More Shooting, Less Death

The graphic at the right (form here) shows something interesting.

Though homicide by gun shot and knife wound is declining in the US it turns out that the number of wounds is actually increasing.

This is because the treatment of wounds, which has improved substantially over the last decade, has become remarkably better.

So is there less violence than before?

No.

It turns out we're just better at fixing up the results.

Modern medicine has learned a lot from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No longer are fluids given by ambulance teams - more fluid means that the body bleeds more.  Instead platelets and other blood products are provided that cause coaglulation instead.

So what does this mean?

Is our society really better off and less violent?

Probably not.

Instead we are compensating in the medical area.

And, of course, no one who turns up the victim of a gun shot or knife stabbing, has their medical card handy either - so everyone else gets to pay for this mess.

Sort of like little Jr. stealing cookies and, instead of slapping his had, we quietly replace the cookies stolen.

Little wonder Medicaid and trauma-center hospitals are going broke.

And, surprise, surprise, perhaps our society is more violent than we thought.


Of course, its not just gun shots and stabbing.

Violence in the form of hazing and such are spiraling out of control in big universities (see this).

Fueled by alcohol, drugs and testosterone the "freedom" of university life has turned into the freedom to harm yourself and others.

And again, the "cover ups" continue to show that little Jr. is just fine there at "school."

What's interesting is that all of this goes on right under everyone's nose.

No one reports on what hospitals do - just on the number of people that die.

So with fewer dying we're more successful, right?

The bottom line is that people, living packed like sardines into "public housing," big apartment buildings and "dorms" eventually run into problems "getting along" - and violence ensues.

But people flock to cities in droves.

At least they used to - because that's where the jobs were.

But with a bum economy its less easy to tell where the jobs are now - China perhaps?  Soon to be in India?

Cities are becoming black holes of finance and death.

And the occupants apparently don't realize it.

How odd...