"more" (society, culture)
I was asked by a cab driver last night why we have so many incidents in the U.S. of people going into shopping centers, churches, schools, businesses and so on, just to kill people. For all of its problems with violence and corruption, Brazil generally doesn’t have incidents like these, where someone kills a bunch of people who are complete strangers to them, apparently just for kicks.
I told him how easy it was to get guns in the U.S. There is also the fact that when you have a deadly weapon such as a gun handy, it is easy to use it in fit of rage or jealousy or when impaired due to drugs or psychological distress, without thinking twice—before it’s too late. I thought about all of the violence on television and in video games, both of which are ubiquitous in our culture, and both of which have been shown through extensive research to increase one’s propensity for violence.
Of course, there is also the fact that we have historically been a very violent society. The U.S. was built on the murderous deaths of countless Native Americans and people of African descent. There was the lawlessly of the Old West, and the worker’s struggles for fair treatment which were usually met with violence on the part of company owners and managers. (Violence has met and continues to meet every group in our society as they press for civil rights.) Then there is our celebrity and money obsessed culture, which influences some to seek fame and fortune through violence.
Does it also relate somehow to our glorification of the individual over society, me over us, whereby what I want (more, more, and still more) outweighs what is best for society as a whole? As much time as I have spent reading and talking and listening and thinking about this, including over twenty-five years in the social work profession, I couldn’t think of a concise way to respond to him. It’s a good question, but unfortunately I don’t have a good answer.
