outsider".

We don't need CNN to tell us about the symptoms; we need CNN and everyone else to work on the root cause of violence:

Hunger.   Disaffiliation.  Anger.

America needs more entry level jobs, more job training.

More opportunities.

And more ways to reach the young, disaffected people who never had anyone tell them that there's a better way to make a life than mugging tourists during Mardi Gras.