So, Are We Over Mass Shootings?

Just in case you didn't catch it, Monday saw yet another school shooting in the United States. A 12 year old boy --yes, 12 years old-- walked into his school, wounded two students, and killed a teacher with a gun. All of this before turning his weapon on himself, ending his life. It was yet another proud moment in America's gun-sick history.

I would certainly like to express my outrage, my shock, my unrivaled dismay; yet I find myself somehow unable to. I remember Aurora and Sandy Hook. I remember Tulsa, Wilmington,Minneapolis, and the 11 other mass shootings that took place in the United States in 2012.  Each of them disgusts, enrages, and does its part to render the country even more hopeless and disenchanted.

Yet, to me, the shooting outside of Reno seems different. If social media commentary, non-sarcastically a great thermometer for what people actually care about, can be believed, then very few people took notice, or cared, about yet another shooting in the United States. I'm left wondering what that says for the land of my birth.

Most worrying, I feel that this could be an indication of our increasingly desensitized society.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of those who point the finger at video games, movies, and other aggressive media as the bastions of American societal evil. Instead, I point my finger at the war-mongering, hate speech, and continued violence in the real world that has become so common place that it barely seems to register on our radar.

The fact is people continue to die. 28 people died at Sandy Hook, 12 at Aurora, and only 1 at this most recent event in Nevada. Is it the size that makes it less important to talk about? Is the death of one innocent man less tragic than the death of innocent children? I'd like to argue that, no, pointless death is exactly that no matter who the victim or in what amount blood is spilled.

So, why, then, is this not being talked about more often? Where is the outrage from all Americans across Facebook, Twitter, and other forums that are so readily filled with this type of thing? Where are the left-wingers or, at least, the anti-violence activists calling for sensible gun reform? Where are the Second Amendment die-hards rebutting the left-wing conspiracy to destroy American sensibilities?

I think I'd prefer the sometimes violent, disgusting language of social media debates than the silence that so typically illustrates apathy. After all, if this isn't enough to get our blood going and conversation started, what is?