Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Why don't we worry about our young men being "radicalized" by our culture of gun violence?

Jeff Lahm, in a letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, raises a good question concerning "radicalization," prompted by early reports that the male San Bernadino shooter had been radicalized during a visit to Saudi Arabia.   Of course, later evidence obtained from phone and computer records showed that he had been well along into the process before he made that trip.

But the question for us Americans remains, as Jeff Lahm wrote:
"If we believe that people can be radicalized by a few months in the Middle East, then we must believe that our own children can become radicalized to gun violence by watching television shows and movies that glamorize guns and shooting people.

"Our children and disillusioned youth spend their entire lives learning via television that brandishing guns and shooting people is sexy, fun and a legitimate method of problem solving.   Some normal looking young white man will likely commit the next non-terrorist related mass murder.   In the aftermath, I hope Americans will demand to know how he was radicalized to gun violence, and not just where he found the gun."
Yes.

Ralph

No comments:

Post a Comment