When this 60 year-old was growing up watching TV and movies cowboys and the bad guys when shot grabbed their side and fell over. No blood no gore. In more "violent" movies blood which looked like liquid rouge was about as gory as things got. In war movies men got "blown up" but that was limited to flying up in the air with a lot of dirt.
TV was a safe sanctum for impressionable young people in the 50's and 60's, that is until the Vietnam War was brought into our living rooms along with the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK. But even with that we weren't bombarded day after day with scenes of violence as today in movies, video games, the Internet and of course TV both over-the-air and cable.
Today we can see on any given day violence which previously only members of the military and law enforcement would witness. Now it's "prime-time". And with seeing all that violence repeatedly after time, when seeing it for the first time may make one's stomach turn, it no more affects someone as watching a puppy and kitten play. Add to that all the other mediums which offer violence and that once shocking image has been dulled so much it's not given a second thought. Which is fine for adults, at least those with no mental defect, but not for kids.
Today and for several years past for impressionable kids who at one time may have said "ugh" now voice "cool ... that's fucking awesome". Now of course thankfully not all kids nor adults are going to go out and become mass-murders however for those with in-balance in life and perhaps mind, those adults who subscribe to conspiracy theories, the "them against us" views of government and those who choose to listen and watch the most ultra-conservative and cannot dissect that into conversation but instead into action, throw into the mix desensitization of violence and we as a society have set ourselves up for what we have today and will for the future.
Another shooting ... another day in America.
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