The Problem Is Not In Our Laws, It Is In Ourselves

The talking heads are already exploiting this tragedy for a political agenda. Oh how easy it would be if some simple piece of legislation was the answer. But the guns, my friends, are not the problem. Switzerland has comparable gun ownership without the same level of gun-related deaths. No, the problem is not the gun laws, not in my opinion. I think the real problem is what I saw on the 6:00 news. A relentless focus on every detail of the event. A sensationalization, a morbid festival. In a society bereft of a sense of transcendent meaning, meaning is found by influencing HUMAN history. This is a consequence of what Victor Frankl called the 'existential vacuum'. These people want to make a mark, and that they get what they want. 

The change that needs to take place is not legal, it is cultural. People who do positive things must be given the attention. Good must be spotlighted, not evil. WE are the problem. It is the problem highlighted by the "self-destructive man" in the film WAKING LIFE: "A self-destructive man feels completely alienated, utterly alone. He's an outsider to the human community. He thinks to himself, "I must be insane." What he fails to realize is that society has, just as he does, a vested interest in considerable losses and catastrophes. These wars, famines, floods and quakes meet well-defined needs. Man wants chaos. In fact, he's gotta have it. Depression, strife, riots, murder, all this dread. We're irresistibly drawn to that almost orgiastic state created out of death and destruction. It's in all of us. We revel in it. Sure, the media tries to put a sad face on these things, painting them up as great human tragedies. But we all know the function of the media has never been to eliminate the evils of the world, no. Their job is to persuade us to accept those evils and get used to living with them. The powers that be want us to be passive observers."

This destructive need is what I would call a symptom of original sin. The only cure I see is if we become something totally new, if we finally take the idea of Suffering Love as Ultimate Reality seriously. The Gospels are the only thing that can blow this thing sky high. But until that happens the media showing a little restraint may be a good idea.