I remember, while growing up in the New York area, learning about the Kitty Genovese story. Genovese was a young woman who, in 1964, was stabbed late one evening in Queens while returning home from work. Genovese, reportedly, was initially stabbed and cried for help. When no one responded to her desperate pleas, the attacker came back again, stabbing her multiple times and raping her, all over a period said to have lasted a half hour.
Some speculated that the woman's cries were the result of a marital dispute and, therefore, they should not interfere. Consider how far we have come in that regard.
New York itself was at a significant crossroads then. In 1964, some five years after President Eisenhower broke ground on Lincoln Center, the city that imagined itself becoming the cultural tower of America was still largely a patchwork of racially and ethnically checkered neighborhoods. The Genovese murder and the infamous events surrounding it made New York seem like a nihilistic corner in some degenerate town. Response to Genovese's murder was plaintive and went on for years. Her name became synonymous with the "bystander effect", as researchers concluded that the more people watch a catastrophic event, the less likely they are to offer to help. New Yorkers, I believe, changed a bit after that.
After 9/11, America was forced to accept a raft of changes. We went to war, whether we could afford it or not. Men and women died, by the thousands, on both sides. Our government lied to us in order to cover-up their motivations. We went broke. The airlines were quick to take advantage of the new climate of security at the expense of all else. Whatever shreds of elegance were left in the US airline industry (most of it gone after the death of Pan Am) were yanked out and replaced with the public school bus system we fly on now.
A guy tried to light his sneaker on fire, now you have to get on a plane as if you were entering the White House.
Yet Americans have accepted these changes. Unhappily, yes. But they have learned to mutter their epithets to themselves as they pass through the airport like attending a Catholic school dance in the 1950's. We have been forced to accept an overwhelming amount of change in the past decade, and we have done so because we believed it was the right thing to do.
There is change that follows most events like the Genovese murder. The assassinations in the 1960's. Watergate. 9/11.
What do you think are the appropriate changes that should follow the shooting of a US Congresswoman while she purposefully held a meeting in a public place in her district? Knowing that several other innocent people died, including a small child, and others were seriously wounded.
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We wait for a savior, e.g., Obama, Palin, Christ, etc.
We need to become active, but those who are young, just like myself, do have a hard time with getting out there because of the fear of assassination by those who are profiting out of our misery.
We need "good" leaders who have no egos and use their reason; but as for now, we are used to the bad. We are drawn to the blind because the blind are blinded by their own light -- suggestions like "follow the pack" instead of being independent and breaking down your own school of thought.
War of choice no doubt about it and unless we get out we will become a 3rd world country... sigh
It's not as complex as you say.........have you seen "Bowling for Columbine" ? Would you see "Bowling for Columbine" ? compare our violence stats with Europe and Canada's...then talk about "never know what the person next to us is going to do".... and "these events still happen"...
There are degrees of danger...and the stats prove...America is a whole lot more dangerous...and yes, there's more than one reason for that....macho mindless who listen to rabble rouser idiots like Glen Beck and the hate club teapartiers..
the hate speech on the right (almost entirely) has fueled the crazies with guns and America's got more of them than just about anywhere... compare the backward southern states (not all) with crazy gun-totin' nut states in the mid west... it's like two countries one sort of in the 21st century and one firmly in the 19th and wantin it to stay that way... very scary the U.S. is schizoid
If purposefully is meant in a good way??? Like you said Americans/humans(all of them) have overcome obstacle after obstacle and seem to adjust to chamge in a grudgingly but taseful manner! I do not feel any type of change will stop a someone who is on a mission to destroy lives and hurt people! They will always find a way to complete the mission! Sad but true!!!!!
On the other hand if purposefully means she knew the risk and took it anyway disregarding any warning signs?? Then I would have to applaud her for not hiding in the balance like a coward.I am sure she will never forget that day ever!
Mostly I wish for civility and a toning down of the rhetoric but alas, I don't expect that to happen either.
Thanks for another well written and I am sure, well thought out posting!
At this point he could have been taken by the police to a hospital for examination. That would likely have resulted in involuntary commitment. But allowing police to arrest and hospitalize people who have commited no crime would be a bitter pill for our society to take.
Requiring that anyone who purchases a gun has to have a mental health statement from a physician or therapist is, I believe, a minimal invasion of privacy, and could help prevent this kind of thing. Gun fanatics will of course, strongly object and resent this but this is where the public's right to safety should outweigh anyone's right to get a guy easily (TOO easily). However, the gun lobby, like the pharmaceutical lobby, like the tax breaks for the wealthy people all have much more power than WE THE PEOPLE do.
Next video games: the most popular ones involve violence.
Then TV and movies: more violence on a regular basis.
The heroes don't wear white hats anymore—instead they carry assault weaponry. Blood, and lots of it.
For an adult, this may not have any deleterious effects, but for children who are in the formative years, I believe that this may have a serious effect on their thinking. Especially if they are allowed unbridled access to violence on a rather constant basis. Children learn what they see more than they learn what you tell them. When you see things on a regular basis, your mind can become numbed to it. After a while, it can become the new normal. The average child spends 45 hours a week in front of the TV or computer monitor—they can spend as much time viewing violence as their parent spends working. Think about it.
His parents failed, bigtime. His college failed, bigtime. Local law enforcement failed, bigtime. But the person responsible for all of this is ultimately Loughner. He certainly knew right from wrong.
All the laws in the world would not have prevented the shooter form getting a gun..he was under the radar apparently across the board. He would been able to buy in any state pretty much.
In McDonald, the 2nd was held to be a 'fundamental' right. Fundamental is repeated throughout the decisions. Its a specific legal term. Enumerated 'fundamental' rights are exceedingly difficult to regulate or place restrictions on.