It seems unquestionable that the people of this nation are fundamentally enthralled with notoriety and the carnage in which it’s derived. Whether it’s the Boston Marathon bombing incident, the Sandy Hook shooting or the Virginia Tech shooting, the people of this country will become, without doubt, obsessively attached to the news coverage of these events, attempting to learn about the mindset of these killers. Though I think this understanding can give us insight about the psychological health of our nation and could possibly help in the reduction of violent crimes, I think it is more important to understand the consequences of giving notoriety to the most psychologically unstable people amongst us.
The obsessive analysis of these murders indicates to me that people are concerned with understanding the root issues of our violent culture and are interested in fixing it. If I were in charge I would bypass such an inexact science and instead propose a strict form of gun control, but I understand even the most watered down form of gun control legislation won’t pass in this senate. Ninety percent of the nation is in favor of expanded background checks but our fearless senate shot it down; but I digress. The point is this: we must consider other options of reducing the violence in our society.
Some people (gun nuts) have proposed reducing violence in video games and movies, asserting that this simulated form of violence somehow desensitizes young males to the horrors of death. This hypothesis is completely unfounded and has been statistically debunked, but that won’t stop gun lobbyists from pushing this agenda. Furthermore, these same people place blame on rap culture, arguing that it has influenced white youth to the appeal of gun violence. These assessments cannot be taken seriously and so, again, we are forced to consider different options.
I’d like to propose a solution that I feel will diminish, at least to some degree, the overwhelming prevalence of mass violence. I believe our issue is fundamentally tied to our society’s obsessive nature. This past week I watched the news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, eager to not only understand the mindset of the killer, hoping to somehow comprehend how a human can senselessly kill innocent people, but also to selfishly gain some form of primitive satisfaction from the story being unraveled. I’m not proud of this, but it’s true.
I find that we are unwilling to discuss this aspect of our human psyche because we are ashamed that we can be so callous. Serial killers yearn for our attention, regardless if they’ll be alive to experience the notoriety they’ve gained. Let’s attack the issue at the root, then. If we are to concede on the gun control debate, if we wish for sociopaths to have easy access to weapons of mass violence, then we are left no other option but to control our desire and look away from the proverbial car crash. Let’s not give in to the media’s obsessive, pornographic depiction of violence.
I am not advocating that we should not care about the deaths of others. I’m also not advocating the media stop covering these important issues. I’m saying that we should pull it back a bit. Cover the story enough for people to understand it, but don’t cover the story to the point these killers gain notoriety. Putting a sociopath’s face on television for 22 hours a day only validates their desire to be noticed.
It’s not necessary for me to know intimate details of their lives, regardless of primitive curiosity; I’m not in the position to use that information to prevent further killing. All it accomplishes is giving the sociopaths assurance that they will have an audience. If we as a culture truly find these acts of violence as heinous as we claim, then we need to make an effort to abstain from giving the criminals of these crimes the attention they desire, and let them fall into obscurity where they belong. It might help prevent a few killings, after all.
Nick Castine can be contacted at
ncastine@keene-equinox.com