On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 19:11:02 -0800 Tom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, Nov 15, 2003 at 08:59:18PM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote: > [massive snip] > > It seems to me that a fundamental problem with this (common) > > viewpoint is that guns have *always* been common in the US. > > > > Something has happened, though, to alter peoples' value of life. > > In 1981, when I graduated high school, guns were an "inner city" > > (read: poor, black & urban) problem. Kids in other schools (includ- > > ing rural black schools) still settled their angry disagreements > > with their fists. Now, in most *any* public high school, an angry > > disagreement could result in a knifing or shooting. > > > > Again, here's my wierd-ass analysis: > > The reality is 100% of the "hard-core graphic violence" you see on TV > is absolutely fake and is not even *remotely* close to the reality of > what a gun does to a human body. An actual shotgun blast is > 10,000,000 times grosser than the grossest of the gross thing you've > ever seen on TV. > > I think the solution is to show *more* real graphic violence to > people: people reallly can be shocked into civility. Go to > www.ogrish.com and watch some of the videos and see if you feel the > same. > i totally agree. just yesterday evening, i was walking past a hospital a block away from me, where an ambulance had cruised in real slow. i was already thinking that the deliveree had snuffed it, based on the speed they drove up. by the time i was walking by the main door, the back door of the ambulance was open and i saw the paramedics unload the body. it was an older woman. i heard one of them tell the doctor that came out to meet them, herzinfarkt, german for heart attack. while there was no dramatic gore in the incident, it was nonetheless a graphic event to me. a human being was really dead, a human body made redundant. as i walked on, i was no longer thinking about the burden of what i had to do in my day but much more about the fact that i still get to do it; i get to breathe the air, to smell the scent of damp fall leaves along my way, to be here, now, and talk of that.
apart from that, i was struck by the grace and respect of the paramedics and the doctor as they went about their business, dealing with the reality of that situation. there is definitely a huge gap between how one imagines something to be and to witness the actual event of the same. you're absolutely right, and to shock people into civility might not be a bad idea; one which might be the reason why the return of dead troops to dover air base is off-limits to the press, at the moment, for fear of shocking the domestic audience, in that manner. i'm old enough to remember when the press had the courage to record the return of the remains of those who died in vietnam. that was also a reality check. ben -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
