In the Country of Violence

“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer.” – D. H. Lawrence

The photograph is that of a simple young man looking as if he was lost in the waves. He is a rather awkward young man meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time before taking her to prom. Maybe he’ll also bring her flowers (is this still the tradition?) for their first date. The other photo shows James Holmes, a neurosciences student, in his true form: Covered in leather and metal, like Goliath dressed to face David. Except this time, it’s the giant who wins. The arena? A movie theater in the town of Aurora — population 325,078 — a city next to Denver, a skier’s paradise. The result: 12 killed, 59 wounded, a country paralyzed, and world opinion that poses the questions, “Why such violence? Why the United States? Why so often?”

Criminologist Lonnie Athens once hastily responded to these questions in a conference concerning the subject by way of the title of his speech, “Why we Americans are so violent … It’s a local matter, and none of your damn business.” * General George S. Patton provided another explanation, this time from a military point of view: “Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.” A valid explanation for situations of war, however this explanation falls short when used to describe killer in a public place or on a university campus.

There are a number of experts who jump to label the early settlers who arrived on American soil with Christopher Columbus murderers. And history will record that the 102 Mayflower “pilgrims” who, on November 21, 1620, landed on the coast of Plymouth were not at all the sweet benefactors of mankind described in textbooks. In fact, they were far from it. Nor were their descendants, who joyfully launched a massacre of the natives before parking their heirs on reservations, any sweeter. One could also note the abominable acts of slavery and segregation of blacks, all the outlaws from the past to recent times, urban violence, domestic violence involving spouses and children.

In 1865 there was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, followed by those of three other presidents: James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy, the violent deaths of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech and Tucson. Each time, America looked at her past, analyzed the behavior of her sons, trying to find an explanation for the unspeakable, but to no avail. Eleven assassination attempts have been made against presidents of the U.S. — more than a fifth of the men who have succeeded each other to the White House. Still not included in this astounding report are the survivors such as Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Gerald Ford, all of whom escaped without a scratch. There are also the less fortunate, such as Theodore Roosevelt who was wounded during the presidential campaign of 1912. Ronald Reagan was also seriously wounded by the bullets of John Hinckley, who was anxious to attract the attention of actress Jodie Foster.

The numbers speak even louder than this list. The annual average of those wounded by gunshots is around 50,000, while 25,000 of those accidents are caused by firearms. The statistics on violent deaths in the U.S. indicate a figure eight times higher than those recorded in countries with similar political and economic systems and are roughly the same as underdeveloped and/or politically unstable countries. Forty four million Americans, a quarter of the adult population, own one or two firearms. Even more worrisome, these citizens hold about 192 killing machines in their homes, 65 million of which are handguns. How is one to believe that we can resist the temptation to use it one day or another?

Sociologists blame the wave of violence that is sweeping the U.S. on certain aspects of video game culture, all of which can be seen in this year’s Dark Knight, the last installment of the Batman series that was playing on the cinema screen in Aurora the day of the massacre.

Whatever happened to Snow White and the Flintstones?

*Editor’s note: This quote could not be verified; it is possible the author misattributed it and that Howard Smead, a history professor, may have actually said it.