I have tried to keep my opinions out of this blog since the elections and that is why I haven't been commenting much. Take my opinions away from me and there isn't much left, even art is opinionated.
There will be talk now about gun control. Obama will be that Black Kenyon boogie man out to get control and destroy this nation because that is how many are comfortable in seeing him. It is easy to lose sight of the argument when there is a boogieman and we can shift the blame to him.
We have lots of school shootings in our country, one a few years ago in my home town. They are devastating. I remember the recent Movie Theater shooting and some people suggested that if the theater patrons were armed it wouldn't have happened. At least not so much, someone could have shot him on the stage. With that thinking there will be suggestions to arm the kids in school First year in kindergarten and you will be issued your own Glock!
I don't play video games but from what I've read they are violent. I know TV and Movies are full of blood and guts. We have a culture of Anger. We have angry games, angry politics, angry discussions and angry protests. I think anger is always a substitute for something else that is missing. It is always what steps in when we feel powerless, lost our argument in another way.
It is so easy to blame this on a parent when we ourselves have no sense of community, don't even know our neighbors and they don't know us. Feelings become personal and stuffed with limited ways to express them.
They no longer teach art in school. No theater. No poetry and literature. It is all pretty insane and once in awhile someone will come along and show us that it is.
How about limiting clips of bullets to a thousand rounds? or maybe just a hundred? That should be enough. or maybe just six and then you have to reload?
There will be talk now about gun control. Obama will be that Black Kenyon boogie man out to get control and destroy this nation because that is how many are comfortable in seeing him. It is easy to lose sight of the argument when there is a boogieman and we can shift the blame to him.
We have lots of school shootings in our country, one a few years ago in my home town. They are devastating. I remember the recent Movie Theater shooting and some people suggested that if the theater patrons were armed it wouldn't have happened. At least not so much, someone could have shot him on the stage. With that thinking there will be suggestions to arm the kids in school First year in kindergarten and you will be issued your own Glock!
I don't play video games but from what I've read they are violent. I know TV and Movies are full of blood and guts. We have a culture of Anger. We have angry games, angry politics, angry discussions and angry protests. I think anger is always a substitute for something else that is missing. It is always what steps in when we feel powerless, lost our argument in another way.
It is so easy to blame this on a parent when we ourselves have no sense of community, don't even know our neighbors and they don't know us. Feelings become personal and stuffed with limited ways to express them.
They no longer teach art in school. No theater. No poetry and literature. It is all pretty insane and once in awhile someone will come along and show us that it is.
How about limiting clips of bullets to a thousand rounds? or maybe just a hundred? That should be enough. or maybe just six and then you have to reload?
10 comments:
Glad to see you voicing your opinions again Jerry.
Even when we don't agree I still like to hear your thinking. !
I own and know how to shoot a gun.I wouldn't have it any other way.
That said, I also know first hand the agony of those parents, It will change their lives forever.. Something has happened to them that is unlike any other loss. It changes everything .
Than you so much, Barbra! I am not against gun ownership. Just trying to discover the difference between now and when I was a kid. There were no school shootings then. No murderous video games. No chemicals in our food.
No machine pistols with 100 round clips. It is just another detective mystery. Why now? What causes it?
Jerry, Good morning!
Why do you dislike Obama, he is a good and educated fellow, and a good one in a long long time. He cannot undo the wrongs done by leaders before him all in one stroke. He has to work under a lot of pressure, and amidst that he is trying his best to do good for America.
Your country is better off with him than his rival.
Just because he is an African American, one should underestimate what he is capable of.
I don't know, but I feel, he definitely a more mature, for his age and for the tasks set for him.
It is sad that majority of pure Americans did not vote for him.
Now he has just a few years to do something good.
Hi Rama, you have to recognize sarcasm when it is there! These criticisms of Obama are from Fox News, not me. I voted for him and am proud of it. In time he will go down in history as our Best President ever! I am also proud that he won by a majority, most Americans like him.
Why keep your opinions out of your blog? That's what blogging is about and one reason why I come by is to hear yours.
This is a tough issue. What's happened is just so sad and despite all the opinions on either side of what is turning into a gun rights issue there is no real answer. The people who do these terrible things would find a way to kill large groups of people whether they had guns or not. It's whats in them and I don't think you can blame the games or the movies, it's just who they are. I remember when they took the old loony toons cartoons off the air because they were to violent. Did it stop the violence? No, it's actually gotten worse. I don't know what the answer is but your right arming people in schools(which is an argument I've already heard) is not the answer, there have been shootings where people being shot at had concealed carry permits and forgot in the heat of the moment they had a gun. And neither is banning guns. We've seen what happens in other countries when they take the guns away, they find other more horrible ways of killing.
Thank you Dionne, I think I have lost readers because of my opinions but so glad you like to hear them! That does not mean I need vindication or am after only people who agree with me. I just like discussion, that is all. As to the gun issue, it is in the Constitution and probably a good thing. So what makes it different now? What are we missing or what do we have that we didn't have? What has changed? Remember "A Clockwork Orange"? Violence became a method of self expression, like poetry or painting!Or instead of poetry or painting because they were not valued. How is this different from the old "Kilroy" cartoons: "I was Here"? How does one express self awareness, self importance in a world of 7 billion people and growing? Is this important?
That is part of the problem these days people have become so self indulgent they don't want to hear what others have to say especially if they don't agree with them.
Visions of grandiosity could very well be part of the issue at hand. Those 15 minutes of fame that the crazies get from their violence. Perhaps the news programs are part of the problem. It's only in recent years that the news stations runs with one horrible story for days on end as if everything else in the world has suddenly come to an end. Bill Maher of Real Time calls it news porn. I think he's right, I also think it may contribute to a need for a twisted sense of fame. When you think about it, time wise, this type of news coincides with the increase of shootings like this. As you said this type of violence didn't happen way back when but then again you didn't have 24 hour news porn back then either.
Yes, I wish no one had guns. Myself included,
but when was the last time someone walked into a police station and shot 27 people?
Glad you decided to blog about this and how it too will very likely be the next smoke screen utilizing a "boogieman" while numerous laws are passed (or blocked) that we probably wouldn't be aware of anyway. It is frustrating, always makes me think of that line in the great gatsby, "I hope she'll be a fool...".
I think so much of today's social issues is this microwave society of instant gratification we live in, and one of entitlement (10 yr olds feeling entitled to an iphone for example). Longevity, loyalty, pulling yourself up from your bootstraps... it just seems to be fading away and it's a constant battle to fight the daily dose of (literally) programming we get from the media. I could type till my fingertips turn blue. None the less, just wanted to say glad to see you standing up for what you believe in! Hope this new year brings you many blessings & as always keep creating :)
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