Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Poor parenting skills? Seriously?

Oh, I so wish I could comment on the FaceBook thread that popped up on my feed today--the one where gun fans are bemoaning the lack of morality and good parenting skills that lead to all these mass shootings by young people. But since it's a "friend of a friend" posting, I could only share it. No thanks. But I'll comment briefly here.

I would really like to ask these folks: so which country should we turn to, to emulate their morality and parenting style? England? Germany? Japan? Sweden? Australia? Canada? Any of the other countries that have a) young people, b) mental illness, c) video games, d) crime, --but nothing like the amount of gun violence we have in the US--because there are many.

Seriously, which should we turn to? Because I have a feeling when we go hat in hand to Australia to ask how on earth they manage to avoid mass shootings, they're not going to talk about parenting skills or morality. They're going to say, "It's your f***ing guns, you idiots."

I haven't commented on the Santa Barbara shooting on FaceBook. Since I'm venting a little bit, I thought I'd bring my comments here. But there's much that could be said, and I feel for Richard Martinez as he voices the outrage and grief that many of us have felt as we witness one horrific shooting after another.

I do think there's a discussion to be had about the shooter's mental state and how he was able to be so well-armed after being so troubled. But it's not poor parenting skills that lead to close to 300 people being shot every day in the US. There's something else in the equation. And we all know what it is.

You want to watch a very uncomfortable 2:15 of video--watch the video below. You want to be ashamed of what some people in this country have become? Read the comments on the YouTube page below the video.