‘Solutions’ to the Newtown shooting tragedy…more abortion, virtual violence and porn? Or compassion for the ‘unwanted’?

There’s a lot of discussion going on at the moment about how to respond to the tragic shooting in Newtown a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share two different articles on the topic with a few comments. Both articles argue strongly that further gun control is simply not the whole answer, in fact perhaps just a minor part of the answer, and I strongly agree on this. However, their alternate solutions are utterly poles apart.

A friend on Facebook from Seattle posted this article from The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. First of all, the author points out that physical violence has in fact decreased in the last few decades, but we’re simply more aware of it thanks to the joys of incessant media coverage. I’m no expert but that seems to be a very plausible observation for the sorts of violence he is referring to, backed up with some interesting evidence. Similarly, he points out that we have to just breathe out a bit before we engage in a knee-jerk reaction to ‘do something, anything’ to abate the sense of helplessness that follows something so tragic.

He then provides evidence to make an interesting connection between the abatement of lead (in paint, fuel etc) and the decrease in violence over the past few decades. Fascinating, and worth some attention indeed.

Sadly, however, the author also posits two other potential causes to the reduction in physical violence that signal a terribly limited (but unfortunately common) definition of physical violence. He suggests more abortions and the internet (specifically virtual violence, comparing it with porn) can reduce physical violence. Am I the only one that reads that as a non-sensical statement? Engage in one kind of violence to eliminate another?

Abortion: This one’s well-known thanks to Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics, and I hardly need to review it here. Unwanted children grow up neglected; neglected children become violent adults. We have fewer violent adults today because we have fewer unwanted children. Abortion became legal nationwide in 1973, and it takes about twenty years for a newborn to reach the age of peak violence… so there you have it.

The Internet: As a child of the 1980s, I also remember the anti-porn feminism of the 1990s: an ideology that insisted that objectifying women caused rape, and that pornography was suspect, possibly bad enough to be outlawed.

This view lasted only barely long enough for most males to click over to their favorite “adult” Internet site for some sweet, flesh-colored relief, and for their significant others to check their browser history. (Hey, it was the 90s, we didn’t know any better…) Anti-porn feminism got buried under exabytes of wonderful, lust-abating smut — and a rape rate that fell despite all predictions to the contrary.

As anyone who has been around the male anatomy is well aware, it’s not always equally eager to perform, and the urge to do so can be sated in a wide variety of ways. If porn substitutes for rape rather than encouraging it, our explanation for this segment of the Great Fact is already complete.

But what about crimes that don’t involve sex? Might we include them? Sure! Perhaps violent video games are cathartic. Perhaps shooting orcs and robots can substitute for shooting people. I’m not the violent type, so I can’t speak from experience, but it seems at least not completely absurd. The data is sparse, but it’s an interesting theory, much like abortion.

Let’s start by keeping within the author’s utilitarian ethical framework…i.e. whatever maximises pleasure and minimises pain with the least effort is the right thing to do. Nevermind whether there’s perhaps anything wrong with encouraging abortion, porn and virtual violence, the evidence to suggest that such ‘means’ led to such an ‘end’ is sparse, and he says that himself. Wary of the limits to proving social cause and effect, and the challenges with social science research, it’s quite a controversial conclusion to draw…’rape rates dropped because men looked at more porn…’

As for the idea of virtual violence, this argument draws on similar lines as that justifying the place of sport (rugby, fencing, wrestling…) or theatre or any other spaces in which certain cathartic behaviours are acceptable while in another context (i.e. off the field or the stage) would be considered violent or socially unacceptable behaviour. However, I think the flaw in such in argument is that the ‘virtual’ world as a space of ‘cathartic violence’ has none of the healthy social benefits of sport or theatre or…benefits including a sense of belonging, of being wanted. I don’t know about you but playing violent video games, especially alone, well, certainly wouldn’t boost my sense of self-worth…

In addition, the other consequences…apart from reduced visible physical violence…aren’t given any recognition here. Whether you believe that the life in the womb deserves to live or not, to deny that an abortion often has traumatic impacts upon a woman, physically, emotionally, mentally, and upon those close to her, is pretty heartless. For those women who attest that it causes them no issue, I’d argue that you have to unpack things a bit deeper…another conversation for another day. In the meantime, head over to Heather King and read Poor Baby: A Child of the 60s Looks Back on Abortion. After three abortions herself, I can’t think of someone better to speak about this issue.

Now, let’s get beyond a utilitarian framework for a second and consider that perhaps the ends do not justify any old means…i.e. making ethical choices based on something other than what will enable us to reach a particular consequence most easily. Why are we so distraught about children being massacred in a classroom and yet some of us are busting down the doors to provide abortion on demand to 14 year girls? If being born unwanted contributes to the likelihood of being violent (which I think is a fair observation…I imagine there’s plenty of evidence there…)…let’s remember it’s the ‘unwanted’ part of that sentence, not the ‘being born’ bit, that is the contributing factor.

The sense of being ‘unwanted’ – before and/or after birth – is surely far more relevant, and surely something we can all instinctively understand. We’ve all felt unwanted at some point in our lives. I think that ability to empathise is a sign that we’re getting warmer to the real solution…a much more challenging, immeasurable solution, but nevertheless…how do we solve the ‘unwanted’ part? I think, like any major groundswell in this world, it starts with individuals, on a deeper, spiritual level, and it involves everyone to build resilience among those most at risk of falling into a situation where they feel they have ‘no choice’ to kill another, whether that be in the womb or in the classroom. Supporting pregnant mothers (especially unplanned)…and the fathers, providing a safety net to those around us, reaching out, and some seriously deep reflection about what we it means to be a human person…don’t you think that’s really where it has to start?

Indeed, the second article I want to share, The Real Social Justice Issue from Catholic World Report, tackles another difficult question too, another category of the ‘vulnerable’ and ‘unwanted’ in society, the violent mentally ill such as Adam Lanza.

If that sounds scandalous and insensitive towards the families in grief, take a look at this watershed case in Florida of a Catholic couple who pushed for restorative justice for a their daughter’s boyfriend who shot and killed her in a rage. Raw, real, heartbreaking but with a glimmer of hope.

Christ probably felt like a broken record, given the number of times He emphasised that He is closest to those who suffer, who are lonely, unwanted, imperfect…and haven’t we all been able to sit in each of those categories at some point in our life (as for the imperfect, I’m there all day everyday…).

Isn’t the answer always more compassion, always more charity, always more mercy (in right balance with justice, of course)? That’s something we can do right now, right away, as individuals. And for the long-term we can work in whatever position we find ourselves in life – whether as policy makers, probation officers or parents – to do what we can to influence a culture of compassion and mercy, most especially for those that society has labelled ‘unwanted’ or ‘unnecessary’. I might sound like an idealist, and the author of the first article was bent on avoiding ‘ideology’ (is that actually that possible?), but frankly I don’t see any other better solution.