In the year 2023, the word desensitized is something that I think America specifically has become accustomed to. Everyone dealt with the pandemic and although Covid and quarantine have played a part in our nation's numbness to tragic events. That story has been told time and time again. Although, indeed, the state of America within the pandemic wasn’t only solely focused on the disease many other things as well. In our city, our country, and even our phones we were reminded of the new country that we were currently living in, not saying that the pandemic itself wasn’t traumatizing but the things that were going on it seemed like there was too much violence, too much trauma all at once and then it just became normal.
Recently the new normal is mass shootings and how many people can a person kill with an ar-47. When it first happened, at Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Virginia Tech, everyone was in shock and horror at how these vile things can happen to innocent people trying to go to school or grocery shop but now it’s a whole new story. Don’t get me wrong, Americans aren’t now ruthless to the point where we can’t feel any human emotion but the responses to the new shootings aren’t as filled with empathy as they once were. 4 months into 2023 and there have been more than 140 mass shootings across the country. Is this the new norm?