| The Imaginary Epidemic of Children's Violence For the | | | | violence is growing, or it is declining. It can't do both at |
| past few years, we have been endlessly hearing | | | | the same time in the same place. Of course, the |
| about the epidemic of children's violence. The series of | | | | above paragraph states the truth, that the crime rate is |
| random school shootings that has hit our nation has | | | | dropping. However, if you want to feel it is going up, |
| made this epidemic an indelible part of our | | | | then check the news frequently. You are bound to find |
| consciousness. In this same period, government | | | | a satisfying fill of violent incidents funnelled from the |
| statistics have been showing that contrary to the | | | | wide world into the receptors of your TVs, radios, and |
| common perception, violence has been on a steady | | | | computers. With six billion people on the planet, there is |
| decline. Amazingly, even with all the deaths and injuries | | | | no shortage of incidents to keep you entertained all |
| resulting from the school shootings, there have been | | | | day long. That doesn't change the fact that your |
| fewer casualties on school grounds from year to year. | | | | chance of actually witnessing violence is negligible. |
| The reason violence among children seems like an | | | | Why, then, the intellectual dishonesty? How can |
| epidemic is that the same incident, plastered for | | | | educated, intelligent people whose purported goal is to |
| days-on-end on billions of newspapers, radios, and TV | | | | enhance our well-being be fostering hysteria about a |
| screens tremendously magnifies its effect. Despite this | | | | non-existent epidemic? Shouldn't the responsible thing |
| magnification, one murder, tragic as it is, is still one | | | | be to calmly remind our citizens that there is no |
| murder. Though the "epidemic" of children's violence is | | | | epidemic of violence? Don't our citizens deserve to be |
| only an illusion, it is still being written about by intelligent | | | | told that that, at current shooting rates, a child can |
| people as though the epidemic is a real one. Though | | | | expect to have to go to school for fifteen thousand |
| most people can't recall the last time they actually | | | | years in order to be present during a random |
| witnessed a true fight, they are convinced that we are | | | | shooting? The answer, of course, is money. After |
| in the midst of an epidemic and that we should be | | | | Columbine, the Federal government alone gave grants |
| taking up arms against the causes of this epidemic. | | | | of hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations that |
| Books by the dozen are being published dealing with | | | | could claim they have something to offer to combat |
| the epidemic of violence, and our magazines and | | | | the "epidemic" of school violence. With money like that |
| newspapers ceaselessly make mention of this | | | | available, do you think people are going to sit around |
| epidemic. The following excerpt from a handout | | | | with arms folded and think, "Sure, that's a lot of money, |
| distributed by an organization called Prepare, Inc., is a | | | | but I'll let some other people take it." Of course not! So, |
| typical example of the way this epidemic is written | | | | as can be expected, organizations experienced in filling |
| about: We live in a society that grows ever more | | | | out grant proposals got their share. The problem for |
| violent. While it may be true that the overall crime rate | | | | the public is that the organizations need to justify |
| in the United States on a nationwide basis has | | | | themselves by attacking the growing epidemic of |
| dropped in recent years, one need only watch the | | | | school violence. There is no such epidemic? No |
| news broadcasts or pickup a newspaper or log onto | | | | problem! We'll create an illusion. It's not exactly the |
| the Internet to hear of daily shootings, assaults or other | | | | truth? So what! It can't hurt anybody. Back to Top You |
| violations of our safety. Let's make up our minds. Either | | | | Can Help! |