a history of violence

So how was the PBS special on gun violence in America last night? Anybody see it?

I wonder if the show's writers made the connection between the fact that the US is now permanently at war with pretty much the whole rest of the world and the level of violence in this society.

Militarism is, after all, nothing but controlled violence. Then you release a few million veterans, who have been schooled and programmed for violence, onto the street, and wonder why your society is out of control.

A feature article at TruthOut yesterday explored this topic thoroughly.

I'd like to ask everybody here to think about this for 30 seconds or so, before you reflexively and angrily reject the argument. Think about the "old west" and its culture of gun violence and shootouts, and think about who was there. It was Civil War vets, for the most part, wasn't it? Men familiar with weapons and violence as the answer to everything, and permanently afflicted with PTSD.

We're in worse and deeper trouble than we know.