The Real News

Imagine an evening news cast that starts something like this:

 “In America today, 6,758 people died.  4,923 of the dead were over 65 years of age.  336 people died today as a result of an accident, and 145 were killed by means of suicide or murder. 31 were killed with a firearm.  112 died today in auto related incidents.  It was an average day.  Also in America today, more than 300 million people coexisted peacefully.  In today’s news we will only focus on the most intriguing accidents and murders.  They are as follows…”

The stories we hear on the evening news are the stories of the unusual, the sensational, and the scary.  The producers decide which stories are told based on the amount of interest, emotion, or drama they will evoke from their audience.  For this reason, we seldom hear the real news.  The numbers in the paragraph above are based on real 2010 death data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control.  Thousands of Americans die each day, mostly after long and painful struggles with disease.  Although these deaths are extremely difficult for the families involved we don’t hear about them because they are far too common and unpreventable to keep our interest.  Consequently, the violent murder of 22 kids at Sandy Hook completely overshadows the deaths of 6,730 others who die every day, 28 of whom are also kids. 

It is difficult to hear news like that of Sandy Hook Elementary.  These events are staggering to all of us, particularly because the victims are young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant, defenseless and innocent people.  The largest school killing in American history was done in 1927 in Bath, Michigan.  The attack was carried out with explosives by a school board member.  The second deadliest was carried out at Virginia Tech in 2007 by a student with two handguns.  The most infamous school killing was carried out at Columbine High School with illegally obtained guns and homemade explosives during the time that assault weapons were banned.  The most recent was carried out at Sandy Hook with legal and registered guns taken from the killer's mother.  These are sensational anomalies carried out by disturbed people, and no new law would have stopped their illegally hatched plans.  These insane killers wanted to be sensationalized in the headlines.  Nonetheless, we can't force the news to tell only boring stories.

One good thing in America over the last 20 years is a measurable reduction in overall crime.  According to statistics from 1960 to present, the US Disaster Center reports that crime reached an all-time high in 1990 and 1991 at about 8.3% per capita.  That is to say that approximately 8 out of 100 Americans were arrested for some sort of crime, violent and non-violent, in a given year.  There are several theories for the climb from 1960 to 1990, such as increased drug use, increased liberalism, and a general disregard for authority.  A counter theory suggests that the climb was due to stricter law making and increased reporting.  Yet another theorizes that we fell out of touch with one another due to increased population and limited contact.  After 1991, however, the crime rate declined back down to today’s rate of 5.7% per capita.  What caused this noticeable decline in crime is the subject of wide debate.  In their book “Freakonomics”, writers Steven Levit and Stephen Dubner present the very controversial theory that the decline in crime coincides with the passing of Roe v. Wade, thus increasing abortion among families who are at the highest risk of future crime.  Other theories cite better crime investigation and high-tech deterrents.  Yet another theorizes that social websites, cell phones, and text allow us to keep each other in check.  Either way the news is good, and when it comes to crime we become safer each day.

11 times more deadly than guns

In the heat of recent tragedy, our politicians are proposing new legislation in the hope of reducing future risk.  Given the real facts, the only proposed laws that might help are the ones governing the size of clips, increasing the magnitude of background checks, and increasing psychological support.  We may also gain some ground by vigilantly enforcing current laws.  In truth, we are 11 times more likely to be killed by a car than we are of being killed by a gun, yet we are not debating car control.  If an insane killer chose to ram a car through a crowd of people we would most likely regard this a one-of-a-kind unpreventable tragedy.  We would focus much more heavily on the killer's state of mind than we would on the car. 

Tony F.  2013