Normalized violence has so many pieces to its puzzle. Our culture is addicted to violence in legends, games, movies, racism, religion and television. Add to that conflict in high-density housing, family stress, lack of resources and more.
There are those who claim a right to inflict violence by dominance upon those who are denied the right to dignity and freedom from fear. Witness the government-sanctioned violence upon children on our border.
One more puzzle piece is examined in the 2005 book, Freakonomics, by economists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The book’s studies reveal that in opposition to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s claim that abortions cause school shootings, it is, indeed, the opposite. Chapter Four, “Where have all of the criminals gone?” correlates case studies where women have gained or lost access to abortion. The loss or lack of access correlates with the rise in violence seventeen years later.
Seventeen years ago, George W. Bush instituted a reproductive gag order. His fellow Republicans, state and federal (who profit from the prison industrial complex) have fought to deny women access to reproductive health care.
Seventeen years later, we live with mass shootings and normalized atrocities of government harm to children.
Stephanie Johnson
Durango
