Hello, it's me again!
After reading the above article, I decided to speak my piece. I hope I have reached those who both agree and disagree with me. I've lived with these thoughts for many years and, as a writer who cares, I would like to share them with my friends and explore what I believe are among the roots of gun violence.
Not only do gun manufacturers make money from gun sales, but so do authors of crime and detective novels. Why? Because those books are fun and entertaining to read, and many of the characters use Glocks or other brands of guns as their weapon of choice. I've read a few of those books published by author friends, and Glocks were featured in many of them. (I mention Glocks because authorities say those are the most popular guns people buy.) On top of this, the main characters are usually personable people that readers become attached to.
And book covers? Many times I have logged onto Facebook and the first thing I saw was a book cover with the image of a gun pointing straight at me. Yep, looking right down the barrel of a realistic weapon! I refuse to buy that book simply based on the violent cover art. Who knows what's on the pages of that book? I don't want to know ... but many others do, because violence sells, and readers have no idea their minds are being manipulated as they eagerly await the sequel to that book.
Video manufacturers are also getting rich from sales of violent material. Everywhere we turn today, we're faced with crime scenes, from movie and TV ads and even music, especially Rap (if it can even be called music). Not so long ago, subliminal ads and other messages were banned from magazines and television, but it's easy for those in the know to plant them in games, newspapers, and books.
Yes, violence sells—the money goes directly into the manufacturer's pocket, and the content goes straight to the player's subconscious mind. Many minds these days are nothing but violence dumps. However, not all minds are affected by these horrific scenes of blood and gore; weak-minded individuals, especially those with un-diagnosed mental illness, are often the ones who soak this stuff up until it becomes ingrained and part of their mental makeup. Some realistic video games place the player right in the game until a susceptible player may not know real life from fantasy: He holds the controls in his hand and directs the activity as though in his mind he is the character doing the shooting in that so-called game.
"Whatever the mind of man can SEE and BELIEVE can be achieved." Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich"
And the Bible says, "Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Some children today are being raised on garbage and violence they laugh at because "It's only a story! It's not real."
I beg to differ: It becomes real in the subconscious via repetition; it's a form of brainwashing. Some famous dictators knew this and used it to gain entrance into the minds of people through the use of repetition. Repetition of a thought, idea, or image goes straight to the subconscious ... and sticks.
Now, one may ask why I'm so horrified about violence, and it's because I've been affected by it in my own family. My first husband terrorized me one Christmas Eve when I was five months pregnant, by aiming a loaded Marlin 22, lever-action rifle about a foot from my face. He was drunk and out of his head. He held the gun there for what seemed a very long, heart-chilling time, then finally lowered it and laughed like a maniac, saying, "Scared the shit out of you, didn't I? Thought I was going to shoot you!"
The next morning (Christmas Day), when I told him what he'd done, he apologized crying on his knees, begging for my forgiveness. I had nowhere else to go, so while I did forgive his drunken actions, I have never forgotten the fear and tears of that day.
Then, the day after Christmas, we learned that his step-father had shot and killed my husband's mother (who had filed for divorce), and also shot his younger brother, though he lived.
That Christmas season was not joyful; it was one of pain and heartache. Back then, guns were probably easier to obtain without a license, but fewer people went around killing others. Yes, some people killed. But there were no video games, television or electronics in those days. And while theaters ran featured Westerns, those cowboy movies were basically watered down and not so graphic as what we're seeing today.
Another gun tragedy occurred a number of years down the road, when my eldest brother shot and killed himself. He had Multiple Sclerosis and had said he had no desire to live as a handicapped individual. But nobody in the family suspected what was in his mind the day he went to Walmart and bought a shotgun. My brother was in a scooter for disabled persons, and I'm still wondering why someone in that store didn't question him about buying that weapon.
Friends, please take these words to heart, do your own research, and take care of yourselves and your families.
Namaste!
