O.K. Aurora, enough with the boo-hooing. The President has shown up and felt your pain. The Pols have nattered on about the strength of the community and how it will come together to heal. The Pols and yakking TV heads have all said that now is not the time to mention the word "gun." God forbid anyone discuss the issue or start asking questions. Noooo, can't have that discussion. Need to mop the blood off the floor first. And by that time the topic will be soooo yesterday that nobody will bother.
At the I-Feel-Your-Pain memorial service, Aurora mayor, Steve Hogan, read out the names of the dead and asked the crowd to respond to each name by calling out,"We will remember."
Really? Remember?
The next day the headline in the L.A. Times Calendar entertainment section said, "Moviegoers undeterred by tragedy," and noted that the Batman movie broke all records and continues to break records. Nothing like a little killing to goose the ratings. Lots of money to be made in them there multi-plexes. Lots of money.
The radio news reports that sales of guns have skyrocketed. The reporter says it's a fear-fueled spike. Nothing like more guns in the hands of unstable, scared crazy people to fix the problem of too many guns in the hands of unstable, scared crazy people.
Over at the website "Rotten Tomatoes," anonymous bloggers started posting ugly, threatening remarks about the few critics who dared offer an opinion of the Batman film that was less than glowing. The web editor had to suspend user comments, so ugly and hateful had the anonymous posters had become.
Ugly, hateful anonymous posters filled with rage, posted by unstable, scared crazy people seething with fury. That's now our zeitgeist. But, we can't talk about that either. Not now. Remember, now is the time to focus on the families of the dead. Oh, and keep moping up the blood. So much blood. So many mops. Better order more to get ready for the next gun slaughter, which will come like clockwork. Especially since there's now even more guns in the hands of even more unstable, scared, crazy angry people.
Yes, it's our National Wack-A-Mole Game and it's being played in Alzheimer Nation! Can't beat it for blood AND constant short-term-memory surprise! Woa! did you see that? 12 dead. Who could predict that! Woa! 8 dead. That's never happened before! Woa! 18 dead. Who knew that could happen! Woa! 32 dead. Never saw that coming! Woa! . . . .
But let's not talk about that either, time to move on, let the healing begin, we'll remember, blah-blah, blah.
Right.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
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3 comments:
It's all such a strange, strange dance to watch, Ann. Here comes Obama, the man who reversed Reagan-era rules by signing into law a bill allowing guns into national parks and Amtrak trains, paying his condolences to the families of victims of gun slaughter. You have Mike Huckabee and the parade of well-choreographed stooges on Fox saying it's "too soon" or "disrespectful of the dead" to talk about guns in our culture, as if they'd have the conversation, but just not now. Meanwhile, Wayne LaPierre smiles his smile and wrings his hands as he lets the kabuki theater play out, knowing the collective amnesia of this country will render all the drama moot in a week or so. Remember Gabby Giffords?
And the media will ask questions like: "Should costumes be banned in move theaters?"
Pathetic.
As you've seen, I weighed in on my own blog with my take on the level of crazy we're dealing with these days, and how violent Internet talk can spill into violent reality. I should point out that the death threats to Dark Knight reviewers happened a good 8 hours before the gunman's rampage. So that violence was already somehow in the ether surrounding this film. A movie about comic book characters. What I see is a culture of two year olds who can't grow up. And yes, they seem to be two year olds with amnesia.
Billy, yes, it's a strange dance; the fear and loathing polka. I think America had a nervous breakdown on 9/11 and hasn't come out of it. Mentally unstable and armed. Never a good thing.
Anne, that ether is toxic and we've been breathing it for a long, long while. I keep waiting for the patient to wake up, but so far . . .
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