"We're Americans...we're better than this..."- a survivor of Jared Lee Loughner's shooting rampage commenting on recent mass shootings in the news.
'We're Americans...we're better than this...'
'No, no we're not.' was my first thought when I heard that statement made on NPR this morning. The myth of American exceptionalism is a dangerous one, and it needs to die. I was going to say, 'it needs to die if we're ever going to get 'better' than this', but there's really no getting better than this. This is the human condition, and we are only able to improve by understanding that we are all animals, and we are all capable of any kind of behavior under the sun.
Think of the worst people you know. Odds are, they believe they have it all figured out. Human potential only shows through when people embrace struggle; the cruelest, stupidest, most backwards among us are people who have decided it is better to embrace a comfortable illusion than to be real.
"God is on our side. Our people are better than their people. My kids would never do anything like that."
There is no god. People are people. You better believe your kids are capable of anything.
Let's stop bullshitting ourselves. We've got work to do.
300,000,000 guns in the US today.
ReplyDeleteThis society is filthy w/t firearms.
The fact that such shootings don't happen everyday is a example of remarkable restraint............
I agree w/ Ape that its amazing this doesn't happen more often. But our culture has a ton to do with it. I disagree that what we're seeing more and more in the U.S. is simply "the human condition." Its the American condition. Very aggressive and violent culture--far more so than than other countries. Did you know that if we could somehow deport all those with Scotts-Irish heritage from the U.S. our murder rate would drop about 15 spots on the lost of industrialized nations? Google the NY Times study. Scotts-Irish southerners commit well over 60% of all murders in U.S. Aggressive, drunk, self-righteous, well-armed, and angry at everybody. Yeeeee hawwww!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe'er number 1....We'er number 1....We'er number 1 in being self rightous, everything we do is right we are the purveyors of the ultimate truth......it's all bullshit.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete