"We have it in our power to begin the world over again." Thomas Paine
I don’t watch the news much, but it seems like every time I venture passing by a TV screen that’s showing the news, some heinous, violent crime is being reported on. The latest one, that of a young former grad student named James Holmes, who dutifully took it upon himself to hold a full-house theater venue playing The Dark Knight Rises captive at gunpoint, unloading shells into them that resulted in 12 people dead and 70 injured, the worst mass shooting in American history. It’s quickly becoming clear that this type of phenomenon is one that is exclusively American. Why, you may ask, because we here in this country glorify violence. We buy it on a daily basis by giving into and consuming it, and exult it by opening up and consuming the news with it. Yet they (the media) remind us that this is rare, and even have advise on how to speak to our children about it. The answer is there in front of our face: By glorifying and exulting violence, we promote the propagation of these mass murderers and serial killers. And to be sure, these occurrences may be rare, but the reporting on them is anything but.
Look around you. It’s not only television, it’s everything: music, video games, toys, and all types of other merchandise. Violence sells and people buy it. Little by little, the foundations of our society are beginning to erode. By nature, we simply aren’t this violent, and are quickly reaching a breaking point of excess. The moment is ripe to collectively bring it down a notch and declare a moratorium on violent-crime-news-reporting. You see, not until we as a society decide to stop participating in this violence orgy and turn off our television sets, will the major conglomerates that rule the airwaves get the message and stop broadcasting violence. Turn off your TV and they will turn off their cameras.
We are better than what see on TV. So why stoop down to that degrading lowness? Rise above it. Keep that quiet dignity that mutes the volume every time a violent crime is reported on, that looks away when someone is killed on TV. Keep it, and you’ll see how much better you’ll feel after not subjecting yourself to an onslaught of mindless violence.
We live in a world of reciprocal actions. If we support violence by consuming it, we’re creating a demand for it and multiplying the instances of it across all spectrums of life. That’s why it will take nothing short of a movement to quell this spell; it will take a worldwide gathering of enlightened minds concerned with spreading love, peace and prosperity. It will take a higher consciousness. We are at the summit. It’s only left to us to act.
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| James Holmes, charged in the Aurora Massacre, appears dazed and confused in court. Violent criminals like Holmes use violence as an outlet to release their frustrations, a uniquely American problem |
