The Real Evil (IMHO)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, contrary to what we're hearing from our politicians, now is the time to talk about why tragedies like the one in Newtown, Conn., seem to keep occurring in this country. This in no way should suggest that my heart doesn't bleed for those whose lives were blown apart on Dec. 14. Nor is it to imply that we shouldn't, as a nation, take the time to mourn the lives lost, both children's and adults'. As a parent, I don't even want to consider the depth of the grief that losing a child would cause, because if I put myself in that place, I'm afraid, I wouldn't be able to climb out.
   But I hear people throwing around the word "evil" to describe shooter Adam Lanza and what he did. Granted, I know no more about him and his life than most of the rest of us, but from what I have read so far, I am pretty sure he was not evil. And that word concerns me. It is an easy one to trot out when something like this happens (remember
Columbine?). The danger is that it seems to absolve the rest of us of any responsibility, and perhaps more significantly, sets up a contrast between the object and those who label it. If I say that a thing is evil, it sets me on the opposite side of the scale and makes me an innocent victim of that thing. After all, what can a mere mortal do against a presence as powerful as evil?
   We cannot afford to sit in that comfortable seat. If we allow ourselves to pontificate from there, we will learn nothing, and nothing will change. And that would only compound the tragedy. There are a couple of different conversations I think we should have. One is about violence, and the other is about the "smart but quiet" kids.
   According to Mother Jones magazine, more than three-quarters of the guns used in the 62 mass murders in the United States since 1982, including assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns, were obtained legally: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map. BBC notes that a Small Arms Survey in 2007 estimated that there were 88.8 firearms for every 100 Americans. It goes on to quote James Jacobs, director of the Center for Research in Crime and Justice at New York University, who says, "All of the policy momentum in the last 20 years has been in the direction of gun owners' rights": http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20742508
   Why? Well, the National Rifle Association, which boasts 4.3 million members, may have something to do with it. "The NRA has pretty much set the agenda for the Congress, ... ," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., a gun control advocate who represents an urban district near Chicago. "Even after Columbine, we didn't really make progress in moving forward." That is from a 2009 article by CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-501563_162-2698141.html.
   According to Influence Explorer, in the last presidential election, the NRA spent $5,844,024 against Barack Obama and $1,850,525 in support of Mitt Romney. In all, it spent $16,831,054 in campaign contributions. From 2011 through the second quarter of 2012, it has spent $4,395,000 on lobbying: http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/national-rifle-assn/55251eb36a2142f8a74c56455af6f11e.
   Nor is the NRA alone in this battle. Meet the much smaller Gun Owners of America (GOA). This group, founded in 1975, spent more than $690,000 on lobbying in 2010 and close to $6,000 in political contributions: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/guncontrol/a/Gun-Owners-of-America.htm. If buying votes didn't work, I sincerely doubt that these groups would be spending this kind of money.
   Who knows whether it's our guns that spawned our destructive gun culture or whether that culture is behind our inability to regulate our guns. What I do know is that, over the years, our movies have gotten more and more violent, electronic games have gotten more graphic and bloody, and TV shows like The Sopranos and Dexter have brought unspeakably horrifying visuals into our homes. Scary images loom over us from billboards and the sides of buses, and our children are forced to contemplate them daily. Even the children whose parents try to shield them. Beyond that are those children like the little girl whose voice I heard during the Vietnam scene in Forrest Gump saying, "Mommy, I'm scared." She couldn't have been older than 8. Her mother neither took her out of the theater nor rested a reassuring arm around her shoulder. What kinds of nightmares do you think that little girl had in the nights that followed? How inured do you think she is now to the idea of violence?
   And now to Adam. He has been described as highly intelligent and socially awkward. I don't know whether he had any medical diagnoses beyond autism spectrum disorder (and I don't know whether that's official), but I do know that children with just those characteristics alone have it very tough. Imagine the mental agony, the despair one would have to feel to even contemplate an action like this massacre, much less carry it out.
   I have seen this progression more times than I can count: Everyone laughs indulgently at the little child with the precocious comments. Everyone applauds and appreciates the adult whose discovery, inspiration, or invention moves us all forward in some way. But the person in between is, most of the time, ignored, shunned, and generally seen as annoying and/or weird. The person in between is left to fend for him/herself at a time when we all need more than anything to be helped and understood. And I'm talking about those children whose only "difference" is their giftedness. Those with other issues have it that much tougher.
   Some survive this "in between" phase, and others don't. Some are lucky and find a mentor. Others come to the conclusion that it's easier to fade into the background. They and the world are the losers in that scenario. Teachers and parents who are confronted by a gifted child they don't quite know how to help have a place to turn: http://www.sengifted.org/. Another great website is http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/.
   The worst outcome of this tragedy would be that Adam Lanza is branded as evil, his act is seen as an anomaly, school guards will take to wearing and using guns, preschoolers will be X-rayed and searched, and we will move complacently on, like the revelers in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" (http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/), sure that we have made our locks strong enough and our castle walls high enough. Until the next time, when we will be shocked once again at the appearance of "evil" among us.
   The best that could come of this would be that we, as a nation, stop talking about the horrors of our gun culture and actually do something about it. The best outcome would be that we reinstate some of our gun control laws and enact a few more. The best outcome would be that we boycott the most violent TV programs, electronic games, and movies until those behind them get the message that they need to be more socially responsible. It would be that we develop sympathy for the "weird" kids and give them the reinforcement and support they need. And it would be that we finally own up to the real evil: the huge damage that big money does to our political system ~ and, through it, to our lives.