S.O.S.

School Safety is the theme of a conference today in Maryland.  The President and First Lady are expected to attend.  According to news sources, prevention and coping with the tragic aftermath are the key themes.  One news report suggested that school shootings are random.

What is missed in this conference is the underlying reality of what causes violence in American culture.  To do this, Americans would have to address the complicated issues of advertising, the role of the Internet, the justification of violence by churches, synagogues and mosques.  Mimetic theorists are well aware that advertising fuels mimetic desires and rivalries.  As supplies diminish and demand (desire) grows, there are the inevitable rivalries.  The Internet also fuels mimetic desire, along with advertising, allowing us to see violence and sexual domination in ways we have not had available before.  Religions supporting any use of force or violence, traditions which advocate self-defense or preemptive strikes all contribute to a moral disengagement with the problem of violence.

In short, the problem of school violence is a symptom of the problem of the American lifestyle.  Kids, fed up with being bullied at school end up as 'natural born killers' using, for the most part, guns available to them from their parent's homes.  Workplace shootings, school shootings, street violence and war propoganda all share one common value: violence works.  Mimetic theorists know this, for countless millenia, violence has been both the problem and the solution.  Kids are finally figuring this out.  And why not?  We produce, market and encourage violent TV programs, movies and video games to fill their minds with the endless repetition of ritual killing.  We currently are in a situation where we are bequeathing to our children a world at war.  Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan and now North Korea.  Scores of other skirmishes from Sri Lanka to the Philippines dot the globes we teach from in our schools.  The world is a violent place.

Oh, we say that violence is bad; as long as it is the other person's violence we are talking about.  As long as the Bush Administration refuses to address the systemic issues it is covering a deadly cancer with a band-aid.

My solution: First, that all churches adopt a program of Kingian non-violence training or some form of conflict resolution as part of a Sunday School and youth group curriculum.  We must teach our children a better way while they are young.  Second, require all clergy to participate in continuing education in problems of violence in theology and Bible.  Third, uphold those as models who have chosen a better way, a way of peacemaking and nonviolence.  Fourth, hold a national conference of theologians and pastors who will commit their energies to exploring ways to reshape Christian doctrine and life so that it bears far more resemblence to Jesus than is currently the case.  In short, I see the church as a major part of the problem and a major potential part of the solution.

But I'm willing to bet the Administration doesn't.   Keep church and state separate they argue.  And that's why this conference on School Safety will be deemed a failure.

Michael

Comments

[Jeff]

Ah, Michael, how prophetic!

There is nothing random in these events, is there? I have thought that there was in recent events yet another opportunity for national repentance, but as soon as the media learned that no one was calling for vengeance, the story fell completely out of sight!

I echoed your sentiments in church, suggesting (perhaps too strongly?) that the church isn't part of the solution, it's the only solution (assuming that we put the REAL Jesus up front, of course)...

But now, we're more interested in the falling price of gas than in the crumbling of our "culture."

How sad.

Thanks,

Jeff