Death by a Thousand Cuts

Death by a thousand cuts is a form of execution that originated in Imperial China where the condemned is executed, not by a single blow, but by a thousand little cuts which kills him slowly over time. It also refers to the process in which a major negative change in society occurs slowly in many unnoticed increments that are not deemed as alarming. And what we are experiencing in America today.

It is easy to point the finger when a tragedy occurs like we witnessed in Uvalde, Texas or in Buffalo, NY last month. Obviously, we should place the blame on the shooter himself, but many of us are pointing the finger at each other as well. ‘It’s the right’s fault’, ‘It’s the left’s fault’, ‘It’s the NRA’s fault’, ‘It’s the anti-gun lobby’s fault’, ‘You didn’t pass my law’, ‘You didn’t enforce my law.’ It’s easy to point your finger at one person or group of people and say, ‘you are to blame. You are responsible.’ But there is an old saying, “when you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you.” We should all point the finger at all of us. There are no innocuous sins. We do not reside is a vacuum. Everything we do is either adding or subtracting to the collective unconscious of our society, of the human race.

And what have we been adding to our culture? We have spent years and years peddling in hate, and now we are shocked when someone acts out in hate. We are constantly inundated by images of violence. We are entertained by gun violence in movies and simulated war video games where we practice killing our fellow man. We have become desensitized to seeing the image of a person being killed. Violent movies and video games do not directly cause violence, but they add to the cultural mindset of violence which is so prevalent in our society today.

We have spent 20 years waging wars on foreign soil which killed thousands of innocent civilians in foreign countries, and our media has regularly displayed those killings for all to see. Whether these wars were justified or not does not change their impact on a collective society watching the death counts tallied and the images of death displayed on TV screens and websites. Both of the 18-year-old shooters only lived 6 months of their lives when the USA was not at war. Are we a country of peace or of war?