What have we Learned? Nothing

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The topic of murder has been on my mind for weeks. The current war on terror not withstanding, I recently covered with my students the Vietnam War, the shootings at Kent State and Jackson States, the RFK and MLK assassinations, and damaging environmental pollution by corporations in America.

When murders occur in America, most are accomplished with the use of guns. I equate guns with violence. Our military seeks out recruits on TV promoting "An Army of One". I believe this creates an evil dichotomy, Human Beings + guns=Violence.

The question must be asked, Can we as Americans be surprised when a person takes the lives of others acting on the elements of the violence that permeates our country and that we collectively support?

We fight terrorism abroad and yet see its destructive hand on the streets of our cities, in our schools, and in our homes all the time. The act of firing a gun is at the very least a means of creating a sense of terror. Thus, today every American no doubt must look deeply into their souls and think about the society we live in.

As the shock and horror of the shootings at Virginia Tech filtered through the news on Monday, it was impossible not to think about the shootings at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. I wondered out loud if the shooter thought he was an "Army of One".

I have since long been thankful my schools have often had some kind of break on the week of April 20th since. It was also clear to me that the nation had not learned enough in the past 8 years. Shootings at schools across the country has continued. Again, we had jackasses like Dr. Phil and Joe Scarbourgh on television getting on their pulpits to blame video games, movies, and music. Been there, done that. I am watching Rambo right now, and I don’t want to kill anyone. I do have an urge to join the Marines though…

Bullets

The fight over gun control has been a political issue in America for generations. My own kin have long developed a concept that gun control only keeps the weapons away from the poor, so that the government can oppress them. However, this has not lead the particular kin in question to actually purchase a firearm. For me, guns could vanish and my life would not change. For millions of Americans, they would cry to the heavens that they have been wronged in a way that would destroy their lifestyles. Fine enough. We all live in a fear based society anyway. My take is that we should do more to raise the price of bullets. Would today’s massacre have been prevented if an 8mm clip of 19 was $25,000? I think so.

My students questioned me at length the past few weeks when the topic of gun control fell nicely into the curriculum. I gave them the bullet hypothesis and watched as their minds were blown. I explained that I had no problem with guns, just the bullets. The bullets would destroy the lives of millions in our life time. I was inundated with responses. “What about the sport of hunting?” “What about the 2nd amendment?” “Mr. Prez, you are a dirty hippie!”(said in Jest) “Where are your Birkenstocks?” “Your right” “Go drive a hybrid”. “My father is in the NRA” ‘I was shot by my brother”.

My response, “I love death metal, and thus I can’t be a hippie.” I added “Well the Birks are out of the closet,and the Hybrid will be purchased by 2025 when I can afford one.” (Now that is Teacher of the Year material).
Next time I will expose them to the Downing Street Memo. They will think up is down.

Now, it is time we check this out, and learn to stop the senseless violence in this country and around the world.

This particular speech seemed very apropos today.

Strength and Honor....