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Lois Oppenheim: I must say that I find it difficult to open this conference without acknowledging just how unfortunate it is that we find ourselves in need of it to begin with, that we find ourselves in a time when psychoanalysts must consider how they might engage with those who teach our children and how they might engage with law enforcement precisely because of recent events that were previously seemingly unimaginable, except perhaps to writers of fiction and film. Even in fiction and film, however—even on regular television programming where violence is all-too-commonly depicted—I am at a loss to locate anything as horrific as what has tragically become our reality, anything like what has happened of late in our schools: the unfathomable mass targeting of children.
In November of 2013, Andy Borowitz wrote the following in The New Yorker online:
A new study released today indicates that Americans are
safe from the threat of gun violence except in schools,
malls, airports, movie theatres, workplaces, streets, and
their own homes.
Also: highways, turnpikes, libraries, places of worship,
parks, universities, restaurants, post offices, and cars.
Plus: driveways, garages, gyms, stores, military bases—and
a host of other buildings, structures, and sites.