As I was reading Hamamoto's "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence", I could not help but be shocked and disturbed by the various events described in the reading. The article describes several serial killings and mass murders that have occurred in recent years in the US. A section that stood out was the section that described the events leading up to the murder of a Laotian teenager. The teenager had escaped from the killer and was found by the police, but the killer had somehow managed to convinced the police that the wounds were because of a "lovers' quarrel". It was pretty shocking that the police would so easily believe the killer despite obvious physical injuries to the teenager. It was pretty hard not to think that race played a factor, especially when reading how many Asian women are targeted and fetishized. The author claims that the increased level of mass murders and violence is connected to America's emphasis and praise of the military. I believe that there is truth to that statement, which is evident in the fact that some people are even sympathetic toward soldiers that committed mass murder of civilians. This emphasis on the military has even spread to academia. The professor mentioned in lecture that there is starting to be a militarization of universities. A prime example is the pepper spray incident, where police force was taken to deal with a peaceful protest.
Question: Why and how has the militarization of universities become more common?
Reference:
- Hamamoto, D.Y. (2003). Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence.
- Morin, Jim. (2014). [Police militarization]. Retrieved from http://www.bacfl.org/jimmorin/
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