Culture of Fear

We live in a culture of fear. Plain and simple. Maybe we always have, but it seems since the 60s it's been more prevalent then in past generations. Gun control was originally brought up as a conservative issue in response to rioting in "urban areas" I.E. black areas of the country. In 1967 members of the Black Panther party marched on the state legislature in Sacramento to protest The Mulford Act which banned the open display of firearms. The law was signed by then Governor Ronald Reagan who went on to become a major supporter of the NRA. In the 1968 presidential election, an election which was more contentious then 2008 and 2012 the main issues for the voters wasn't the Vietnam War but law and order and the rising social unrest in America. In other words fear of people who where different, who where angry about their circumstance, that was the biggest issue facing the average middle class American voter, not a dumb war that would go on to wreck this country for a generation.And Richard Nixon used that to get elected to two terms as president. And ever since then politicians and the media and certain industries has played on these fears. And lets be honest every single one of us has fallen for it at some point in our lives, whether feeling uneasy walking home at night in a big city and seeing someone who looks different then you walking along the street, feeling a little concerned when a group of middle easterners get on your flight, or seeing someone different walk in your neighborhood . We hear everyday from the politicians and the media and ourselves to buy a gun cause the governments going to come after us, move into a gated community cause black people in south central are going to get you, get a private security system cause who knows maybe your neighbor  is going to rob you, buy this it will protect you, the mexicans are going to steal your job watch out. Over and over again we are told to live in fear and we fall for it. All of us. So we buy into the bullshit and we move into a gated community and buy a gun and install a security system all in the hopes of trying to prevent the unpreventable. This culture of fear is so big we don't notice the real threats facing us.

Trayvon martin was shot because of that culture of fear. Yes there had been break-ins in the twin lakes community and a culture of fear had taken hold to the point where the residents had selected a dirty harry wannabe to be the head of the neighborhood watch. An idiot who probably couldn't pass the police psych test who when he saw the ultimate terror in the minds of the local residents decided this guy wasn't going to get away. Until we as a people stop spending 6 billion dollars a year on firearms, billion dollars more on private security systems and 6-9 million of us stop living in gated communities this wont happen.

I understand that people have a right to protect themselves and their loved ones and threats do exist but until we stop letting these fears and threats control our lives we are going to keep on seeing Trayvon Martins .

LA

People gathering , wanting to be seen, trying to advance their own agendas. Not really caring what's being said. It's the empty part of LA the part that the world makes fun of. Kardasians and what's my mantra. The bullshit glamour that doesn't exist but only in the movies. The part that is the darkside of America , the emptiness that's been around forever. People say its getting worse but it's always been here. In the 80s it was the Wall Street yuppie parties, in the 70s it was the coked out people at studio 54 people, in the 20s it was the Gatsby's drunk and hiding, and in the gilded age it was the robber barons with their wealth that made it so that they could buy and sell countries. 

People say its a sign that we've become morally bankrupt as a society. I guess people don't realize that we have maybe always been morally bankrupt as a people.