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That sounds really noble doesn't it?
Well, my motives have not been entirely selfless. If I'm totally honest, my abstention from the political discussion has had a lot to do with my own confusion. Like many, I believe something needs to be done, but, also like many, I have no idea what. The issues being raised are overwhelmingly complicated. These are heavy topics accompanied by a variety of passionate opinions. Understandably, the strong emotional attachments bring about loud and overly simplified statements, from both sides, about how things should be.
Each day I read a mixture of clearly supported and valid arguments from every perspective. Additionally, I am bombarded with rants and raves from people who haven't really thought it all the way through or given themselves enough emotional distance to sort facts from beliefs. Evocative information, plaintive pleas, and ignorant platitudes have been swirling both inside and outside my head at an increasing rate for a week now. Frankly, I have been too confused to make sense of it all.
So, I haven't gotten involved. I have avoided entrance into the political debate out of respect for those who are hurting and out of uncertainty about my own beliefs. However, today something changed.
I found myself sitting at my internship, a counseling office for survivors of violence, combing a research database for articles about handguns and the glorification of violence in the media. I pursued the articles for information relevant to my work, when suddenly I became overwhelmed once more. Recognizing my own need to separate and decompress, I took my lunch break. Slowly munching on a pathetic microwavable meal and browsing social media sites, I came across yet another article about weaponry, violence in the media, and mental health. The article, detailing a mass shooting victim's resistance to gun control regulations, offered some relevant perspective, but once again left me with the same reaction. Confusion.
I took another bite of an overly chewy pot-sticker, sighed to myself, and thought "it's just not that simple."
And that's how I found my political stance in this heated debate. It's just not that simple. I wish it were.
I know that right now things seem truly awful. In fact, these are tragic times, but I'm not convinced that this is unique to our generation. Furthermore, I'm not convinced that one almighty resolution will eradicate this plague of inter-person violence that has afflicted us since the beginning of time.
As a people, we have been fascinated by violence from the get go. Media has always reflected that. Our earliest tales are dark and gruesome portrayals of violent behavior. Weapons today are more intense then ever before, but grotesque person on person crime and mass murders predate long-range weaponry by far.
I'm not saying that we should ignore the issue. Clearly something needs to be done, but I'm not sure hyper-focusing on one or two political hat hooks is really going to change human nature. At least not over night.
You are, of course, correct; no single hat hook or magic bullet is going to solve a deep societal ill (fascination with and glorification of violence) compounded by ease of access to incredibly powerful weapons. By now we should all be well aware that banning a thing or practice that is deep-seated and/or well established does not make it go away. We also know, barring a radical change in direction by the Supreme Court, that legally the right to have and possess firearms is an individual and personal right encoded in our Constitution. An awful long time ago, the Book of Isaiah predicted that people would attempt to gain access into the house (or mountain) of the Lord by championing peace (beating swords into plow shares and spears into pruning hooks) … but that prophesy has yet to be fulfilled, let alone followed.
ReplyDeleteI do not think there is a thing we can do to prevent a truly disturbed and determined individual from wreaking havoc on innocent people if he or she is truly inclined (isn't it interesting, however, that the number of "she's" who commit mass murder is comparatively quite small) … but we CAN take practical steps to make it harder for them to do so. We have to do it together, which means that everyone has to take part in the discussion. People do not have to actually raise their hand or their voice (though the more opinions we hear, the more options we will have … conversely, the more stupid ideas we hear the easier will it be to separate the cream from the rest), but we ALL must listen and hear what is discussed; preferably with an open mind.
We owe that much to the well being of our society