Pax Christi Metro New York statement on Connecticut school killings

Lost in the politics of gun regulation is a larger cultural failing, in which Pax Christi Metro New York believes we are all complicit: the extent to which we permit violence, and violent images, to permeate our daily lives, unchallenged.

Our nation's foreign policy - from our deadly invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan to the savage dismemberment of innocent children by the high-tech drones we daily drop from the skies in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere -- is premised to a great degree on violence and destruction.

We as a nation rely too readily on war, instead of diplomacy, to resolve our international disputes. We celebrate -- in our national discourse, and on our magazine covers - our military warriors as heroes. Our popular culture is equally steeped in bloody images: the gunman in the Connecticut school murders, adorned in military battle fatigues, could easily have stepped out of one of dozens of American movie ads glorifying gun-toting vigilantes. In light of the overwhelming pervasiveness of violence -- in our national budget priorities, in our political rhetoric, in our entertainment, and in our country's dealings with others -- how can we profess surprise when troubled individuals among us similarly embrace violence?

Rosemarie Pace, Director
Pax Christi Metro New York

For more information see: www.nypaxchristi.org