The Five Elements – Sin and Science #3

by Marty Coleman | Dec 19, 2012 | Sin and Science - 2012 | 102 comments

The children and adults at Sandy Hook are dead because of the 5 elements shown above.  Unless we address those five elements we will not have the change we want.  Here why I think they matter.

• The Gun – Yes, the gun matters.  It was a gun that was used to killed them.  Those who say it doesn’t matter, that if guns were banned the bad guys would find some other way of committing mass atrocities are wrong. There is ample evidence that people will not be likely to kill another person if they have to use a weapon that demands them to be in contact with the person.  They will not use a knife for example because they would have to be right there with the person and they would be afraid of having the weapon taken away and it being turned on them. They are also afraid they wouldn’t know how to actually do the killing or be strong enough. And finally they would not want blood all over them.  Sick, but true.  So, guns, and what type of guns are legal, matter in the debate. To say they don’t is to deny reality.

• The Hand –  Yes, the hand matters. It was a specific person who pulled the trigger.  He (or in rare cases she) should be held personally responsible for their actions. That is what our legal system is built for and should be used for.  Training our children to take personal responsibility for their actions is one of the primary jobs of a parent, and those supporting the family.  Having sane and effective consequences for the child,  and, even more importantly, adults, who do not take that responsibility are essential.  If we don’t include this in the debate we will not find the most effective answer to our violence problem.

• The Brain – Yes, the brain matters.  I called it a brain instead of a mind because I want to focus on the reality of what happens in the physical part of the body called the brain.  Mental illness is an unfortunate term in some ways because it makes us think that it’s simply about what a person thinks, not the physical structure of the brain itself.  If you break a bone in your arm you don’t say you have an arm disease. When you pull a quad muscle during a run  you don’t say you have a thigh disease.   You call it something specific. You have a pulled quad muscle or a broken arm.  People with mental illness have something physically wrong with their brain.  It is harder to distill than when the injury is in other parts of the body, but it’s just as real. What that means is that it is not true that all people are in control of themselves and their actions at all time. There are things that happen in the brain that change perception of reality and make people not able to understand right from wrong, real threats from imagined ones. We are learning more about this all the time.  We need to include this focus on the brain, how it can malfunction and what we can do to heal it or else we will not have an satisfactory answer to our national problem.

• The Eye – Yes, the eye matters. What we fill our eyes (and thus our minds) with affect who we are.  If we spend our time watching movies and games that have as their focus the hurting of other people again and again, whether physically or emotionally, then we are very likely to start thinking along those lines. Programs, games and events that insistently show or allow us to participate voyeuristically in murder, killing, raping,  terrorism, war and mayhem for it’s entertainment value do indeed move us in that direction. It becomes what we think about more than if we didn’t see or interact with those things. But I am also talking about mean-spirited, gossipy, and self-righteous programs and speakers whose sole goal is to make fun of other people, to cut them down and belittle them for being different than, and thus less than, they are.  What we watch and put in our minds and hearts matter.

• The Dollar – Yes, money matters.  Gun manufacturing is driven by sales, just as cars and toys are.  No sales and the cars, toys or guns will not be manufactured.  Vested interests, including everyone in the gun industry, mental health industry,  video game &TV/movie industry, and  science industry, have a right to make a living.  There is nothing wrong with them arguing responsibly from their point of view but we should always understand they have a vested financial interest, even as they might be discussing things rationally.  In the end, we as a nation are not primarily responsible for their industry’s financial health, they are.  Our primary responsibility, foreign or domestic, is to protect our citizens.  We have a right to come together and make laws that facilitate doing that.  We regulated tobacco, cars, chemicals, transportation and many other things for the express purpose of protecting our citizens, even when doing so meant those industries had to change and adapt. However, the most effective voting we can do is with our pocket book.  As a parent, you don’t have to buy that violent video game for your child for Christmas.  As an adult you don’t have to pay to see a violent movie.  As a gun enthusiast you don’t have to buy a semi-automatic assault rifle and high volume magazines.  As a college graduate you can contribute to your alma mater doing research in neuroscience to help move our knowledge along in that field.  As a citizen you can contribute to and participate in activities that promote safety and sanity.  You have control over your money, use it wisely.

Those are the elements that matter.  Those are the areas that need to be addressed.  Give me a reasonable idea on how we as a nation can deal with and change our behaviors in those areas and we can start a productive discussion.  What do you think?

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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman

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