by Stoneburg » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:39 am
I don't propose any solution. Mainly because I don't think it is a problem, it's more of a negative effect of other cultural specifics that are essential to the US culture. The US has an ultra-competetive culture and very large economic and social gaps. Both those things contribute to making the US the richest and most productive country in the world, but this will of course also cause a lot of tension and pressure. Add easy access to firearms and a general glorification of violence and you're bound to get incidents like this on a regular basis. It doesn't mean you have to change anything. It's not like mass murders have any real impact on society as a whole, other than emotionally rattling it a bit.
If you stack all the Americans killed in mass murders and terrorist attacks in one pile, then make another pile of people killed by cigarette smoking, the pile of smokers will be enormously bigger. And people aren't worried that cigarettes will be the end of their world. Or car accidents. Or fast food. You're not hearing people cry about getting a ban on fries and milkshakes or cars even though they are much more likely to kill them.
Mass murderings also help raise the Gross National Product. Hospitals, police agencies, lawyers, constructers, journalists, therapists, insurance companies etc all increse their production because of it, so not only isn't mass murder bad, it's actually good for the economy.
People who get upset at this haven't thought it through properly. The US economic, scientific and cultural strength stems from the same root as these shootings. Would you give those up just to save a fraction of the amount of people who get killed by other means every year? Of course not.
