Random violence in the US

Let's talk about something real today: random acts of violence in the United States.

I'll site a few recent example of this phenomena in America, and then we can ponder the question -- what is going wrong?

1. The shooting at Northern Illinois University last week.
2. The decimation of half a dozen people inside a strip mall store near Chicago a couple weeks ago (ok, at least there was a discernible motive here -- as grim as it may be).
3. Evidence that a man planned to gun down fans outside the Superbowl -- because of a some person gripe -- and (fortunately for those blissfully ignorant souls) decided against it at the last minute.
4. A man who gunned down various officials at a city council meeting (in NV or CA -- I can't remember) recently because of outrage over taxes or something like that.

Remember, this is just a SAMPLE, from the last month!

I recall that the entire nation went (rightfully) bonkers over the trauma of the 9/11 attacks, and and sent an army to another country to 'rectify' matters. I don't see a real difference between those attacks and someone walking into a classroom of unarmed students during a geology lesson with a shotgun and blasting away -- except nobody's deploying troops now or really doing anything tangible at all.


I believe there are two main causes of homemade horror:

A. Weak gun laws in the US.
B. Violence embedded within the fabric of our culture.

A. The laws regulating gun control in the US are a f' joke. The illusion of their necessity seems to be perpetuated by people who think having a right to bear a killing machine triumphs the consequences of this right -- everyone getting killed by them. Some claim they need guns for self-protection, but if the other guy didn't have 'em there's nothing to protect yourself from! And -- while I'm at it -- no foreign power (e.g., the British -- I believe this is the reason we have this right in the first place) is going to assault our borders anytime soon. I don't know if you've been following recent current events but we're the number one superpower! If a handful of terrorists do, in fact, reek havoc inside our borders, our national armed forces should be sufficient in dealing with it (isn't that what they're there for?). Ok -- you want hunting rights. Fine! Just prove that you will use your weapon specifically for that purpose, and don't 'hunt' with automatic weapons and handguns!

B. Video games, movies, television, a self-centered ethos. Take a look at popular video games or channel surf for 15 seconds on tv, and surely you will witness a slew of physical, verbal (e.g., insults), or mental (e.g., theft) acts of violence. A culture that values personal, material success above all prizes other people little.

I'm no moral paragon - no one is. But the fact that we have multiple terrorist-like disasters in our own backyard every week, and no one seems to bat an eye about it, sends shivers down the spine of the heart.