Another unspeakable massacre, more to come

We typically blame individuals for bad and terrible things. By blaming individuals, we excuse the institutional and cultural frameworks that provide the channels for the individual acts.

We are all responsible for allowing these institutional and cultural channels to continue. By blaming the individuals for their acts, we absolve ourselves and pretend the wrongdoing has nothing to do with us. But these institutional and cultural channels--including the lack of gun regulation and the level of violence we accept as entertainment--made possible the terrible massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

These channels will not end overnight. Accordingly, there will be more massacres of the innocent. Nonetheless, we must fight for change or it will only get worse.

The rest of what I would have like to have said was said much better by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, “Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?” (link).