Dear Washington Post: People Are Not Rational

It's The Enlightenment, Stupid!

Violence is not a rational act. We know this, but in our public discourse we present this façade of considered logic to human action.

It is the residue of The Enlightenment, I think. Over four centuries we have built a “clockwork universe” and we struggle when we can’t find the broken cog in the machine.

This is evidenced by today’s Washington Post, as it expresses palpable frustration that it can’t explain away yet another shooting with a pithy quote from an expert about video games.

If we wish to reduce violence we should abandon violent, tribalistic rhetoric, stop substituting violent threats for political discourse, and circumscribe the civilian distribution of weapons of war.

Like microplastics, violence is in our blood, our bones, and the air we breathe.