Why so much murder?
|
This is a
truth
that's hidden in plain sight: It's not poverty, drugs, lack of
gun control or even downright meanness. The reason there is
so much homicide in America has to do with
politics!
When Americans begin routinely complaining about how they
hate their government and don't trust their leaders, it may be
time to look warily at the homicide rate.
Historian Randolph Roth tried to make sense of changing
homicide rates by sifting through records of tens of
thousands of homicides in the United States and western
Europe over the past four centuries.
He concluded that people's views about the legitimacy of
government and how much they identify with their fellow
citizens play a major role in how often they kill each other,
much more so than the usual theories revolving around guns,
poverty, drugs, race, or a permissive justice system. Roth
says, "The predisposition to murder is rooted in feelings and
beliefs people have toward government and their fellow
citizens. It is these factors, which may seem impossibly
remote from murder, that hold the key to understanding why
the United States is so homicidal today."
During the Great Depression the homicide rate in the United
States went down, even while poverty was increasing. In the
1960s, the United States had more police and more people in
prison than nearly any other nation on earth, along with
strong economic growth, and yet the murder rate
skyrocketed.
Roth says, "Criminologists make a case for one theory or
another by going through records for a short period of time.
But if they try the same theory in colonial America or the
early 20th century, it won't fit. That's where it helps to have
a historical perspective."
While Roth admits that his theory may seem strange at first,
it fits the evidence much better than all the other theories
about what drives people to murder. In his analysis, Roth
found four factors that relate to the homicide rate in parts of
the United States and western Europe throughout the past
four centuries: the belief that one's government is stable and
its justice and legal systems are unbiased and effective; a
feeling of trust in government officials and a belief in their
legitimacy; a sense of patriotism and solidarity with fellow
citizens; and a belief that one's position is society is
satisfactory and that one can command respect without
resorting to violence.
When those feelings and beliefs are strong, homicide rates
are generally low, regardless of the time or place, Roth says.
But when people are unsure about their government leaders,
don't feel connected to the rest of society, and feel they
don't have opportunity to command respect in the
community, homicide rates go up. According to Roth, his
theory helps explain why the United States generally has had
one of the highest murder rates since the mid-nineteenth
century of any advanced Western democracy. He says, "As
Americans, so many of us hate or distrust our government.
You can see it today in the anti-government rallies in
Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. It's been part of our culture
since the very beginning, but especially since the Civil War,
and it is one reason why we have such a high homicide rate.
"When Americans stopped identifying with each other through
national
heroes, they killed each other more often."
On unknowncountry.com, the only politics we care about is
the politics of disclosure, and we believe that the best thing we
can do is to use our brains (which are BETTER in
contactees and
abductees) to CHANGE THINGS.
Anne
Strieber explains what
this is all about just for
subscribers!
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