Kill the Children...

With respect to all,

Killing or torturing children is, apparently, a popular pass time in the United States. It is not new, having a very long history in factories, sweatshops, and homes. The first case of child abuse was prosecuted using cruelty to animals as a legal basis because there were no laws protecting children in the US at the time. Today we have children kept in chains, forced starvation, and, of course, used as targets for deranged people with guns.

So we argue that we should ban guns. Seems simple. Yet misses the most important issue: why do people want to harm children in the first place? The history, breadth and depth of child abuse and neglect, should teach us that any weapon will do. It feels right to ban the weapon. It feels as though we are "doing something" about killing innocents. But violence is not about the weapon, its about violence. And we in the United States, are obsessed with violence. We don't go to a movie unless there is an incredible amount of gratuitous violence, we support corporal punishment, and we give up parenting because its too hard (or because to parent means we are not our child's friend).

We Americans often miss the mark as we too often want simple, direct, and sexy answers. War is sexy, lets not negotiate or mediate, lets "bomb them back into the stone age." We use bumper sticker logic, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," Someone shoots someone take away their gun. Right, problem solved. Not even close.

Unless and until we are willing to look at root causes, consider less sexy, but more appropriate and effective measures, we will suffer the consequences. How hard is that? Very.

Yours, Daiho Hilbert