Who Is Inspiring the Violence in America?

There is a lot of talk about political rhetoric - on both sides - inspiring the tragic shooting that occurred in Tucson on Saturday morning.  Perhaps it did.  Perhaps we will never know.

What has become clear is that Jared Loughner is a terribly troubled young man with a political viewpoint that was not only so far out of the outfield, it wasn't even close to the ballpark of civilized society!

Despite all of the name-calling and finger-pointing that goes on in the mainstraim media, one does not have to turn on to MSNBC or Fox News to get a dose of people behaving badly.  Have you ever watched prime time television?  Wake up, people!

I use CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as an example in the photo.  After all, they do display a fairly good share of blood and gore.  But you and I know very well that the CSI franchise set in Las Vegas, Miami, and New York is not unique.

I did a little research and compiled a list of current television dramas that display varying degrees of violence on a regular basis.

CBS
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Miami
NCIS
CSI: NY
Criminal Minds
Flashpoint
The Mentalist
Medium
NCIS: Los Angeles
Blue Bloods
Hawaii Five-0

ABC
Body of Proof
Castle
Desperate Housewives
Detroit 1-8-7
Grey's Anatomy
No Ordinary Family
Off The Map
Private Practice
Rookie Blue
V

NBC
Chase
Chuck
The Event
Law & Order: Los Angeles
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

FOX
House
Bones
Fringe
Lie to Me
Human Target

The CW
Smallville
Supernatural
The Vampire Diaries
Life Unexpected
Nikita

TNT
The Closer
Saving Grace
Leverage
Hawthorne 
Dark Blue
Southland
Memphis Beat
Rizzoli & Isles

USA
Burn Notice
Covert Affairs
In Plain Sight
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Psych

FX
Rescue Me
Sons of Anarchy
Justified

SyFy
Being Human
Haven
Warehouse 13
Sanctuary
Haven
Stargate Universe

Spike
1,000 Ways to Die

AMC

Breaking Bad

Gee, no wonder...it's a pretty long list. I'll bet one or some of your favorite shows are listed here.  I have to admit that some of my favorites are listed here, too.

And this is not even a complete list.  These are just the current TV shows, not past.  Nor I did I include any of the series produced by the premium movie channels like Dexter, who analyzes blood spatter in a crime lab by day, and is a serial killer by night.  AND WE APPLAUD HIM FOR IT! (granted he's killing criminals, so that makes it okay in our collective pysche).

We laugh when the coroner and the detective on scene are making bad puns over someone's dead and maimed body.  We hear the screams and don't want to look, but we look anyway.  Remember when Quincy was the only medical examiner on television?  Nowadays each us probably has a favorite quirky ME from the dozens of quirky ME's to choose from with our remote control.

"Are you not entertained?  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???  Is this not why you are here?"  I believe these words uttered by Maximus in the film Gladiator ring true today.  We're no better than the mobs that clamored into the Coliseum in Rome and in similar coliseums across the entire Roman Empire.  As a society we have become desensitized to the acts of violence depicted on primetime television and the real-life violence shown on the news.  We're even becoming desensitized to the political barbs thrown at each other.  In fact, we've come to expect it.

We were shocked by the shootings at Columbine High School, the bombing in Oklahoma City, and by the terror inflicted on our nation on September 11, 2001.  But I'm wondering if we've grown even more desensitized.  One thing we learned on September 11 was that anything - no matter how heinous and evil - is possible.  

The attempted assassination of a member of the US House of Representatives was cold-blooded and pre-meditated.  The chance assassination of a Federal judge and the brutal murder of five others - including a little girl - no doubt delighted the assassin.  

Unfortunately it did not end there. There have been numerous character assassinations leveled from a broad spectrum of political - and even religious - viewpoints.  No matter what the pundits say, however, does not account for the depraved soul of one Jared Loughner, who was acting out in a manner which - quite frankly - our society has grown accustomed to.

Despite what one extremist group says, God loves all people and he is weeping over this tragedy, as we all should.  It is my hope and prayer that the terrible events that unfolded in Tucson have awakened our national conscience.  Otherwise this might just be another blood stain on the tapestry of our national heritage.