Even the serious news organizations consistently misreport when setting up stories:
I hear phrases "the epedimic of gun violence.. "Ever increasing carnage in our streets." "Youth numbed to violence by playing video games ..."
You know the murder rate in 2010 was down 51 percent from its high in 1991 after a steady climb thorugh the 1980s and had gone down every year since before a slight tick up in 2011? Were young adults driven to homicidal rages playing Asteroids and Space Invaders? Even though I believe in waiting periods and limits on magazine size, I have to admit that the trend ocurred while gun ownership was growing. Is it Sesame Street? more police?better policing? more prisons .... My personal favorite for sheer plausibility is often overlooked factor of banning lead as an ingredient in household paint and the too often undetected brain injury it caused. Of course I know I risk wrath giving any credit here to the "Nanny State."
If I read another Facebook entry that starts "Oh what kind of country have we become since we stopped praying in schools" I'm going come out verbally blasting the well-meaning hand wringers. I'm all for prayer in schools and the silent minute allowed for students to meditate and pray in Texas is a far better opportunity for meaningful dialogue with the Almighty than coerced chanting or standing to listen to the voice over the loudspeaker in which I willingly participated as a young student.
I hear phrases "the epedimic of gun violence.. "Ever increasing carnage in our streets." "Youth numbed to violence by playing video games ..."
You know the murder rate in 2010 was down 51 percent from its high in 1991 after a steady climb thorugh the 1980s and had gone down every year since before a slight tick up in 2011? Were young adults driven to homicidal rages playing Asteroids and Space Invaders? Even though I believe in waiting periods and limits on magazine size, I have to admit that the trend ocurred while gun ownership was growing. Is it Sesame Street? more police?better policing? more prisons .... My personal favorite for sheer plausibility is often overlooked factor of banning lead as an ingredient in household paint and the too often undetected brain injury it caused. Of course I know I risk wrath giving any credit here to the "Nanny State."
If I read another Facebook entry that starts "Oh what kind of country have we become since we stopped praying in schools" I'm going come out verbally blasting the well-meaning hand wringers. I'm all for prayer in schools and the silent minute allowed for students to meditate and pray in Texas is a far better opportunity for meaningful dialogue with the Almighty than coerced chanting or standing to listen to the voice over the loudspeaker in which I willingly participated as a young student.
