I took the afternoon off, and happened to catch two things on TV that got my mind churning. The first item was an add for ADT (the home security service), in which a young woman relates the experience of a home break in, and was, afterwards, not able to feel secure in her own home until she had an ADT security system installed.
The second item I saw was the speech by Wayne LaPierre the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, concerning the recent school shooting in Conn. In this speech, he made no concessions about gun control, instead, he blamed the media, video games, the president, and our mental health system. he called for a national database of mentally ill people, and for armed guards in every school in the country.
Now, here is the connection between the NRA speech and the ADT advertisement. Both of these organizations pretend to promote security, one with the use of guns and guards, and the other with the use of sophisticated surveillance equipment, but in fact both organizations intentionally promote insecurity in order to achieve their own agenda.
In the case of ADT, if they can convince Americans that they are no longer safe in their own homes, they can sell more security systems. The NRA, using the same logic can sell more guns. What's that you say, the NRA does not sell guns? No, not directly, but dig deep and you will find that the NRA is deep in the pockets of the arms industry. There is no direct connection between the NRA and the arms manufacturers, but you can bet that they pull the NRA's strings. This, by the way, is analogous to the AARP and the insurance industry except that AARP is actually owned by an insurance company.
Who knows, perhaps an armed guard might at some point successfully intervene in a school shooting, perhaps arming all the teachers, principals, and janitors might be even more effective. Maybe ADT can get into the act as well, with security cameras and locks. But at what cost? Do we want to run our schools and homes like prisons. If we fall for these measures, the overall pain of our insecurity will be a million times greater than out gain.
A disclaimer here, I am a gun owner, I have owned guns since I was a child, I like to shoot guns, I like to hunt, although I don't hunt any longer, and I believe it is my absolute right to own a gun or guns. I also play violent video games like Halo and Gears of war, and go to violent movies. I think both industries are over the top with their violence and dialogue. It may be that these things sometimes have an adverse affect on an already fragile state of mind. Maybe reruns of "Rambo" should be banned so that all those assault weapon mega clip carrying Walter Mittys out there will quit thinking of themselves as heroic patriotic defenders of America. Perhaps they should take out their frustrations on some video game aliens. Then maybe we could pass some sensible gun laws.
