Tragedy

Everyone is talking about it. That's perfectly understandable. Why did it happen? Who's to blame? What's to blame? Everyone keeps saying how sorry they are, what a tragedy it is.

And it is a tragedy. A terrible tragedy.

But I'd be lying if I said news of mass shootings like the one this week in Colorado shock me anymore.

I was in middle school when the Columbine High School shooting happened in 1999, and it seems to me that ever since then, more and more of these terrible random shootings happen every year.

In the inevitable debate from the aftermath of this most recent shooting, I keep seeing people cast the blame on a lack of gun control here in the US.

But are we really that surprised that it happened? Honestly, I'm not.

In a country where movies and television shows depicting terrible death for entertainment, are we surprised?

In a country where children play video games which enable them to act out a death and war fantasy for fun, are we surprised?

History tells us there used to be another country, an empire, where its citizens gathered together to enjoy watching the slaughter of others.

And we condemn that history openly, we say how barbaric it was.

But with our violence-filled entertainment, are we really that different from Rome?

The thing is, America is beginning to remind me more and more of the things that I know of Ancient Rome.

Don't mistake me. I'm as guilty as everyone else of partaking of violent entertainment. And I'm starting to question it. I'm starting to question my choice of entertainment.

Please don't take me for one of those people who say that the video games are to blame.

I'm also not suggesting the government police the things that we watch on television or in movies, the video games people play, the books people read.

What I am suggesting is that maybe a lack of gun control isn't the only culprit.

Perhaps we ought reexamine the entertainment we surround ourselves with. Perhaps we ought to examine what drives these so obviously ill and desperate people to do these awful things. Perhaps we ought not to be so quick to blame gun control.

The real root of this problem is too complex to blame on one issue.

These terrible shootings are a perfect storm of bad things: easy access to weapons, a mentally unstable person with a lack of adequate resources available to them, and an entertainment industry which suggests this sort of violence is an acceptable response.

I'm not convinced taking guns away from people will fix anything.