This isn’t an easy subject to approach so I’ll just come right out and say it, mass shootings. There, it’s on the screen. Before you make a decision to close your browser, I’d like to point out the title of this post. I’m not here to reveal the magic cure-all that will end mass shootings tomorrow. If I were a powerful Wizard, I would wave my wand and stop them all forever. Since I’m not a Wizard, it’s up to all of us to work towards creative changes in our society that could stop mass shootings. Please note the emphasis on the idealistic word could. I’m a dreamer and I imagine changes that could make a difference. So, I’ll type some of my opinions here and I hope that you’ll remember they are opinions before anyone goes off the deep end telling me how wrong I am. Here goes… the 5 difficult steps to change the culture around mass shootings.
Difficult Step #1: Change the media response to the event. Here’s an anecdote involving Roger Ebert. “The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about ‘Basketball Diaries’?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.
The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. “Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”
In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.”
Every time I hear about another mass shooting at a school or some other easily accessible place, I begin to hope that they won’t show the attacker’s face. Without fail, they show some goddamned smiling mug on the screen as if to suggest that he was such a nice guy or what went wrong, society. I agree with Mr. Ebert’s sentiment about making posthumously popular sensations. What if all media outlets told the story without telling the perpetrators name, age, race*, or posting photos? [*-Please stop telling us that a person was “Middle Eastern-looking” and put an end to broadcast news racial profiling.]
Difficult Step #2: Give up the gun control rhetoric. I can sum up, in one word, why a gun control bill, that meets 51% public approval, will never become law. Lobbyists. The NRA has spent over $7,000,000 over the past 24 months in Washington D.C. Check out this site for information that’s on public record. Let’s say some very strict gun laws do make it on the books. If this country has been fighting a fallacious war on drugs for decades and drugs are still in the poor communities, what’s going to happen when Big Brother starts a war on illegal guns? Gun laws are not the cure-all answer and I can sum up why in two, frightening, words. Clerical error. I won’t type his name here, but one attacker bought a gun through the proper channels and due to a clerical error was approved a license when he shouldn’t have been. He shot and killed multiple people in a church. Here are two more, frightening, words that should make us all re-think the gun control rhetoric. Black market. Strict gun laws will do for weaponry what prohibition did for alcohol.
Difficult Step #3: Reduce the power of lobbyists. Before you blame this (or any) POTUS for anything, remember that it’s not about one person, it’s the system that needs changing. As long as lobbyists and “contributions” can sway votes by Senators, our voice is limited. Let’s work to change the political contribution limits and laws.
Difficult Step #4: Create/Improve the mental health care infrastructure. How many times have you heard the story about the mental health care facility that closed down? Why are there so many homeless people here? The mental health care facility closed. What cut backs did the new Governor make? The mental health care facility closed. I want to be clear, I’m not saying that every person that committed the crime of a mass shooting was in need of mental health care. Mental health issues were a correlation, not always a causation of the act. But, what if mental health care was in such abundance in our culture that any and everyone felt like there was a compassionate ear that was easily accessible (and affordable). I know, I know. Healthcare is a shit storm, let alone mental healthcare. Hey! I said that it was a difficult step! Until we start opening up Arkham, Briarcliff, and Northville Regional, let’s do what we can to help people. Make a friend with the quiet one in the corner and just be nice to people with no ulterior motive. What if more people were to do that? In your face, Utopia!
Difficult Step #5: Student/faculty/staff training. We’ve gone through no less than three earthquake drills in the past 18 months at my school. There’s been one earthquake and it was 30 miles away from campus. I understand that it could be traumatic to train kids what to do in the case of a shooter and I’m sure the helicopter parents would have a shit fit. But, isn’t it better to prepare for the thing we hope never happens (like an earthquake)? If none of this works, just hire Deadpool to work campus security.
But, seriously folks… I wrote this to point out that it touches everyone when these senseless tragedies occur. Everyone begins shouting their opinion of the one light switch fix to resolve the issue. Remember, this is a multi-layered issue that happens for myriad of reasons. There is no easy solution. Try out my suggestions and in the mean time, just be nice to people.
It’s worth mentioning (again)… This post is not intended to stop mass shootings. This post is merely food for thought, aka my opinion. If you don’t dig what I’m saying, that’s cool. I’m not here to debate. Getting angry with me won’t stop mass shootings any more than me typing 1,200 words will end them. Enjoy your week.
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