More guns, more culture, and some optimism.

Continuing in the gun control topic from earlier this week, as usual my buddy Max had an insight that I have been thinking about a little bit, his quote on the subject was "it trotted out the inst. can't change anything arg, nevermind all the orgs bent on preventing even simple data gathering." Which, if I parse the shorthand correctly translates as it is using the same logic that organizations who oppose even collecting data on the efficacy on gun control do, which is "Laws won't change anything, we shouldn't even try."

He followed up by pointing out that we certainly have the ability to make and distribute firearms efficiently and on a massive scale, so why is attempting to reduce that futile? Which is a good point, I mean, say what you will about getting guns out of circulation, but keeping them from getting into circulation only requires making less of them, surely the most powerful nation to ever exist is able to not do something if it chooses?

While I don't believe laws on their own will work to eliminate gun violence, unless those laws are banning them entirely, I do believe they will help, but it needs to be a multiple front approach, including cultural changes that encourage people to not see violence as the first or preferred solution. I've talked about it before, and as before, I don't have a lot of ideas beyond "Change things." But I do feel there is reason to hope.

I think we are in an era of change, I generally feel optimistic in general about the way society is going, it is totally a matter of "Two steps forward, one and a half steps back" but we do keep going forward. Unfortunately the old guard doesn't die easily, it's one of the reasons we see religious extremism finding itself in the political spotlight so often, as one party who refuses to change keeps courting the fanatics more and more, since they are the only ones who don't want to change either.

Evidence of positive change in the culture of Toxic Masculinity would be on the subject of corporal punishment in the area of childcare. This is more and more becoming controversial, the latest statistics I have found date back a year ago, and they show that while the majority of people seem feel that spanking and such is appropriate, that number is decreasing and has been for the past thirty years.

But let's reflect on that for a moment, we are at our most malleable in childhood, and something like 70% of the population apparently is cool with hitting a child as a form of discipline, it appears that this is a good way to implant the idea that violence works to get what you want doesn't it?

Now I am not saying that if a kid is hit when growing up, he will turn into a murderer, I am saying that if you hit your kid you might need to rethink some things about yourself though, but on topic I think that it is an expression of the culture I was talking about that begins the process pretty early, teaching a child to accept that rule through strength and fear is appropriate and desired.

And it is changing! Slowly yes, but it seems that it really is, and that is a good thing! I know it feels like it shouldn't be a decades long multi-generational process for a society to start getting the idea that hitting children isn't okay, but I'll take it, there is cause for optimism, we might do the right thing when we have exhausted all other options, but we do get there eventually.