Inevitability of the Unexpected: Shootings and Murder are Acceptable Risks in a Democracy
Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011
by Jon Searles
Recently I read a book What the Dog Saw which is a collection of the writings of Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell is an economist and author of such books as The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. He is known for some amazing incites and unique observations as we look for answers in business, success, and tragedy. In one story written January 22, 1996 entitled “Blowup” he recounts the reasons and history behind the Challenger space shuttle disaster which blew up on take off January 28 1986. In his writing he states “In the technological age, there is a ritual to disaster.” He goes on to explain that we look for answers in each disaster but we are destined to see them again and will pour over the evidence meticulously recreating what happened, vow that something like this will not happen again, point the appropriate fingers, and then go on our way to wait for the next disaster.
The first and second amendments of the constitution can be categorized as the amendments the assign us the ability to embrace this risk in our society. We can say anything we want, and we can own guns. With these freedoms the “acceptable risk” will never go away. Professor of Psychology Gerald J.S. Wilde’s theory, risk homeostasis “holds that everyone has his or her own fixed level of acceptable risk.” Democracy and the United States of America have adopted a government structure and history with its own version of acceptable risks.
Some of you will find this idea distasteful and declare that it is never acceptable for a deranged gunman to shoot innocent people in the United States. Whatever you feel one must admit that our way of life is measure with acceptable risks every day. We would never move forward as a civilization and a nation if we were not willing to do this. If you want to eliminate the risk change or constitution or move to a country that does not allow free speech and guns. Even Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck would agree on the point that it would not be a country they would want to live in. They would both go hungry.
The rhetoric will die down, the left will get off their high horse and stop demonizing the right, the right close its big mouth and will tone down its violent imagery. People will heal, and time will allow this to fade from view from everyone except those intimately involved until the next shooting and tragedy that fall within the acceptable risk of our first and second amendments.
On January 22, 1996, Malcolm Gladwell stated, ”a NASA spacecraft will again go down in flames.” Did his prediction cause the February 1, 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster or the “acceptable risk” of space travel.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Very interesting perspective - thanks for sharing your insights with your readers.Please log in to respond to this comment.Marijo, thank you for reading. I encourage you to read something by Malcolm Gladwell. I may not always agree with his analysis, but he is very interesting to read.Please log in to respond to this comment.
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