My mind is reeling pretty much like everyone else this morning - just saw the news from Aurora Colorado, the mass shooting at the midnight showing of Batman The Dark Knight Rises. I don't understand what motivates a person to do something like this. I am sad and heartsick. And I was shocked to find out there were babies and young children - as young as six in the audience. Call me a softy or whatever you want, but I don't understand the mindset of parents who expose their young - very young to such violence and disregard for human life as is played out on screen. This was no place for children.
My heart goes out to all the victims, loved ones and the survivors. Just because they may not have been hit by a bullet doesn't mean they will be alright. Every person in that building was victimized and scarred.
I may edit this posting later, my thoughts are too scattered to be anything but sick and outraged.
** ADDED/EDITED AT 2:00 a.m. 07-21-2012
Throughout my day I’ve been keeping up with the news out of Colorado. It’s no less shocking and hurtful at this late hour than it was as breaking news this morning. It could’ve have been any of us in that theater and my prayers go out to those families and souls who were there.
There’s much about this incident that is wrong and frightening on many levels.
Already the finger pointing over has begun. Some say guns (no doubt gun control laws will become a bigger issue in the upcoming elections) are to blame. Other say the glamorization of violence in the entertainment industry is to blame. The bottom line is a very disturbed young man is to blame.
I support my personal right to bear arms – and my neighbors. I don’t buy the argument that because we have access to guns we have mayhem. A man, or woman, can take a life with his or her bare hands, and guess what – we’ve all got those! I'm not sure about the statistics, but my guess would be far more people in this country are negatively impacted by domestic violence than misuse of guns.
What I take issue with is the nonchalant, irresponsible way so many of our young parents expose their small children to graphic violence. When you expose a small child to viewing graphic violence, yourself accepting it as par for the course, you are teaching them that killing each other is, you know, just what we do here. The tool of choice becomes of secondary importance whether it’s a gun, bomb, knife or fist.
Babies don’t belong in movies. Children under 13 don’t belong in graphically violent movies. By 13, the human mind is better equipped to understanding right from wrong and sorting through what is being viewed on screen. Any parent with half a brain wouldn’t take their four year old child into a theater they suspected a gunman of hiding in. So why would a parent take their four year child into a theater where they KNEW their kid was going to see people blown to bits? This makes no sense to me. And I’m not just referring to the people who had their small children in that theater in Aurora. As the news and peoples shock and outrage flood the media, I’ve read account after account of parents from all over the country, my own hometown, saying how disappointed their four year old was, or five year old was when they had to postpone seeing Batman. Doctors of psychology, parenting experts, behavioral experts have been warning us for DECADES about the emotional damage viewing violence at an early age can AND DOES have on young children. This is, after all, why we have a movie rating system – HELLO!!!
Gun control laws and the movie industry cannot, and should not, have to make up for irresponsible parenting. Just because something is available doesn’t mean it’s appropriate or healthy for every age. Come on people think! How the up and coming generations are raised affects us all.
My heart goes out to all the victims, loved ones and the survivors. Just because they may not have been hit by a bullet doesn't mean they will be alright. Every person in that building was victimized and scarred.
I may edit this posting later, my thoughts are too scattered to be anything but sick and outraged.
** ADDED/EDITED AT 2:00 a.m. 07-21-2012
Throughout my day I’ve been keeping up with the news out of Colorado. It’s no less shocking and hurtful at this late hour than it was as breaking news this morning. It could’ve have been any of us in that theater and my prayers go out to those families and souls who were there.
There’s much about this incident that is wrong and frightening on many levels.
Already the finger pointing over has begun. Some say guns (no doubt gun control laws will become a bigger issue in the upcoming elections) are to blame. Other say the glamorization of violence in the entertainment industry is to blame. The bottom line is a very disturbed young man is to blame.
I support my personal right to bear arms – and my neighbors. I don’t buy the argument that because we have access to guns we have mayhem. A man, or woman, can take a life with his or her bare hands, and guess what – we’ve all got those! I'm not sure about the statistics, but my guess would be far more people in this country are negatively impacted by domestic violence than misuse of guns.
What I take issue with is the nonchalant, irresponsible way so many of our young parents expose their small children to graphic violence. When you expose a small child to viewing graphic violence, yourself accepting it as par for the course, you are teaching them that killing each other is, you know, just what we do here. The tool of choice becomes of secondary importance whether it’s a gun, bomb, knife or fist.
Babies don’t belong in movies. Children under 13 don’t belong in graphically violent movies. By 13, the human mind is better equipped to understanding right from wrong and sorting through what is being viewed on screen. Any parent with half a brain wouldn’t take their four year old child into a theater they suspected a gunman of hiding in. So why would a parent take their four year child into a theater where they KNEW their kid was going to see people blown to bits? This makes no sense to me. And I’m not just referring to the people who had their small children in that theater in Aurora. As the news and peoples shock and outrage flood the media, I’ve read account after account of parents from all over the country, my own hometown, saying how disappointed their four year old was, or five year old was when they had to postpone seeing Batman. Doctors of psychology, parenting experts, behavioral experts have been warning us for DECADES about the emotional damage viewing violence at an early age can AND DOES have on young children. This is, after all, why we have a movie rating system – HELLO!!!
Gun control laws and the movie industry cannot, and should not, have to make up for irresponsible parenting. Just because something is available doesn’t mean it’s appropriate or healthy for every age. Come on people think! How the up and coming generations are raised affects us all.
