Redefining "Violence" in America

 

The United States' definition of "violence" is in desperate need of upgrading.  We're trained to view certain acts, such as shooting someone dead in the street or beating a woman or child to death as "murder" while tolerating or even rewarding other acts that directly result in death.  Mass death, even.  Drug dealers caught with $70 of crack cocaine in their pocket are given harsh sentences while the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma fame, which engineered the opioid crisis with their claims of "non-addictive" OxyContin, get nothing more than a fine.  Said opioid crisis is the 2nd most deadly disaster of any kind in U.S. history right after COVID and before AIDS, yet nobody sits in prison for it.

Until we start treating the psychopathic businessman in the fancy suit (B. Thompson) just like the guy who shoots a psychotic businessman in the street (L. Mangione) as equals in the justice system, we're not a free or equal society.  If anything, the businessman who kills for the sake of greed and power is MORE evil than the guy who takes him out.  Slanging dope is slanging dope whether you're a pharma rep in fancy attire or a Crip on the corner.   Murder is considered THEE cardinal sin, yet we reward soldiers who kill men/women/children overseas in war zones with special medals and titles.  Cops and ICE agents who kill are viewed as valiant heroes protecting themselves even when the person they killed was unarmed, but women & children who kill their abusers in self-defense are locked up for 25-life.  

Violence of any kind is never good, but it's the language the powerful are most fluent in.  The only difference is how we view and treat perpetrators.