Has Collective Suffering Become The American Way?
America has always been on intimate terms with collective suffering.
From the Great Depression to the Civil Rights Movement to the War on Drugs to the AIDs epidemic to 9/11 to the Charleston Massacre to COVID-19 to most recently the Buffalo Massacre, it seems as though suffering in great numbers has become as expected as taxes.
Writer Michelle Smith, in her 2022 article for the Denver Post, writes, “Americans have always tolerated high rates of death among certain segments of society. But the sheer numbers of deaths from preventable causes, and the apparent acceptance that no policy change is on the horizon, raises the question: Has mass death become accepted in America?”
Some may argue collective suffering in recent years can be preventable, for example, mass murders that are racially motivated. Different sources may argue that other examples of collective suffering such as disease and economic genocide can also be preventable. If so, what has been the main adversary and why has nothing been done?
The mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, is just the recent chapter in the ugly saga of violence in America. A saga that has included mass murders in churches, schools, movie theaters, nightclubs, and more. It seems to be the same routine. Breaking news banner flashes across the screen, images of crying and screaming citizens permeate the television and phone screens, reporters reciting the who, what, when, and where of the events- innocent bystanders fall prey to a horrendous act of violence that seems to have come out of left field, statistics of age and gender are revealed, and the drawn-out analysis of what could have been the motivating factor.
This cycle will continue for a few weeks and be dissected by news reporters, talk show hosts, radio hosts, and the collective human opinion across social media. It will be the topic of conversation at dinner tables, staff meetings, and lunch dates. It will continue to permeate the minds and hearts of America until it is declared “old news” and from there, will be forgotten until the year-to-year remembrance.
Collective suffering has made itself at home in America.
In recent American memory, with these numerous conversations surrounding the events that lead up to these disasters happening, little to no policy or large narrative action has been done to guarantee it doesn’t happen again. American citizens who have become traumatized and desensitized to these events have marched and protested and voiced their concern and frustration and urge for change. It seems that all of this has fallen on deaf ears.
Can collective suffering come to an end in America? If not, can how America deals with collective suffering come to an end?
