Skip to main content

Do Something

 The President has become a pleading father figure.  Some of his offspring detest him, while others cow down as with all fathers.  His complaints are predictable.  Why can't you just behave?  But he is not talking about appropriate peer group behavior.  He speaks of carnage and compassion fatigue.  He is the leader of the nation that cannot seem to ban assault rifles.  So, we set records.  

We go from one mass shooting to another.  3 this week alone.  

I've yet to see how anyone needs an assault rifle for anything, in any circumstances.  The public school is being sacrificed on the alter of the 2nd amendment.  As one politico recently labeled #2, the greatest hoax in American political history.  Some of us see a marked difference between a well-regulated militia and an 18-year-old misfit with an AR-15.  

The President tells his story.  How the people appear before him with one request.  "Do something" they urge.  He is paralyzed by a Congress enmeshed in gridlock.  He speaks only of compromise.  

Is changing the age of AR-15 possession from 18 to 21 enough?  Is it anything at all?  

The Republicans can't see what is before their eyes.  Getting re-elected is the only priority they have.  That means not rocking the boat.  The boat is full of cash for their next campaign.  



They pivot.  It's about mental illness.  That's the culprit.  No matter the red flag provisions might help, no matter that not one reason has been provided to explain why anyone needs an automatic assault rifle.  How do we make those who obfuscate see the illogic of their thinking?  Some suggest the Emmit Till effect.  

When the 15-year-old Till was brutally beaten and then drowned by a racist mob, his mother decided to let people see his wounds in an open casket.  The media responded and people were shocked into reality.  It might give those who aren't quite there yet something to think about if they saw the damage that an AR-15 does to a 10-year-old in an elementary school.  It's brutal, but it seems to be necessary.  After all, we live in an image-oriented culture, where appearance is everything.  

So we wait.  We wait for something.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.   You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.   I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Illusory

What does it take to enrage you?  That moment when your words fly on pure emotion because enough is enough.  Is it a driver that cuts you off at high speed?  What about being an eyewitness to blatant racism or on the receiving end of some obvious injustice? I know some people who never express rage.  I admire them but know full well I am not capable of such distance from that which would bring about such a strong response. Another senseless shooting and 7 people die at the hands of a mentally ill gun owner.  The father of the 20 year old college student lets it fly and somehow millions feel a new sense of relief.  He calls the politicians bastards who do nothing, he wears his pain in public.  The news media responds but we all know that nothing is going to change.  We are the gun country.  We are the place where anybody, anytime, can be cut down just for being there when somebody else snaps. Usually the perpetrators are delusional. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...
3 comments
Read more