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I'm Surprised
I'm surprised. I'm truly and breathtakingly surprised that another young American has decided to open fire indiscriminately on his fellow citizens in a public space.
I'm surprised that another young person living in a country where films are filled with guns and violence and present the killing of human beings as a rather normal "solution" to one's pressing problems, would want to take the lives of others.
Oct 03, 2015
I'm surprised. I'm truly and breathtakingly surprised that another young American has decided to open fire indiscriminately on his fellow citizens in a public space.
I'm surprised that another young person living in a country where films are filled with guns and violence and present the killing of human beings as a rather normal "solution" to one's pressing problems, would want to take the lives of others.
I'm surprised, completely surprised, that someone coming from a culture where children have screens pressed into their faces before they can speak, and where many of them are seldom forced, or even politely asked, to communicate face-to-face across the table with their own family, never mind people from other places and generations, and who therefore never really develop much in the way of mature interpersonal habits and negotiating skills, would want to gun other people down when frustration arrives, as it inevitably must, to their young lives.
I'm surprised, completely surprised that in a culture where everyone that wears a uniform and carries a gun is glorified, and where police bullying, and the dehumanization that lies at its core, is held up for entertainment on reality shows, produces young people who want to blast the crap out of those that they in their private wisdom (after all, why should cops have all the fun?) have decided are society's "bad actors".
I'm surprised, completely and truly surprised that in a society where people are told from the earliest moments of their lives that there is really no such thing as trust, and that there is really no such thing as mutually beneficial cooperation, rather that we are all, in one form or another, competing with each other all the time (notwithstanding the false smiles we might wear in order to
successfully carry off life's many necessary "transactions"), a young person would feel alienated enough to want to extinguish the lives of several others in a matter of seconds.
I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that in a nation where video gaming is one of the major pastimes of young and not so young men (and some women), producing a sub-culture where sitting on the couch day after day and "killing" imaginary people is seen as the next best thing to a perpetual orgasm, young people might want to "blow away" their professors, or whatever group of kids seems to be doing better than them at this particular moment in life.
I'm surprised, truly and deeply surprised that a culture in which education is designed not to be a journey of empowerment and discovery, but rather a process of ever more rigid social control and punishment whose end goal is to provide the already wealthy and powerful with a corps of submissive, unimaginative and ultimately disposable workers, would generate the type of rage in the young that would lead some of them to want to "take matters into their own hands" in the way they have seen it done so many times before on the flickering screens of their childhood.
I'm surprised, deeply surprised that a country that sends millions of generally poor and ill-educated young men and women off to do unspeakably terrible things to innocent people they do not know or understand, and then after having demanded this of them, calls them heroes when they themselves know deep down that they have often acted as sociopathic animals, produces abnormally large numbers of unquenchably rageful young people.
I am surprised, truly and honestly surprised, that in a country where the leadership class cavalierly talks about "taking out bad guys", and where a supposedly progressive president decides--in violation of any and all of the norms of conduct developed over the 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta--that he is fully empowered to assassinate American citizens who are, in his princely imagination, a cancerous blot on the body politic, produces citizens that increasingly feel empowered to use similar means to extirpate the many unsightly "human tumors" living in their midst.
Yes I'm surprised, deeply and profoundly surprised by the phenomenon of mass shootings carried out by young people in this country.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Thomas S. Harrington
Thomas S. Harrington is professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and the author of Public Intellectuals and Nation Building in the Iberian Peninsula, 1900-1925: The Alchemy of Identity (Bucknell University Press, 2014).
I'm surprised. I'm truly and breathtakingly surprised that another young American has decided to open fire indiscriminately on his fellow citizens in a public space.
I'm surprised that another young person living in a country where films are filled with guns and violence and present the killing of human beings as a rather normal "solution" to one's pressing problems, would want to take the lives of others.
I'm surprised, completely surprised, that someone coming from a culture where children have screens pressed into their faces before they can speak, and where many of them are seldom forced, or even politely asked, to communicate face-to-face across the table with their own family, never mind people from other places and generations, and who therefore never really develop much in the way of mature interpersonal habits and negotiating skills, would want to gun other people down when frustration arrives, as it inevitably must, to their young lives.
I'm surprised, completely surprised that in a culture where everyone that wears a uniform and carries a gun is glorified, and where police bullying, and the dehumanization that lies at its core, is held up for entertainment on reality shows, produces young people who want to blast the crap out of those that they in their private wisdom (after all, why should cops have all the fun?) have decided are society's "bad actors".
I'm surprised, completely and truly surprised that in a society where people are told from the earliest moments of their lives that there is really no such thing as trust, and that there is really no such thing as mutually beneficial cooperation, rather that we are all, in one form or another, competing with each other all the time (notwithstanding the false smiles we might wear in order to
successfully carry off life's many necessary "transactions"), a young person would feel alienated enough to want to extinguish the lives of several others in a matter of seconds.
I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that in a nation where video gaming is one of the major pastimes of young and not so young men (and some women), producing a sub-culture where sitting on the couch day after day and "killing" imaginary people is seen as the next best thing to a perpetual orgasm, young people might want to "blow away" their professors, or whatever group of kids seems to be doing better than them at this particular moment in life.
I'm surprised, truly and deeply surprised that a culture in which education is designed not to be a journey of empowerment and discovery, but rather a process of ever more rigid social control and punishment whose end goal is to provide the already wealthy and powerful with a corps of submissive, unimaginative and ultimately disposable workers, would generate the type of rage in the young that would lead some of them to want to "take matters into their own hands" in the way they have seen it done so many times before on the flickering screens of their childhood.
I'm surprised, deeply surprised that a country that sends millions of generally poor and ill-educated young men and women off to do unspeakably terrible things to innocent people they do not know or understand, and then after having demanded this of them, calls them heroes when they themselves know deep down that they have often acted as sociopathic animals, produces abnormally large numbers of unquenchably rageful young people.
I am surprised, truly and honestly surprised, that in a country where the leadership class cavalierly talks about "taking out bad guys", and where a supposedly progressive president decides--in violation of any and all of the norms of conduct developed over the 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta--that he is fully empowered to assassinate American citizens who are, in his princely imagination, a cancerous blot on the body politic, produces citizens that increasingly feel empowered to use similar means to extirpate the many unsightly "human tumors" living in their midst.
Yes I'm surprised, deeply and profoundly surprised by the phenomenon of mass shootings carried out by young people in this country.
Thomas S. Harrington
Thomas S. Harrington is professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and the author of Public Intellectuals and Nation Building in the Iberian Peninsula, 1900-1925: The Alchemy of Identity (Bucknell University Press, 2014).
I'm surprised. I'm truly and breathtakingly surprised that another young American has decided to open fire indiscriminately on his fellow citizens in a public space.
I'm surprised that another young person living in a country where films are filled with guns and violence and present the killing of human beings as a rather normal "solution" to one's pressing problems, would want to take the lives of others.
I'm surprised, completely surprised, that someone coming from a culture where children have screens pressed into their faces before they can speak, and where many of them are seldom forced, or even politely asked, to communicate face-to-face across the table with their own family, never mind people from other places and generations, and who therefore never really develop much in the way of mature interpersonal habits and negotiating skills, would want to gun other people down when frustration arrives, as it inevitably must, to their young lives.
I'm surprised, completely surprised that in a culture where everyone that wears a uniform and carries a gun is glorified, and where police bullying, and the dehumanization that lies at its core, is held up for entertainment on reality shows, produces young people who want to blast the crap out of those that they in their private wisdom (after all, why should cops have all the fun?) have decided are society's "bad actors".
I'm surprised, completely and truly surprised that in a society where people are told from the earliest moments of their lives that there is really no such thing as trust, and that there is really no such thing as mutually beneficial cooperation, rather that we are all, in one form or another, competing with each other all the time (notwithstanding the false smiles we might wear in order to
successfully carry off life's many necessary "transactions"), a young person would feel alienated enough to want to extinguish the lives of several others in a matter of seconds.
I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that in a nation where video gaming is one of the major pastimes of young and not so young men (and some women), producing a sub-culture where sitting on the couch day after day and "killing" imaginary people is seen as the next best thing to a perpetual orgasm, young people might want to "blow away" their professors, or whatever group of kids seems to be doing better than them at this particular moment in life.
I'm surprised, truly and deeply surprised that a culture in which education is designed not to be a journey of empowerment and discovery, but rather a process of ever more rigid social control and punishment whose end goal is to provide the already wealthy and powerful with a corps of submissive, unimaginative and ultimately disposable workers, would generate the type of rage in the young that would lead some of them to want to "take matters into their own hands" in the way they have seen it done so many times before on the flickering screens of their childhood.
I'm surprised, deeply surprised that a country that sends millions of generally poor and ill-educated young men and women off to do unspeakably terrible things to innocent people they do not know or understand, and then after having demanded this of them, calls them heroes when they themselves know deep down that they have often acted as sociopathic animals, produces abnormally large numbers of unquenchably rageful young people.
I am surprised, truly and honestly surprised, that in a country where the leadership class cavalierly talks about "taking out bad guys", and where a supposedly progressive president decides--in violation of any and all of the norms of conduct developed over the 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta--that he is fully empowered to assassinate American citizens who are, in his princely imagination, a cancerous blot on the body politic, produces citizens that increasingly feel empowered to use similar means to extirpate the many unsightly "human tumors" living in their midst.
Yes I'm surprised, deeply and profoundly surprised by the phenomenon of mass shootings carried out by young people in this country.
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