Desensitization of America

One of the sad things about current events is that not everything is important to the public. Its all dependent on the media, and what they decide is important or interesting, or what will get their news shows the highest ratings. That’s how non-stories like “Deflate-gate” and Ebola get so much time on the air, when real stories, real events in the world, are hardly even shown.

Who knows anything about the high school shooting near Seattle in October of 2014 that was given only a few hours of coverage on the national news? And who remembers, or cares, pausing to think about it for more than a few minutes?

Comparing this to the horror that gripped the country in 1999 after the Columbine shooting, it is easy to see that America has become desensitized to violence. This is sad, but it is also somewhat understandable. In schools around the country – from elementary schools to universities, there have been many deadly shootings since Columbine. And sometimes, like with the Sandy Hook massacre of first graders, the horror is so great it transcends that desensitization and once again grips us with horror, but not often enough. Killings have become to common.

Current events is not an optimistic thing. Most of the time it is sad. It includes all the terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11. But it also includes those abroad that we don’t pay attention to. Talking to my classmates, I’ve realized that many people don’t know that there were two recent major terror attacks in Europe, both on free speech: the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and this past week’s attacks in Copenhagen.

America is watching these attacks in detached speculation. What is so shocking to them has become commonplace here, and the reactions to the events make this contrast more clear. We can only hope that these attacks are not the Columbine or 9/11 of Europe – the attacks that spark the beginning of a long series that only desensitizes the public.

A message to the media outlets: if you tell us, we will care. If you make these attacks and shootings news, people will respond to them. Stop going on about pointless events that don’t matter. It may be ugly, but we need to know, and we need to care.