Today I am still shocked, and saddened and disturbed by the images and stories coming out of yesterday's tragic shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. This was the worst shooting of this sort in our nation's history and my heart goes out to the families left shattered in the wake of these events. I can not imagine, as a parent myself, the grief that the parents of those kids are experiencing now, and will experience the rest of their lives. Truly awful.
At the same time I was thinking of this awful story last night and this morning, I still had in my mind the controversy surrounding Don Imus's racially bigoted and misogynistic remarks and his subsequent firing (mostly because of the Oprah episode my wife and I watched last night). The more I thought about these two issues in parallel, the more striking similarities I discovered. The biggest one to me is how these two stories seem to exemplify the 'other edge' of the double-edged sword of protecting our freedoms. After the Imus incident, we heard a lot of people using the 'freedom of speech' argument. As I have said before, I am a big proponent of this freedom; but we must remember that the unregulated, unmitigated protection of this freedom allows certain people who would misuse it, the opportunity to take away someone else's most basic freedom, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Imus saying what he did took away these girls' freedom to not be insulted in such a vile way, and to live their lives in relative anonymity. Compare that to the talk that is inevitably to come out of this shooting yesterday that we must protect the 'freedom to bear arms'. Again, protecting this freedom unregulated and without pause, brings with it an even harsher 'other edge', the consequence of taking some one's freedom to live.
So, what other similarities can be found in these two stories? How about the senseless and faceless disrespect and anger towards your fellow man/woman/human being that is exemplified here? Why is it OK in our society today to say such awful things about women, or gays, or blacks, or Mexicans, or old people, or young people? And what has generated such hatred and caused such desensitization towards life that, time and time again, people go on these murderous rampages and kill people they are not even connected to? We have become a nation so disconnected, so mistrusting, and so angry towards each other. This is seen reflected all over the place in pop culture. From gansta rap music, to crime shows on every night in prime time, to violent video games, you can see it every direction you turn. I do not blame our problems on these things as some do; I think more correctly they are just a mere reflection of the hate we are all expressing in little and big ways every single day. We hate each other for being a different color. We hate each other for voting for a different political party. We hate each other for driving SUVs or for caring about the environment. We hate each other on the highways when we get cut off. We hate too much.
One last similarity I would like to bring up, and this goes to why the ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) reference in the title of today's blog. All last week and this weekend our attention was focused, as it rightly should be, on an effort to clean up the airwaves that have become so corrosive (at least the conversation was beginning). This talk was spilling over into trying to clean up hip/hop music and any thing else that is currently profiting from the use of racially stereotyping language and themes. There seemed to be some real traction and momentum gaining finally on this, even though people have been speaking out in vain for years. Now, yesterday, a huge story comes along and dominates the headlines (as it should) and we forget about the conversation and progress we started making in regards to the Imus comments. Now we have the opportunity to have a national discussion about gun control and this cycle of hate that is spinning out of control as a result of yesterday's shootings; but chances are, it will be a short-lived and not fully followed through discussion. We will stay on this until the next headline grabbing story inevitably pulls us away. When that happens, little if anything will be done to fix the root causes of this, or the Imus issues. Don't believe me? Think of the outrage that lasted for a few weeks after the Columbine shootings; and think about how many guns laws have been added or beefed up in the 8 years since (hint: zero). Think about the outrage after Katrina and think about what has been done for that city since and what has been done in a broader sense to fight the systemic problem of poverty in America.
Admit it, we suffer from ADD in this country in dealing with the aftermath of these big headlines and outrages. I can only hope that this time will be different, but the realist in me is unfortunately doubtful.
Thanks for reading...
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My take on everything from Fatherhood and Husbandhood to Video Games and Gadgety Things.
About Me
- Shawn
- I am just an early thirties dad, husband, son, brother, software tester, quasi-Buddhist, occasional vegetarian, left leaning average white male with very little time on his hands.
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