Poverty none of us can afford

There’s poverty, and then there’s poverty.

Generally speaking, when we hear of poverty, we think of economic disadvantage. Little or no food, lack of clothing or good clothing, inadequate homes, lowered educational opportunities are just some of the things we associate with poverty.

But there is another kind of poverty that afflicts our society, I think, and it doesn’t necessarily differentiate between economic classes.

That kind of poverty is a poverty of the soul, and it is far more dangerous than being consistently short of funds.

I’ve seen it estimated that a child will see 40,000 or more acts of graphic violence on television, in the movies or on other media such as video games by the time they reach 18. Some popular music lyrics glorify murder, guns, rape, domestic abuse, you name it. The lyrics are set to such catchy tunes that often the listeners don’t even realize they are bopping along to words they would never agree with if they stopped to think about it. And many of those listeners are too young to truly differentiate anyway.

Most children don’t grow up to become murderers or criminals, regardless of economic status. But our society, while glorifying acts of violence in this way, has grown more violent. And that violence has become socially acceptable.

Therein lies the problem. What is glorified quickly becomes socially acceptable, and what becomes socially acceptable often becomes the norm. In the case of violence, that’s definitely brewing big trouble.

The recent murder of a 16-year-old boy in the center of Easton confirms this. Police reports indicate that the alleged shooter, just 14 himself, committed this heinous act because he wanted to fit in with a gang. In other words, he wanted to be socially accepted. And that gang supposedly told him, in order to be accepted, he had to first prove his loyalty to their culture of violence and shoot someone of their choosing.

But socially accepted violence isn’t just limited to gang activity. Luckily, Easton has not had to deal with economically advantaged kids beating or murdering the homeless for fun that I know of. But elsewhere, that very crime has happened repeatedly.

Why?

“Because it’s cool,” the perpetrators of both types of crime have said. Sometimes they even take pictures to show off later to friends, clearly because they think they can raise their status in the pack by showing off their “cool” crimes.

Therein lies the greatest problem. When violence becomes “cool,” it takes on a positive connotation that is completely untrue.

Violence is never cool. Violence is always negative, usually with devastating consequences.

It makes economic disadvantage worse; it’s definitely harder to make a decent living if you’re worried about getting shot or stabbed, raped or murdered. It destroys more than just the immediate victim. It can destroy whole families and neighborhoods. That day last month when two people were gunned down in Easton, one fatally, scores of other people were injured, even if not physically.

And though it’s extremely difficult to feel sorry for them despite their youth, the two alleged perpetrators’ lives also probably ended that day in February because they bought the line about violence being “cool”.

Consider this for a moment...How often would the sort of tragedy Easton recently suffered happen if the perpetrators ABSOLUTELY KNEW their friends would never have anything to do with them ever again if they were involved in hideous acts of premeditated violence? That no one, anywhere, would want anything to do with them? That no one anywhere, would ever, ever think they were cool?

Would it still be “cool” to gun someone down in the street? Or rape someone? Or beat them up, just for the entertainment? Or even just stand by and watch? Would violence be “fun” if it wasn’t “cool”? Would our kids see 40,000 or more acts of graphically depicted violence before they reach the age of majority if it wasn’t “cool”? Would gratuitous bloody acts still sell mainstream media and make their creators millions?

Calling any form of violence “cool,” making it socially acceptable, shows a complete lack of empathy. People that cannot relate to the suffering of others, and in fact revel in it, are themselves suffering from a poverty of the soul.

This kind of poverty, regardless of economic status, none of us can afford.

(Originally printed in The Easton News, March 2, 2006)