The Larger National Tragedy

So here we are again. Another national tragedy. I hate to say it but I am not surprised. I am saddened but not surprised. I also feel almost prophetic. When I posted two weeks ago on my other blog about Bowling for Columbine, I hesitated to put it up there because the film wasn't actually released until October, but the feeling I had from watching it was so strong.

The movie made such an incredible point about how needlessly bloodthirsty Americans are. The media began talking about the influence of the movie and the character on the 24 year old man who committed this atrocity, James Holmes, almost as soon as it happened. But Michael Moore's film showed that people everywhere watch these movies and almost nowhere else does this kind of aberration occur. The United States is head and shoulders above other countries in the incidence of gun violence.

The gun nuts are already invoking their Second Amendment rights. The New York Times quoted a spokesman for a Colorado gun club as saying that if more people had guns in that theater then less people would be dead. All I can say to that is, I can only imagine the sense of chaos the people in that theater felt. How would it have lessened the chaos to have bullets flying in more than one direction? And would a concerned citizen with a gun have been able to avoid hitting innocent bystanders in a situation like that?

I went to the NRA website last night and today and they had no official statement. I wonder what they would say to the victims? What would they say about the incredible arsenal this young man had accumulated and the amount of ammunition he had? What would they say about his booby trapped apartment that is taking days to disarm?

I would like to say that the time has come for change. I would like to say that we have reached the tipping point and that Americans will finally open their eyes. But it won't happen.

Look what we have become. Our standard of living has fallen. We have lost the battle with global warming. Wall Street has effectively decimated middle class prosperity and anti-intellectualism has flourished to the point that we don't even have the common sense to control the sale of lethal weapons. Ego has completely overtaken enlightenment. We have a dysfunctional, apathetic society and the government we depend upon to defend us operates against our better interests. That is the larger national tragedy. The government depends on our short memories so it can remain incompetent and profit form legislative gridlock.

There is a song from Bob Dylan called Masters of War. One of the lines says, “You've thrown the worst fear that could ever be hurled, the fear to bring children into the world.” For the first time I agree with him. We simply don't want to learn. The only way we have any bliss is by remaining ignorant. Bob Dylan has another song, in my opinion his best, called “Its a Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall.” The storm is coming and your umbrella won't save you.

The only path to salvation is to completely re-examine our core beliefs and make a fundamental change in the philosophy we live by. I am not holding my breath.