On the weekend I watched 60 minutes, a regular pastime since I was a child. I remember hiding behind the couch after being sent to bed to listen to Reasoner (Great name for a broadcaster) and Wallace. What struck me was how most every other commercial showed someone firing a weapon, but no one on social media seemed to take notice. It’s like we live in a society yelling about the charging lion while the bear stands at our side.
The new Bronson “Death Wish” remake coming out is just another example of how we march in the streets with anger about the same things we entertain ourselves with at night. We are a culture that loves death. CSI, one of the most popular shows on t.v is so twisted and sickening I cannot even watch a trailers as I consume my Sunday night news program. I wonder what Reasoner would say today if he saw the content that funds his creation? Unfortunately, before I could get to the remote, my 10 year old daughter saw a trailer for this week’s CSI featuring an episode homage to Jeffery Dalhmer the cannibal. But since it is the good guys getting the bad we normalize it as viewing pleasure and use it to unwind with popcorn and wine. We blast our politicians for where they get their contributions, but don’t hold the same stance on media outlets that take millions to air murder after murder on our flat-screens.
Until we demolish violence as a cultural icon that we worship at, destroying its stronghold, the discussion on bump stocks, AK47s and the like seems moot. I’m not saying that we should not have them, just that it seems disingenuous. Heck, we even give death to our kids in their stockings in the form of video games on Christmas. In the end violence sells and as long as we continue loving death from the womb to the grave we will not heal. The entertainment industry knows it and you don’t hear them calling for censorship of guns in what they peddle. No, we love our death and will feast upon it in our schools, streets, homes and churches until we address the bigger issue of wanting life more than death.
