Note: I first wrote this blog in late summer of 2019. That is why the opening references seem a little dated. I have added more content since then. What follows is the complete, updated blog.
As I write this, thirty-five people have been killed during a weekend that featured three mass shootings: One at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA; the second at a Wal Mart in El Paso, TX; and the third in Dayton, OH. In what has become “standard procedure” in the wake of such events—(and I shudder at that cliché because it is unconscionable that such events have become so commonplace that they spawn a recognizable, “standard” reaction)—there was an uproar from the gun control advocates about gun control, and the need for Congressional-level reform of gun laws. Equally as expected, the opposition shouted back with their “guns don’t kill people, people do” and “outlaw guns, and only outlaws will have guns” arguments, and once again, gradually, the furor eventually subsided and we reverted to the status quo. Once the eulogies had been spoken, the bodies interred, and the tears shed, the events soon passed into history and became part of the statistics.
These mass shootings are but another symptom of the ever-increasing Fragmentation of America. We, as a nation, are now a Shattered Society. We have gotten more and more divided—along lines of race, ethnicity, political affiliation, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic standing. These rifts started out as hairline cracks in the veneer of our society, but over time got worse, becoming noticeable fractures, until at present, we now have huge gorges separating us. These lines of demarcation are now so pronounced that even the fabled optimism that has always been a hallmark of American culture since its beginnings, is rapidly fading, overpowered by the grim facts. Our culture is more often than not, admitting that the proverbial glass is “half-empty,” and not “half-full.” The childhood tale of Humpty-Dumpty makes for a perfect analogy, as fatalistic as it is: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again.”
More recently, we have experienced an unprecedented level of civil unrest, sparked in part by recent, high-profile incidents of brutality and questionable tactics on the part of law enforcement. The tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis involving police officers, can be considered a “flashpoint event” that sparked riots and civil disobedience in other major metro areas. The “Black Lives Matter” movement and the underlying racism that spawned it and enabled it to flourish have now been given the prime focus of media attention. As I see cities like Portland and Minneapolis getting burned and trashed as rioters protest and revel in outright anarchy, I have my doubts about the future.
Is the situation really irreparable? Is there no way to return to a time—and a national mindset—that embraced optimism and the belief that we could overcome our differences, and work together to build a society that rose above the primitive, tribal conflicts that have characterized history and the growth of nations for so long? The progress we were making—and the ground we gained in moving forward—now seems to have not only come to a standstill, but made a u-turn and started heading in the opposite direction.
The history of nations—ours especially—is written in blood, a story told through the oppression and cruelty of one culture meted out against another. Oppression and cruelty leave permanent scars. Can Native Americans ever forgive the settlers for conquering their forefathers, stealing their land, and destroying their lives? Can the Jews ever forgive the authors of the Holocaust and their descendants? Will the Blacks in America ever forget that our ancestors came to their homes and kidnapped them and enslaved them? Once upon a time, we all thought so, didn’t we? Wasn’t America supposed to be the embodiment of those high ideals of maturity, forgiveness, and cooperation that were the characteristics of a great people, and the cornerstones of a great nation? When did it all start to change?
It now seems doubtful that we will ever congeal as a nation and enjoy the unity—and the strength inherent in it—that was the American promise of so long ago. The violence and killings that are on the threshold of becoming commonplace are a symptom of this collective alienation, this discontent, and this anger, that we all feel in our separate little tribes and camps along the chasms and canyons that separate us. God Help America.
PHOTO: Max Bender on Unsplash
Copyright © 2021 Raoul Edmund
