Forum | Aurora, Sandy Hook, Boston…Reflections on Contemporary America

In recent years, there have been several seemingly random acts of violence by young males in the U.S. – shootings in Aurora, Colorado and the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, and bombings in Boston, Massachusetts. Following each incident, politicians and media commentators across the political spectrum have sought to explain how such tragic events could happen here in the U.S and how we should react to them. Furthermore, after the lock-down following the Boston bombings in April, opinion remains divided over the balance between security and individual liberty.

The one thing these acts have in common is the seemingly motiveless and suicidal violence of the disaffected youth that carry them out. In contrast with political and social movements of the past that used violent tactics to pursue their goals, today’s perpetrators appear to have no clearly stated or apparent motive or set of demands and seem to represent only themselves.

The panel will examine the ways in which the response to these violent acts and the attempts to find meaning in them casts a spotlight on the changing nature of political debate in the United States. What’s changed about the debate around random acts of violence (shootings and bombings)? How does it reflect changes in U.S. society even since the Columbine shootings (1999)? Is this just a crazy/socially inadequate minority or are the perpetrators indicative of a broader dissatisfaction among young people? Are the rights of the individual really more sacred than the security of the many?

Speakers include Nancy McDermott, writer; advisor to Park Slope Parents, NYC's most notorious parents' organization; Claire Bond Potter, Professor of History, The New School for Public Engagement; Christine Rosen, a Senior Editor of The New Atlantis; Patrick J. Egan, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Policy, New York University; and Jean Smith, Co-Director, New York Salon, moderates.