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| From the archive, 10 June 1968: Cure sought for contagion of violence in America | From the archive, 10 June 1968: Cure sought for contagion of violence in America |
| (4 months later) | |
| On this hot and sobering weekend, in the wake of the second Kennedy assassination, the American people are asking, as the Europeans are, why there should have been three political assassinations in the United States and such frequent eruptions of public violence in the past few years. | On this hot and sobering weekend, in the wake of the second Kennedy assassination, the American people are asking, as the Europeans are, why there should have been three political assassinations in the United States and such frequent eruptions of public violence in the past few years. |
| Unlike the Europeans, they cannot afford merely to regret or pray for America and pass on. They are as eager as the victims of violence to know its causes and cure them. | Unlike the Europeans, they cannot afford merely to regret or pray for America and pass on. They are as eager as the victims of violence to know its causes and cure them. |
| But they are no less critical of the climate of American society: they blame "our complex society; the fact that the country has waited too long to tackle the basic causes of racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice; poor discipline in the home; a lack of respect for authority among youth; a disregard for God and religion." (It came out from Israel today that Sirhan Sirhan frequently complained to his father that the Israelis "knew nothing of God.") | But they are no less critical of the climate of American society: they blame "our complex society; the fact that the country has waited too long to tackle the basic causes of racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice; poor discipline in the home; a lack of respect for authority among youth; a disregard for God and religion." (It came out from Israel today that Sirhan Sirhan frequently complained to his father that the Israelis "knew nothing of God.") |
| Remedies | Remedies |
| Although on the face of it this view appears to reflect the judgement and prejudices of middle-aged, middle-class America, it is a true consensus of majority opinion, according to a Gallup Poll taken on Wednesday night, barely 24 hours after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded in Los Angeles. | Although on the face of it this view appears to reflect the judgement and prejudices of middle-aged, middle-class America, it is a true consensus of majority opinion, according to a Gallup Poll taken on Wednesday night, barely 24 hours after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded in Los Angeles. |
| The proposed remedies include a ban on violent television shows, stricter parental control, and a return to courses in ethics in the public schools. But the important stress is laid on much stricter gun laws than the Congress is disposed to pass; on a sterner enforcement of the law by police and the courts than the Supreme court is, in its present liberal mood, likely to sanction; and more physical security for political candidates. | The proposed remedies include a ban on violent television shows, stricter parental control, and a return to courses in ethics in the public schools. But the important stress is laid on much stricter gun laws than the Congress is disposed to pass; on a sterner enforcement of the law by police and the courts than the Supreme court is, in its present liberal mood, likely to sanction; and more physical security for political candidates. |
| Many of the people who think "security" would secure candidates against such as last Tuesday's outrage feel that the wide-open exposure inherent in American political campaigning will and should come to an end. | Many of the people who think "security" would secure candidates against such as last Tuesday's outrage feel that the wide-open exposure inherent in American political campaigning will and should come to an end. |
| An actual majority of the Gallup sample said they would favour campaigns that were mainly restricted to television and radio appearances. It could probably be shown, however, that most American politicians are deeply devoted to the barnstorming system, probably because they have known no other. | An actual majority of the Gallup sample said they would favour campaigns that were mainly restricted to television and radio appearances. It could probably be shown, however, that most American politicians are deeply devoted to the barnstorming system, probably because they have known no other. |
| On one point there is almost universal agreement: on the need to emulate Europe by requiring the registration of all guns, the banning of mail-order weapons, and very tight restrictions on the use of guns for any purpose by minors. The curious and disheartening thing about this general desire is that a vast majority of the people have held it for 30 years or more. | On one point there is almost universal agreement: on the need to emulate Europe by requiring the registration of all guns, the banning of mail-order weapons, and very tight restrictions on the use of guns for any purpose by minors. The curious and disheartening thing about this general desire is that a vast majority of the people have held it for 30 years or more. |
| In 1938, in the earliest days of scientific polling, Dr Gallup found that 84 percent of all American adults wanted to see Government registration of all pistols and revolvers. Today, 85 percent urged the same precaution on a Congress which is inexplicably bamboozled by the National Rifle Association and its Washington lobby. | In 1938, in the earliest days of scientific polling, Dr Gallup found that 84 percent of all American adults wanted to see Government registration of all pistols and revolvers. Today, 85 percent urged the same precaution on a Congress which is inexplicably bamboozled by the National Rifle Association and its Washington lobby. |
| Strange conviction | Strange conviction |
| It is their strange conviction that the constitutional "right to keep and bear arms," which was the Founding Fathers' interim formula for mustering local militia at a time when there was no standing army, must be invoked in behalf of criminals or half-wits who have a grudge against society, the Presidency, the Negro, the white man, the Kennedys, or the Jews. | It is their strange conviction that the constitutional "right to keep and bear arms," which was the Founding Fathers' interim formula for mustering local militia at a time when there was no standing army, must be invoked in behalf of criminals or half-wits who have a grudge against society, the Presidency, the Negro, the white man, the Kennedys, or the Jews. |
| The social scientists, too, have been busy probing into the causes of violence. And a few prominent ones are agreed that assassination, at any rate, is a fashion that will rise and abruptly end. A "contagion phenomenon" is the phrase used by a psychiatrist at the famous Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. "The more people see of these things," he says, "the more they tend to increase." | The social scientists, too, have been busy probing into the causes of violence. And a few prominent ones are agreed that assassination, at any rate, is a fashion that will rise and abruptly end. A "contagion phenomenon" is the phrase used by a psychiatrist at the famous Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. "The more people see of these things," he says, "the more they tend to increase." |
| Pattern studied | Pattern studied |
| He is supported by a Columbia University sociologist who has been studying the "pattern" of "highly publicised and dramatic acts of defiant behaviour" and who foresees more assassination attempts here in the next few years. | He is supported by a Columbia University sociologist who has been studying the "pattern" of "highly publicised and dramatic acts of defiant behaviour" and who foresees more assassination attempts here in the next few years. |
| From Berkeley comes a substantiating study, "A Theory of Collective Behaviour," by a professor who notes that the 18-year-old Arizonan who killed five women in a beauty parlour did so, on his own confession, after watching the televised coverage of the murder of eight student nurses in Chicago and of 14 people killed by a sniper in Texas. | From Berkeley comes a substantiating study, "A Theory of Collective Behaviour," by a professor who notes that the 18-year-old Arizonan who killed five women in a beauty parlour did so, on his own confession, after watching the televised coverage of the murder of eight student nurses in Chicago and of 14 people killed by a sniper in Texas. |
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