American barbarism

What the Las Vegas massacre reveals about the veneer of our civilization

Concertgoers flee the scene.
(Image credit: David Becker/Getty Images)

The truly astonishing thing isn't that America's mass shootings are quickly becoming ever more deadly. It's that there aren't far more, and far bloodier, massacres in the United States.

Think of all the crowds: On city streets. At sporting events and concerts and move theaters. On campuses. At the mall. Dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people gathered together in public spaces — unarmed, unprotected, vulnerable to advanced technologies of violence, available for purchase in countless varieties all around us.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.