Last word of the Dark Knight
The events in Colorado the last week are tragic on so many levels. Of particular sadness to me was the death of Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the 6 year old victim of the shooting spree. I am a father of two young girls, 9 and 6 years old, and you can catch glimpses of the life they will lead, the possibilities and potential of the lives they will develop. To have that taken from me would be indescribable.
But that leads me to another line of thought. What was a 6 year old girl doing at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises? It is an exessively violent, exessively laden with adult themes type film. That little girl should not have even been there. Speaking as a parent, you would have to be sorely irresponsible to allow a child to view such abject horror. For that is what it is. As adults we are so desensitised to the horror dished up to us as entertainment, we think nothing of allowing pure innocents to view such things. I watched the first two Dark Knight movies. I will probably watch this third one sometime soon. But not my daughters. Not for another ten years. Take a moment and step back from the ultra-violence that marks most action movies - even ones like Ironman and Spiderman - great for adults. Not so good for little minds who have yet to leave the school yard and comprehend the violence in places like Afghanistan.
And it is everywhere. I recently spent time with some extended cousins. One has 3 children, aged 10, 8 and 6. The two younger ones informed me that they have been allowed to watch, among other things, the movies Ted and Saw. SAW! That is akin to child abuse. Are these parents insane or just lazy. How can young impressionable minds mature and be wired correctly when exposed to such distorted horror. The eldest child, a boy of ten, did not smile, and I was told by my daughter, he used foul language and was overly violent and destructive, throwing things at her and other cousins and wreaking a small cubby house she had built.
The death of Veronica Moser-Sullivan is a heart-wrentching tragedy. All the more so because I believe she should not have even been there.