Guns and murder
Guns and murder
The eruption of violence in our nation has eclipsed our media’s ability to report it. The national media covered two episodes of mass murder this week — San Bernardino and Colorado Springs — yet there were 13 shootings this week alone. That has been about average for this year, with a total of 353 so far.
The pundits (such as Malcolm Gladwell, www.newyorker.com) who say mass murder has become like a gradually erupting riot, made more acceptable through time, might not be wrong. Minneapolis, not exactly known for its violence or instability, had four shootings in two months. There were other shootings in rural areas across the country. Most did not occur in large urban areas.
We are forced to view murder in our own nation the way we do with disasters and terrorism abroad — selectively, unable to have memorials or express indignation toward each one. There are so many incidents, in fact, that people have created a dedicated website simply to track them (shootingtracker.com).
The reality is that it could happen anywhere and at anytime. That is the view we have developed through time of terrorism (unpredictable and capricious). But it has become a reality in our own nation. No place is immune, no matter how rural or isolated or peaceful. No matter its history of violence.
As Gladwell posits, the threshold for resorting to violence has gradually diminished, meaning the motivations and provocations for mass murder are now easier to reach than ever before in our history. (Hating abortion clinics and murdering its practitioners are two entirely irreconcilable situations).
Guns are, of course, fundamental culprits, and ought to be immediately banned or restricted as they are in most developed nations. But it is more than that.
Our country has become desensitized to the tragedy of murder, and to the perversity of such brutal devices as guns. There are 300 million of them in our nation.
Since our nation’s inception, certain cohorts have demanded that they remain an intimate part of our existence. They got their wish.
Matthew Pflaum
Honolulu
Stop abortions
How many of you know abortions are done at the Hilo Surgical Center on Fridays? I recently found that many people aren’t aware they are being done there. Hilo Community Surgery Center is known for its various surgeries that actually are healing people. Abortions performed there are actually destroying innocent life, not saving it.
We might not have Planned Parenthood here on the Big Island, but we have something almost as bad — this is only the tip of the iceberg.
I ask those who are not in favor of abortions to join the protests conducted there from 10 a.m.-noon every Friday morning, rain or shine. We are there to pray for those who ask for prayer and be a silent presence standing against abortion and standing for the innocent.
It is time to call a halt to this practice.
Barbara Ferraro
Hilo
Concerned Women for America of Hawaii