MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Every few weeks our lives are interrupted by breaking news about innocent people being gunned down in classrooms, movie theaters, night clubs, churches and most recently an outdoor concert. During these highly stressful times, we stop what we are doing to reflect on the preciousness and fragility of life, we offer our prayers and condolences to the families affected by the tragedy and we tell ourselves this isn’t America. We recite this claim with the convictions people give to their religious mantras. We repeat this lie hoping to convince ourselves that we were somehow different, but this is America. This is who we are and we need to accept it. Insanity isn’t just doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Insanity is also denying the truth right in front of us.
Violence is a constitutive part of our history. America grew out of a violent revolution and hasn’t looked back. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, we are told that we can know a tree by the fruit it produces. In America, we scorn and rebuke our rotten apples, but we refuse to indict the tree that produced them. We have to quit using the same shocked language we apply to these tragedies and come to grips with the fact that this is normal. America is, and always has been, a violent nation.
Our culture has glamourized violence through novels, television, movies and video games. The spike in mass shootings over the last decade is a generational consequence of celebrating death more than life. America’s fascination with violence consciously and unconsciously affects many of us in different ways. It starts out as innocent games of cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. We send these same kids to schools that have canonized our nation’s most historic battlegrounds and immortalized the soldiers who fought and died on those sacred grounds. We have Civil War reenactments where we simulate the experience of being on some of America’s most deadly killing fields. For every person truly repulsed by depictions of violence there are throngs of people cancelling out their voices.
Contrary to what we tell ourselves, the majority of mass shootings aren’t committed by people with a history of mental illness. These are meticulously calculated events designed to inflict as much pain and terror as possible. Too often we jump to the conclusion that the shooter must have been “crazy.” This is disingenuous. Saying someone is crazy is an easier pill to swallow than accepting the fact that our culture continues producing more and more people capable of committing these crimes.
There are so many Americans invested in the myths associated with America that (as a nation) we can’t look critically at this problem. Too many people are working overtime to systematically disconnect these shootings from each other- and often the motives behind them. America is under siege by the threat of random violence and we won’t accept the fact that our culture is complicit in some of the carnage we have seen.
America is stuck in a perpetual cycle of grief, inaction and denial. Our politicians don’t have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and we won’t look in the mirror. These stories start with a hail of bullets and end in death and prayers. We keep doing the same thing over and over and have the nerve to question the results.
Comments
I think you're right that it is cultural. Since cultural illnesses are difficult to diagnose and cure, we probably have to focus on gun control. To the extent that guns are "nice things" (I don't think they are) we are why we can't have nice things.
But it's really not all about the amount of guns in America. As Michael Moore pointed out in Bowling for Columbine, there are a lot of guns in Canada, too, but not so many mass shootings and not so much murder. Maybe the number of guns in America, driven as it is by demand, is also a symptom of the sickness you're writing about.
by Michael Maiello on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 2:14pm
Your thoughtful comment made me go googling about violence in the U.S.
What I found right away in this July 8, 2016 Washington Post piece by Kim Sofen (Yes, violence in America has suddenly increased. But that’s far from the whole story) was actually GOOD NEWS on this front.
It starts out iterating the increases over the previous year, gun violence, homicides, shootings by police, mass shootings, etc. BUT THEN it moves on to:
Since the article has been written, it would be interesting to know how the stress of the 2016 election and the election of Trump has affected the numbers, whether the much noticed and commented on political divisiveness, and even anger, even within families, has had an effect on violence in general. Or whether we are still on a general trajectory downward as to violent reactions. I like to think we are finally on a path of growing up into a grownup nation citizen of the globalized world, from our "cowboys and Indians" adolescence. And that Trumpism fits in there as a last gasp of a minority reacting badly as they are dragged kicking and screaming into a 21st century U.S.
Edit to add: Trumpism repeats a lot of memes of Reaganism (with the same MAGA thing and culture wars especially "family values", meaning: old timey values) which I see as the first iteration of "being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century". (Not to mention the whole issue of being dragged kicking and screaming into the start of a multi racial society, with the "southern strategy" back tracking et. al.) And that was a time of rapidly escalating violent crime. Reagan's election was partly a reaction to the crime rate. But it didn't get better, it got worse with the crack epidemic. And even with lots more violence in pop culture. At the time, I remember noting how much themes of movies and rap, then growing in popularity, were mimicking the Wall Street buyout guy values, not reacting against that, but actually basically saying: see we can do that well, too. It was like: license to be ruthless and vicious. And both Bushes and Clinton, I think all 3 help influence a "kindler gentler" pop culture, as did Obama.
by artappraiser on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 3:53pm
Funny you mention lead... we were watching "The Deuce" last weekend and my wife and I were talking about how so much of the boneheaded behavior might well be explained by the characters being lead poisoning victims.
I am definitely with you on Trump's coarsening of the popular culture. I don't know if the violent crime rate has actually ticked up meaningfully but Trump emboldened the Charlottesville marchers and he's part of the cause for all that violence by so many wonderful people on both sides.
by Michael Maiello on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 4:07pm
Michael Moore in Bowling for Colmbine: "There are a lot of guns in Canada".....uhhh....yeah....but at 30.8 per 100 residents it is less than 1/3 the US total of 112 per 100 residents.
And as of 2008, Canada prohibits this list of guns, every last one legal in the USA, and I won't go nto the licensing requirements, the registration of every gun, the safety courses required, the clip limits, the gun storage laws, the bullet permits.
by NCD on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 4:39pm
A tongue-in-cheek article at the Root suggests that gun laws would stiffen if black people statred buying more guns as a means of resistance. The NRA would want to keep “ bad people” from getting guns.
http://www.theroot.com/5-ways-black-people-can-force-commonsense-gun-control-1819231334
The NRA and Ronald Reagan supported gun control after the Black Panthers showed up promoting open carry of weapons.
http://theweek.com/articles/582926/how-ronald-reagan-learned-love-gun-control
Blacks responding to tiki torch carrying white supremacist s with guns may cause a refocus on gun control.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 4:33pm
An article that Pericles posted "In the News" (12 hrs. ago) shows that the Russian trolls played with this meme:
I Watched Over 100 Covert Russian Propaganda Videos On YouTube — Here’s What I Saw/The videos encouraged African Americans to stock up on guns and stay home on election day — and that was just the beginning.
by artappraiser on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 4:58pm
The actions suggested by the Russians was an insult to the intelligence of the black community. Many of us use Black oriented news sites every day. This Russian nonsense never came across those sites. It does seem that the Bubbas frequenting wingnut sites did see this Russian garbage.
As I noted above when Blacktivists tried to organize protest in Baltimore, they were quickly shut down by the real black activists in the city.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-ci-blacktivist-social-media-20170929-story.html
The racism of the Russians made their tactics laughable.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 8:59pm
I think you might have it backwards, I believe that in most of these cases the Russians were targeting an audience of non-blacks with racist leanings. They wanted that audience to think that blacks were plotting, to motivate that audience to vote in fear of blacks.
Failing that, they were of course just happy to stir up resentment between groups. So it didn't matter that much how authentic some of this stuff sounded.
Is in the end what all internet trolls like to do, rile people's emotions up to start screaming at each other. Including starting up the name calling, i.e., snowflakes, right-wing nut job, deplorables, etc.
And inspiring fear and hatred of "the other" is one of the favorite things of populist demagogues.
by artappraiser on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 1:59am
Wingnut sites did pick up some of the propaganda. I’m would not be surprised that some wingnuts were gullible and believed the nonsense. Using Pokémon Go to have people search out sites of police abuse is amazingly stupid.
by rmrd0000 on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 9:31am
I disagree. I'm sure they were promoting "super predator", the 1990s' crime act and other gripes to discourage them from voting or anyone-but-Hillary (even though I haven't watched the videos, I assume some were to feed black anger with the Democrats and their candidate).
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 10:09am
That we disagree on what the message was, and that others might see a different message as well, is an important point for two reasons. One: they might not have tried hard to get tiptop Clio-award-winning propaganda just because they think sowing chaos is enough. Two, and more important I think: that the propaganda is not clear makes for low outrage on the part of the targeted. As in "where's the outrage that the Russians tried to interfere in our election?' And then you show the evidence with stuff like this and the reaction is: so what, big deal, it was really clueless stuff, we had and have worse coming from Trump tweets every day.much less Breitbart fans.
by artappraiser on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 12:13pm
Comes to mind: all the machinations of Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale were for naught. Ridicule of incompetence defangs enemies.
by artappraiser on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 12:16pm
They vent to cabin vit moose and sqvirrel. Vat more do you vant?
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 2:32pm
Our "cultural" problem is the Republican Party, best exemplified by the current WH occupant.
The culture that says:
It's not that the Republicans don't have the "courage" to stand up to the NRA, it's not in their political interest to do so.
They use guns as a wedge issue, the gun industry makes $$$, and kick it back to the GOP, a win win.
The Republicans can make their base believe anything, regardless of science and fact.
Any issue that is useful to promote division, bigotry and controversy. Framing them as a unpatriotic schemes of Godless liberals.....climate change, evolution, planned parenthood/birth control, affirmative action, kneeling at sports contests etc
by NCD on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 5:08pm
Tongue -in-cheek? They stiffened when Huey Newton and Bobby Seales taught black people to arm themselves, to protect themselves.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 5:26pm
There is reason to believe that the guns displayed by the Panthers were supplied by people working for or with the government. This display made it easier for the goibvernment to take them down. I think if you look at the pictures of the Panthhers bearing these guns you will see old poor quality rifles not modern military grade weapons for that time.
by Peter (not verified) on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 7:17pm
Your argument seems to take the same condescending attitude of black people as we see from the Russians.Some whites appear to believe that black people could not have made their own independent decision to arm themselves. You suggest that blacks must have had government aid because they are weak-minded.
The Russians think that telling blacks to arm themselves and stay home rather than vote, go play Pokémon, and listen Nigerians pretending to be from Atlanta, is a viable technique. The Russians also believe blacks are feeble-minded.
The guns were cheap, according to you, because they were government supplied rather than because they were paid or with limited guns.Interesting. I’m not a weapons expert so I can’t argue with your assessment with your classification of the weapons as old for the time. I can say that your assessment that the Black Panthers were government dupes reeks of white supremacy. Blacks can’t take revolutionary action on their own.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 8:51pm
Sorry RM but the White Commies from that time had just as lousy internal security as the Black Commies and the Indian Commies too. Hoover had been rumming COINTELPRO for about a decade and had seasoned professionals tasked with enlisting or forcing compliance from friends and familys of the radicals, they didn't have a chance.
by p (not verified) on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 9:32pm
Please provide support for your argument that Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were influenced by the government to walk into the California Senate. You are free to your opinion. Please provide facts on Newton and Seale.
by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 9:47pm
Carrying guns was not gun love - the Panthers explicitly said, "if you won't protect our neighborhoods, we'll do it ourselves". They weren't duped into this by anyone. They were the well-armed well-trained and self-controlled militia that the rughtwing gun nuts never were.
by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/13/2017 - 11:18pm