1. The ability of Americans to ignore the patterns of violence in their history has astounded scholars and experts, for the act of denial requires a kind of national amnesia that essentially — and very successfully — forgets how much violence there really is and has always been in our lives. Violence has actually formed a seamless web in our history, but the subject of violence has been suppressed in our national consciousness.

    Thank you, Glenn W. LaFantasie, for saying what I’ve been writing emails and chats about for the past few days. I have felt a little off-kilter since Sunday because my initial reaction to the Giffords shooting was Are you really that surprised? Social media people  wrote things like “What is this world coming to?” and “What will I tell my kids?” and I was astounded. It’s why I’m not getting super upset about violent political rhetoric because really, do you think this is new? Do you think you can stop it?

    Experiencing violence is a condition of being American.

    (via fightwithknives)

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