The actions in Aurora, Colorado
are the fault of each American and we have to accept that responsibility.
I say that not to piss people off
or to take an “anti-American” stance I say it because I believe it to be true
based on what is common knowledge of what is Right to have as an American. What do I mean by that you ask? Well guns have been a fascination of
Americans since day one and Americans are very proud of their freedom to own a
gun and see nothing wrong with it. I use
the word “fascination” because of its root that means “bewitch, enchant” there’s something that moves people in way that
nothing else can replace when holding a loaded gun in your hand. It’s a sense of power and some would say a
sense of being able to correct if one is called upon to do so. Because of this enchantment we yearn to see
it as often as possible so we create the situations for it to happen like TV,
movies, music, toys, video games, and at times “comedy.”
But
when one person uses a gun for an action like that of Aurora, CO we are ready
to crucify that person and the gun industry for creating that gun.
Now, I’m not defending the guy in
Colorado but I want you to understand that there’s a root cause to everything
and we need to respond to that root cause and not wait for these things to
happen.
Rene Girard has a theory called
Mimetic Desire and it is very interesting and there’s a book out there that
breaks it down and does a great job of explaining a lot of things it’s called “The Bible, Violence, and the Sacred” written
by James G. Williams.
What this individual did was
basically a perfect example of what this book explains in terms of what can
happen when things go the wrong way and I’ll admit it can be a tough read but
it is worth the time to read over several times. In all of this we as members of this Society
ALL know that having guns available to its citizens has not helped the violence
in our land but people are very careful as to how they address the issue. So when one moron commits a horrible act like
this while using a gun EVERYONE wants to jump on gun control and make this
moron the scapegoat for OUR refusal of addressing this issue properly in the
past. This individual will die either at
the hands of the court or in prison but well before he dies someone, if not
already, is going to talk about how conceal weapons legislation is needed in
every state. This is to fulfill our
Mimetic desire to be that Superhero, ‘if I was in that theater and I had a gun
I could have ended it all there and less people would have died or been injured.’ It is a justification to “correct” a situation
but is it the right one?
No doubt that possibly some of
the family and friends of the victims might say ‘yes we needed someone in there
to stop him’ but what we ALL are not realizing is that WE ALL are that someone
that could have stopped it. How you
ask? Well to be honest it really begins
with how we see ourselves. Mostly
Americans are viewed as the Heroes that save those in need so in some people’s
eyes it makes sense to own a gun(s) so that they can save someone somewhere at some
time. But have we thought about how different our society would be if we did
not see the need for a gun? I know what
some of you are thinking, people are bad first before they are good,
right? Is that the way a “God fearing”
Nation should look at people? Well
depending on what church you go to some people might believe that the need for
a gun in our society is helpful because one day the “evil doers” might want to
take over the country and allow Gay people to marry, allow Non-Whites equal
vote and representation, give equal pay to Women, and provide free health care
and education equally to all…I guess for some people the need for a gun is VERY
real!
I’m not going to quote a passage
from any Holy Scriptures here and I’m not going to tell you that I have the answer
to the problem and I’m not going to ask you to sign a petition. All I am saying
is that we ALL need to own what happened in Colorado because we ALL have either
ignored or advocated around the issue of guns in our society. Do I think guns will disappear from our
society...if I gave you an answer then you wouldn’t have to think about it.
Peace/AMOR…if you got the time
Gerardo
