This thread is a catch-all, questioning American philosophy . . . Living in Philadelphia, I have been in Lancaster county countless times the past 25 years. I was as equally disturbed by the Amish school shootings as everyone else. What does not surprise me is the fact that we have so much violence in schools. What DOES surprise me is the fact that our government is gathering to meet and discuss solutions to the violence in our schools. Does anyone else see the irony here? Why are we surprised that teens are acting out in schools, (or adults taking out vengeance on children,) when we ourselves as American adults apparently condone violence with our "attacks on terrorism" in Iraq, Afghanistan, and countless other areas of the world, as well as in our own country? As I have been musing on this question, I found a fantastic new book called "The Buddha and the Terrorist" by Satish Kumar, which is a parable about a terrorist speaking with the Buddha. The foreword by Thomas Moore is nothing short of brilliance. He argues that violence is "the expression of a pained and twisted soul. It is the work of a spirit or urge that takes over a person or a people and blinds them to human solidarity and community." He says that terrorism is the same, whether it is "the work of a band of renegades or the more sanctioned and public action of an army." So what do you think?
Yea, well, you're exactly right. The government meeting to discuss school violence? the government is part of the problem in the first place. With the help of the government, kids today are taught that violence is the solution to most problems, both real and imagined-and then everybody's shocked when kids start putting that into practice. I'm not. Look at the Amish, for example. The Amish families of the kids that were murdered helped to pay for the funeral of the guy that murdered their kids. Why? It's not because they are quaint or nice people. It's because they take literally what Christ taught about doing good to your enemies and loving them. The Amish aren't hypocrites. They don't believe in war and violence and they're consistent about it. They are pacifists and refuse to join the military, or condone violence as a solution to problems. They choose to love people that hurt them and do good to them because that's just simply what Jesus taught them to do. Good for them. Contrast this with the average American "Christian" that never saw a war they didn't like, enthusiastically supports the death penalty, and just generally supports government policies of whatever nature because "God made America the greatest country on earth" or some other such meaningless rhetoric. What kind of message does this kind of state-supported violence send to kids? I don't think I need to tell you. And the main diet kids get on prime-time tv is cop, lawyer and military shows about how the government has the solution to all of our problems and how war, killing, and executions are going to solve all of our problems. Sure they are. Wow, isn't it a big mystery why we have so much violence in our schools? It's not a mystery to me.
It comes down to this question. Does TV cause violence, or do we demand TV violence because we are already violent? I fall on the latter side. I think TV (as well as the government and it's actions) is largely a reflection of the populace at large. Like DQ Veg said, look at the movies and shows we watch. Many are quite violent or at least involve an (important) element of violence (the rest are soap opera type shows where everyone's screwing everyone else... and we wonder why marriages don't last). And these shows are only on because we want to watch them, we demand them as consumers. It must say something about us as a culture that we are so thirsty for either violence (or infidelity, though that's another thread in itself). Our entertainment reflects our inner desires. Most of us are content, of course, to simply get our violence-fix vicariously through these entertainments (perhaps that is their function...like giving the Roman populace gladiator games to let them relieve their tentions lest they revolt). But for impressionable kids, who watch a lot of TV, maybe not. Especially kids (though, not just kids) who feel isolated and rejected, and so have anger issues already. Isn't there a quote that goes something like "violence is the last resort of the weak"? One must wonder why Americans (or humans in general, since violence isn't our problem alone) feel so powerless as to act out violently against one another. Because I'll say it again, you can't blame TV, or the government, or any of that for violence. These are reflections of ourselves. Yes, they may have an effect back on us, but the main source of this violence is already within us. That's where it starts.
There is evidence that biology and genetics play a role in violent behavior, however it is understudied and far from being completely understood. Here is link to an interesting paper on the subject - http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/research/pubs/lindenberg01.pdf Of course, no P.C. politician would openly touch on this subject.
