Aging Capriciously

The experts in the media, academia and political halls throughout America are all calling for a decline in violence.  The calls and pleas that they are making to reduce violence will be about as effective as the prayers to stop school shootings or yelling at the moon not to go behind the clouds.  There is a simple reason that they will not be effective.  It is because we are all eating from what I will call the Recipe for Violence in America.  If you want to reduce poisonings, you stop people from eating or at least having ready access to poisons.  The Recipe for Violence in America is systemic in that it pervades every culture, every ethnic group, every regional group and every economic group in America.  We are all eating from the same poisonous recipe.

There are four main ingredients to this recipe, but first I want to tell you a short story.  A week or so ago, I went to a local sports bar in Casa Grande called Mc Mashers.  They are known for having more TV’s than I can count all showing an array of sports from motorcycle racing to the more common sports like football and baseball.  It was a Saturday and I wanted to see the fight live between Canelo and Crawford.  I figured if anyone in town would show the fight live, it would be Mc Mashers.

Karen and I went in and sat down at a high-top table between two walls of televisions portraying several various sporting events.  It was almost 8 PM Arizona Time and I thought that the prelim fights before the main bout should be showing.  I did not see anything that looked like a fight on any of the screens in the pub.  The server came over ( a young woman with a friendly smile) and asked if we wanted something to drink and were we going to eat.  Quickly I asked if the Canelo Crawford fight was going to be showing on any of the screens.  She replied “No, sorry, the owner does not allow fights on our screens.”  This struck me as very peculiar.  A sports bar with football on half the screens but the owner will not show MMA or boxing matches.  I was curious if it was a moral or ethical issue that the owner had with fighting.  “No” said the young woman, “It is because fighting on screen leads to too many fights in the bar. You mix on screen fighting with liquor and you get fights.”

Since Karen and I were both hungry we decided to eat and then see if we could catch the fight elsewhere.  We had a few beers and a very pleasant pub meal and discussed the reply that we had heard.  I was very struck by our servers comments as I realized from past experience that it made a lot of sense.  You mix certain things together and you have a Recipe for Violence.  The bar owner knew it.  The young server knew it.  But the experts in Congress seem oblivious to this fact.  All our elected leaders can do is offer prayers and platitudes.  I should have told the bar owner he would get more business if he prayed more.

So think about it for a minute.  What do you need for a Recipe for Violence?  The following are what I see as the main ingredients.

1. A culture that glamorizes violence
2. Pervasive opportunities to absorb violence
3. Available enemies that it is legitimate to wreak violence on
4. A plentiful supply of weapons that will make wreaking violence on others easy and fatal

 1. A culture that glamorizes violence

When I was growing up, cowboy shows were all the rage.  The main thing that made cowboy movies interesting were the shootouts.  The most notorious gunslinger and killer in the old west was John Wesley Hardin who was credited with killing some 40 odd men.  None of his shootouts were ever documented to be mano a mano gunfights down the middle of main street.  He killed one man by shooting him through a hotel room wall.  The statistics on true wild west shootouts such as Hickok versus Tutt which featured the classic walk towards each other and draw and shoot show few documented gun fights such as were featured on wild west tv shows.  Nevertheless, since people like to see shootouts, tv provided them in abundance.  The good guy Lucas McCain on the show The Rifleman killed 120 people in “fair” fights while Marshall Dillon on the show Gunsmoke killed and estimated 400 people although not all in one on one gun fights.

Since the heyday of cowboy shows in the fifties and sixties, the violence on tv has been augmented by video games where the most popular games for boys involve shootouts and killings beyond count.  You could not begin to count the number of people that get murdered in these video games.  Furthermore, the killings are more graphic and numerous than anything that was ever shown on the old westerns.  One game player claims to have achieved 461 kills in a single match of Black Ops 6 according to a YouTube video.  Two of the more popular games for young teens include:

Call of Duty: A massive, annual franchise that includes modern, historical, and futuristic warfare settings.  It is very popular for its competitive multiplayer modes.  The games are rated “M” for intense violence, language, and in some cases, graphic combat scenes.

Doom: Known for its fast-paced action and gruesome combat against demons.  The modern reboot and its sequel, Doom Eternal, are beloved for their bloody, over-the-top violence and heavy metal soundtrack.

In most multiplayer modes, especially those like Team Deathmatch or Domination, the goal is to accumulate as many kills as possible.  The game doesn’t impose a strict limit on how many kills a player can get in a single match in these modes.  This means that in theory, players can achieve extremely high kill counts.  Add the graphic violence that you can see in these videos and you have a major ingredient for Violence in America.

Now if you are some kind of expert, you might want to insist that these games are nothing but fantasies and that they help young teens to let off murderous urges that would otherwise go unchecked.  They are all fun and good times.  Strange though that the bar owner at Mc Mashers would tell you that the violence on screen transferred in real time and real life to violence in his bar.  All the hypothetical bullshit that we hear to emasculate the idea that violence condoned leads to more violence has done nothing  to stem the rising tide of Violence in America.

2.  Pervasive opportunities to absorb violence : Here are some key findings on the pervasiveness of Violence on America

Key findings

1. 1. 1. 1. Children’s exposure to violence is very common

• About 60% of American children had been exposed in the past year to violence, crime, or abuse in homes, schools, or communities. Office of Justice Programs
• Nearly 40% of children were direct victims of two or more violent acts in that same period. Office of Justice Programs
• Around 10% of children had been victims five or more times in a year. Office of Justice Programs
• Lifetime exposure: 66% have experienced two or more types of violence; about 30% have experienced five or more types; 10% experienced more than 10 different types of violence over childhood. Office of Justice Programs

2. Rates of witnessing or victimization among older children and youth

• 41% of children (in ages <18) reported being assaulted in a given year; around 10% were injured in an assault. OJJDP
• ~5.6% for children aged 5-17 had exposure to neighborhood violence (either witness or victim) in 2019; with older children (13-17) having higher exposure than younger (5-12). CDC
• Racial disparities exist: non-Hispanic Black children have higher rates of neighborhood violence exposure than Hispanic or non-Hispanic white children. CDC

3.  Gun-violence exposure among adults and youth

• Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults have experienced some form of in-person exposure to gun violence—witnessing shootings, being threatened, etc. ScienceDirect+1
• Over half of U.S. adults (≈ 54-58%) report personally or through someone close to them having been exposed to a gun-related incident (being threatened, witnessing a shooting, having someone in the family affected). KFF+1
• Among children/adolescents: ~8% have been exposed to a shooting in their lifetime (and that figure is higher—~13%—among older youth, ages 14-17). KFF

4.  Violence and mass shootings

• ~7% of U.S. adults report having been present at the scene of a mass shooting (defined as 4+ people shot) in their lifetime. JAMA Network
• A smaller share (~2%) report being injured in such mass shootings. JAMA Network

1. 1. 1. 5. General statistics on gun deaths

• In 2023, about 46,728 people died from gun violence in the U.S. Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Firearms remained the leading cause of death for young people aged 1-17 over recent years, surpassing car crashes, overdoses, or cancers. Bloomberg School of Public Health

6.  Child maltreatment / abuse / neglect

• In 2022, about 558,899 children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect in the U.S. National Children’s Alliance
• Exposure to intimate partner violence, domestic violence, etc., adds further to the risk. (E.g. 17.9% of all children have been exposed to physical intimate partner violence in their lives.)

3.  Available enemies that it is legitimate to wreak violence on

If you are going to kill someone, you must first hate them.  Hate can come from many sources, but it can also be manufactured.  Hate culturally has always been a prerequisite for attacking another country or for justifying wars between different ideologies or religions.  Hate more domestically can come from demonizing political opponents or people who simply think differently than we do.  Here are a few examples of statements that serve to demonize others.  Such statements make these people into enemies, and it has become more legitimate to attack and even kill our enemies.

Donald Trump — blaming the “radical left” for Charlie Kirk’s killing

In an Oval Office address following the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Trump blamed the “radical left” for political violence, despite the fact that the shooter’s identity and motives were not clearly established. He said that “for years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.  This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”

Why this is demonizing: It frames an entire political side (“radical left”) as violent, morally depraved, and directly responsible for “terrorism.” It generalizes and attributes collective guilt.

JB Pritzker, Illinois Governor, speech at NH Democratic fundraiser

During a Democratic Party event in New Hampshire, Governor Pritzker sharply criticized the Trump administration and associated Republicans with terms likening their governance to authoritarianism.  He particularly targeted what he described as “authoritarian policies and unethical behavior” from Trump and his allies.  He urged Democrats to resist those policies forcefully.

Why some interpret it as demonizing: Using words like “authoritarian” suggests that the other side is not just wrong but anti-democratic or dangerous. This kind of language paints opponents as enemies of shared democratic norms, not merely political rivals.

It should be no surprise that in America today, the gulf between Republicans and Democrats and Liberals and Conservatives and Left-Wing and Right-Wing politics has spread to a chasm that is too wide to ever cross.  Many are now declaring that a War exists in America, and the only solution is to “wipe” the other side off the face of the earth.  Add this ingredient to the Recipe for Violence and there is only one more ingredient that you need.

4.  A plentiful supply of weapons that will make wreaking violence on others easy and fatal

I can quote you all the statistics about the availability of guns and gun laws.  The gun carry laws that have now been abandoned.  In Arizona, I can carry a gun without a permit either concealed or not.  This is beyond crazy.  No one I know feels safter when in a Walmart if they spot some gun owner wearing his Glock 19 on his belt.  They will usually walk away or detour down another aisle.  Do you feel safer knowing that the guy or gal in the car behind you might have an AR 15 or handgun on their seat beside them?  Did you know that most towns, even in the days of the old West did not allow open carry on their streets?

Two towns that are often featured in old cowboy movies as havens for gunfights and wild west shootouts were Tombstone, Arizona and Dodge City, Kansas.  The mythology is that these towns were lawless, and shootouts were a common occurrence.  The truth is vastly different. Tombstone, Arizona passed ordinances in the 1880s “to provide against the carrying of deadly weapons.”  Dodge City, among others, had large signs announcing that carrying firearms in town was prohibited.

Summary:

If we want to decrease the Violence in America, we will have to create a new recipe.  A Recipe for Peace rather than violence.  Calls to decrease violence will amount to nothing in the long run unless the underlying factors that create violence are disrupted.  This will not happen in a short period of time.  We have been creating a violent culture for decades now.  If we want to change things, we will have to make a commitment for a long term effort to erode and erase the ingredients that lead to violence.