Afterthought: Deep Wounds Will Heal

I noticed after the fact that I never actually paused to comment on the victims of the Colorado Massacre in my "Our American Problem" blog, other than mentioning the number of casualties. However, I'm not like Vladimir Stalin who once said, "One singular death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic"; I believe in fairness, equality and justice to the memory of those who died that night. You see, I don't mourn statistics or death tolls, I mourn fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, friends, lovers. One story that has arisen from this tragedy is of the boyfriends who died valiantly protecting their girlfriends. Instead of ABC opening up with the troubled mental history of James Holmes, why didn't it do it with the story of these brave men instead? They were the true superheroes that night. 

I offer my love and best wishes to all the victims of the Coloroado Massace, those who died and those who still live, and their families and loved ones. And if I can say anything in parting that will serve as consolation, I'd say deep wounds will heal. I know myself.

Our American Problem

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again." Thomas Paine

I don’t watch the news much, but it seems like every time I venture passing by a TV screen that’s showing the news, some heinous, violent crime is being reported on. The latest one, that of a young former grad student named James Holmes, who dutifully took it upon himself to hold a full-house theater venue playing The Dark Knight Rises captive at gunpoint, unloading shells into them that resulted in 12 people dead and 70 injured, the worst mass shooting in American history. It’s quickly becoming clear that this type of phenomenon is one that is exclusively American. Why, you may ask, because we here in this country glorify violence. We buy it on a daily basis by giving into and consuming it, and exult it by opening up and consuming the news with it. Yet they (the media) remind us that this is rare, and even have advise on how to speak to our children about it. The answer is there in front of our face: By glorifying and exulting violence, we promote the propagation of these  mass murderers and serial killers. And to be sure, these occurrences may be rare, but the reporting on them is anything but.

Look around you. It’s not only television, it’s everything: music, video games, toys, and all types of other merchandise. Violence sells and people buy it. Little by little, the foundations of our society are beginning to erode. By nature, we simply aren’t this violent, and are quickly reaching a breaking point of excess. The moment is ripe to collectively bring it down a notch and declare a moratorium on violent-crime-news-reporting. You see, not until we as a society decide to stop participating in this violence orgy and turn off our television sets, will the major conglomerates that rule the airwaves get the message and stop broadcasting violence. Turn off your TV and they will turn off their cameras. 


We are better than what see on TV. So why stoop down to that degrading lowness? Rise above it. Keep that quiet dignity that mutes the volume every time a violent crime is reported on, that looks away when someone is killed on TV. Keep it, and you’ll see how much better you’ll feel after not subjecting yourself to an onslaught of mindless violence. 


We live in a world of reciprocal actions. If we support violence by consuming it, we’re creating a demand for it and multiplying the instances of it across all spectrums of life. That’s why it will take nothing short of a movement to quell this spell; it will take a worldwide gathering of enlightened minds concerned with spreading love, peace and prosperity. It will take a higher consciousness. We are at the summit. It’s only left to us to act.

James Holmes, charged in the Aurora Massacre, appears dazed and confused in court. Violent criminals like Holmes use violence as an outlet to release their frustrations, a uniquely American problem

YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER!

Earlier today, my mom forgot to turn off the TV before leaving to work. When I came into our apartment, much to my annoyance The Maury Show was on. I don’t watch much television, and least of all talk shows as they are nothing more than salacious trash--and cheap salacious trash, at that. And over the years, from flipping through channels and conversations with friends, I’ve become too familiar with Maury’s show topics, of which the bulk consist of Who’s My Baby Daddy and Cheating Husbands Put to the Test by Backstage Sexy Decoys. It’s a sad fact, for at least there’s more substance in the Is It a Man or a Woman and the Out of Control Teenage Girl Sent to Boot Camp show topics. It’s also sad because during the first few seasons of the show when the host himself wasn’t dogged by sexual harassment scandals, The Maury Show spent considerable time on serious subject matter. But I guess there was simply no fun in that. In any event, I kept the TV on as I unwound.

On this particular episode, a woman who we will conveniently call Jezebel, came on the show for the fifth time to have the fifth man tested to determine the child's paternity. Old footage was conjured to recap her past appearances on the show. Almost without fail, Jezebel always followed the same script: she was initially 100% sure the alleged man was the father, after it was revealed that he wasn’t, she went backstage and broke down crying. If Jezebel is so disgraced that this walking, unthinking penis isn’t her baby’s daddy, then why does she even show up on the show to begin with? This woman is on live television announcing to millions of people that she is a, should we say, whore!

What shocks me even more is that the audience always seems to side with Jezebel. When Jezebel cries, the camera doesn’t fail to catch their displays of sympathy; when Jezebel lashes out at her almost-certainly-not baby daddy, the audience rallies her on. This is beyond outrageous (and even laughable). Maybe Jezebel is their version of a model citizen, maybe they want their children to grow up and follow her example. Not that I have any defense of the baby daddy, either; after all, this man (and I use the term here very loosely), whose knee-jerk reaction after being exonerated is to start dancing like a buffoon, has almost always very bad taste (judging by Jezebel’s appearance) and not even the slightest presence of mind to put on a condom when consorting with some woman he just met at the club that night. As far as I’m concerned, he’s already a baby daddy multiple times over, not to mention a walking venereal disease factory.

This brings me back to the macdaddy of trash television, Jerry Springer. I always thought that his show was the trashiest, but when it was revealed in the late 90s that a lot of the show was choreographed, I realized that there was at least some method to the madness. And after all, Springer himself was the mayor of Cincinnati and pursued a more serious career in journalism. His show also spawned the career of Steve Wilkos, whose show has steered clear from the low-brow salaciousness that has defined Springer’s. All Maury Povich has left behind is trash, and more trash.

By the way, the fifth man who Jezebel so adamantly accused of being her baby daddy, turned out not to be (surprise, surprise!). She went backstage, she broke down, she cried, though this time the man in question was a little more sympathetic and not as eager to flaunt his superb dancing skills. Maybe he’s learned something. As for Jezebel, stay turned for next week’s episode when she’ll have the sixth man tested.