‘Joker’ Is The Conversation We Need To Have About Violence
It says something about the state of our society when a security guard is checking your purse at a movie theater.
I’d heard rumors about these safety measures leading up to the release of Joker and wondered, what’s the point? Is this really necessary? Is a repeat of the Aurora, CO shooting at a showing of The Dark Knight a real threat? Is that reason enough to be afraid? I didn’t take these fears seriously. This, I thought, is not the world we live in.
But it is.
In August, days after the shootings in Texas and Ohio, a crowd of people in Times Square panicked when they heard an ominous sound. They fled from it, holding the hands of their loved ones and keeping them close. They made 911 calls. Dozens suffered injuries from a stampede. A gathering of people enjoying a public space on a summer night heard a sound, and they feared for their lives. What they thought was gunfire was actually just a motorcycle backfiring.
Acts of mass violence occur with such alarming frequency that people expect them to happen. The sound of gunfire seems like a more likely scenario than a motorcycle backfiring. A feeling of peace and safety in a public space is replaced with fear. That is truly terrorism.
