After seeing Vester Flanagan gunning down those two journalists, video-taping it all, sending off a 23-page manifesto, and then calling ABC news while he was on the run, I’ve reached the conclusion our society is reaping the seeds it has sown.

The root cause of all of this has been the breakdown of the family, which started with the divorce craze in the 1970’s. Today, too many children are growing up unsupervised and the parental vacuum in many homes has been filled by the media/ Hollywood/ TV. Seeking the all mighty dollar and appealing to the sinful side of human nature, the media is peddling titillating violence, promiscuous sex, drug use, kill and be killed video games or whatever gets them ratings/ viewers. Our nation’s developing children are seeing this all, absorbing it all, and unfortunately too many are becoming what they have been fed, and then are acting it out.

The media coverage makes these young killers house-hold names – Dylann Roof and James Holmes, glamorizing them with infamy, encouraging more to act out, seeking the same notoriety.

This was not the cultural dynamic of in the 1950’s or the Leave-It-To-Beaver generation of the early 1960’s. Today it is; heck today we have terms like “snuff movies”. No need to say more; our society is in a self-feeding downward spiral that we must grab hold of and stop.

So far the talking heads in the media are blaming guns and mental illness. Neither are the root cause. When are our elected leaders going to point a finger at the breakdown of the family and the media who is feeding our children all this violence?

Alex Saitta

Pickens