What happened on Friday in Connecticut crushed my soul. I hate to say I'm pretty disappointed with how discussions have unfolded since then amongst people online and especially in the media, which is why I really can't sit back and not say something.
This is not about finger pointing, but it is about hopefully helping people see this whole situation differently, and hopefully leading to a useful understanding. Perhaps, even "positive action."
It makes me sick to see articles that are titled "good evidence may suggest motive" or have a sequence of events with a flow chart of how it all unfolded. What does it really matter to you?
How is it of any value to 99.99% of people in knowing any of the specific details of this event? Whether the murderer was a goth or had too easy access to guns, it doesn't matter because these things do not cause mass murders.
Perhaps some have merit, but if your goal is to prevent events like this from reoccurring, then stop debating about symptoms that are insignificant and please turn your attention to the solutions that are well documented and have been available for years.
For example, in a televised interview in 2009, Dr. Park Dietz, one of the foremost forensic psychiatrists who specializes in domestic mass murders, said, "we've had 20 years of mass murders throughout which I have told repeatedly to CNN and other media, if you don't want to propagate more mass murders, don't start the story with sirens blaring, don't have photographs of the killer, don't make this 24/7 coverage, do everything you can not to make the body count the lead story, [do] not make the killer some kind of anti-hero, do localize this story to the effected community and make it as boring as possible in every other market, because every time we have intense saturation of cover of a mass murder, we expect to see one or two more within a week" (Youtube.com).
In other words, if you want to be of any value to the people in Newtown and the rest of the world, turn your attention away from this story and tell your local and national media to focus their efforts on stories that will actually benefit from more attention - send letters, emails, phone calls and I would even suggest you delete any related posts on all of your media channels once you feel that you "get it." This will be forwarded to local media soon after I post it - I wouldn't doubt if it falls on deaf ears, but why not try?
In case you were wondering what newsworthy stories unfolded since Friday, Canada became the first country to drop out of the Kyoto protocol (Sunnewsnetwork.ca) when over half of ecosystem services (think clean water provisioning or crop pollination) have been in sharp decline (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment).
I also have to add that Justin Trudeau called the Minister of Environment a "piece of shit" in the house of commons - I thought it was hilarious at first but then I felt especially disappointed in the leaders of our democracy; however, I don't necessarily disagree with Trudeau completely (Youtube.com).
A recent report showed that obesity now kills 300% more people than malnutrition worldwide - in fact, ~8219 people will die by the end of today due to obesity (Telgraph.co.uk). That's almost 6 every minute. I think it's fair to say that the future of the planet and everyone's health need more of our attention at this moment along with dozens of other conditions of our communities/societies.
If there is one positive outcome of the tragedy that occurred yesterday (other than the elimination of re-occurrence), I hope it's that we all look in the mirror and start asking better questions of ourselves and the world that actually matter. No first world problems nonsense, no complaining or whining, no "but how about" or "but ifs," etc.
For the sake of humanity, and more importantly to you, your friends, family and yourself, I think it's time we realize "the world is upside down, and going sideways," and the only way it will change is if you decide to do something about it.
One last thought, in 10 years from now, do you want to look back and say "damn, that mass murderer in 2012 was nothing in comparison to this year" or "we're really lucky to have acted when we did on cleaning up the planet and I'm really thankful for turning my health around, including that of my family and our community… and lest we forget that tragedy in America 10 years ago. It's still hard to believe something like that could happen but I'm glad we've learned our lesson."
Dedicated to everyone, including those waiting to enter this world and those yet to be conceived. Love.
Concerned Citizen | Elite.
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