Another Deadly School Shooting

Another deadly school shooting has occurred. This time it was in a high school in Marysville, Washington.  A desensitized nation will watch as kids and parents cry and try to console each other, and TV news crews will show pictures of teddy bears and flowers as if that really means anything.  Our lawmakers will give lip service to the tragedy and then go on about their business of not really accomplishing anything that actually helps the American people. Then we will wait for more teddy bears and flowers to be photographed when a child is killed by another child wielding a gun.

We always ask ourselves why when something like this happens and we’ve been asking ourselves why ever since the shooting at Columbine High School on a pretty frequent basis.  I can find evidence of different 188 school shootings  between the years 1990 and 2014 that resulted in the deaths of 269 people and 357 injuries, most of them children.  (These numbers are approximate, but very close to actual.)  

Something has to be done and it’s up to our elected representatives to take action, after all, that’s the job they signed up for and they are being very well paid to do it.  Possibly it’s time to start prosecuting those who leave their guns where kids can get at them. 

Banksy’s Latest Work Vandalized

Banksy is a world famous graffiti artist whose work has become so revered, his street art has been protected in some places.  This is actually funny to some of us who have watched assorted city halls rave and snort about the vandalism that is graffiti. New York City once spent millions upon millions of dollars to erase, not just tagging, but actual fun to look at street art.  I never did understand this since the artwork looked a thousand times better than the piece of crap subway car or building where it was painted.

Now it seems that Banksy’s work does need protection because it’s being vandalized. I find this heartbreaking.  It’s wonderful to be able to walk down an otherwise bleak urban street and be surprised something beautiful, interesting, or thought-provoking on the side of a building that otherwise wouldn’t be there if some beautiful, interesting, or thought-provoking person hadn’t put it up. I tried to understand the mentally that goes with someone who would vandalize art, but I can’t quite get there. I guess the person or group might think they’re making a statement, but here I get stumped again. What values do you have that make doing something like this okay? It’s not even punk rock. Punks generally value art and artistic expression. Art is symbolic of a free mind and what message does art vandalism send other than creative repression?