What these sanitized terms refer to are matters of economics, age, gender, physical status, class, domicile, and other identifying characteristics. In past discussions among colleagues from social science, social medicine, and public health, a set of basic assumptions including urban location, lower economic status, and cocultural factors were usually seen as predisposing one to violent, aggressive, life-threatening behavior. And such assumptions were not, and will not, be challenged so long as they are bolstered by statistics. They have and will lead to resolutions based on a more equitable economic outlook, education, and economic opportunity. Recent outbreaks have made mockery of the assumptions that have influenced out thinking of the past.
Violence is now manifest in virtually every niche of American culture.
Paducah, Littleton, Conyers, Atlanta, Los Angeles and now Hawaii and Seattle. The ages, backgrounds, and agenda of the perpetrators are so disparate that the very lack of commonality creates the myth of an irrational, therefore inexplicable, and irresolvable crisis that adds to our growing sense of social panic. What is striking is that the usual polarization and egotistical demagoguery that typically marks these incessant broadcasts are missing. A consensus is building that ours is a society that is ungrounded, desensitized, and bereft of values and norms for behavior. The topic catches my attention and each time the trailer runs, I listen with growing dismay.