#ak15

Why did he do it? We glorify violence. We glorify the tools of violence. Our Nation, our Culture, glorifies the use of violence to solve problems. Look at any video game, at any ‘contact’ sport --- from our SWAT teams armed to the teeth with tactical weapons to Superman comics and Popeye cartoons --- violence is glorified as the solution to problems. From any “charming” James Bond movie to the shock & awe invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, violence is sold to us as the definitive solution, but it solves nothing. Violence may coerce obedience. Violence can interrupt an on-going action, but it does nothing to resolve the problems that initiated that action. Violence denies the problem and interrupts the real chance at resolution as being unnecessary. The use of violence to ‘solve’ a problem is a denial of reality. Cutting off the hands of a thief of bread does nothing to feed the hungry. Killing Osama Ben Laden does not resolve the underlying impetus on the part of the followers of al Qaeda to act against what they perceive to be injustices. Violence is brutal. Premeditated violence is evil. However, violence is cheap and easy, and is resorted to by those who fail to address the real kernel of the problem at hand. Its victories are the victories of those who have failed to become civilized.