A Heritage of Violence
I was struck by this commentary by Robert Siegel on NPR yesterday. It highlights what I think is an issue addressed rarely (or hamfistedly, e.g. Bowling For Columbine), namely the fact that integrating all these cultures into American identity totally works, but also brings on the bad with the good.
It's not, I think, that America's is a poisonous culture, or a decadent one, or any of the other usual talking points that the self-satisfied moral scold likes to trot out. Going to church won't make people like the VTech shooter better. It wasn't moral instruction that was lacking, but a fully integrated personality--the option to opt out of alienating process of striving and reset his priorities, and the support system necessary to consolidate choices in an environment that encourages goals to line up with preferences and not the other way around. And that, the absence of an environement where you can be okay with "just okay" some days, is all too American.
Of course, this is all idle speculation. Made-up answers to questions not asked; proffered in order to provoke the illusion of control into asserting itself in the middle of despair. Not unlike--but not the same as--the sick fantasies that cause kids to turn to violence as a means of reasserting their (perceived) mastery of the universe. So nothing I say means anything, and that's all too human.
It's not, I think, that America's is a poisonous culture, or a decadent one, or any of the other usual talking points that the self-satisfied moral scold likes to trot out. Going to church won't make people like the VTech shooter better. It wasn't moral instruction that was lacking, but a fully integrated personality--the option to opt out of alienating process of striving and reset his priorities, and the support system necessary to consolidate choices in an environment that encourages goals to line up with preferences and not the other way around. And that, the absence of an environement where you can be okay with "just okay" some days, is all too American.
Of course, this is all idle speculation. Made-up answers to questions not asked; proffered in order to provoke the illusion of control into asserting itself in the middle of despair. Not unlike--but not the same as--the sick fantasies that cause kids to turn to violence as a means of reasserting their (perceived) mastery of the universe. So nothing I say means anything, and that's all too human.
Labels: america
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