Going Somewhere Fast

The Virginia Tech Massacre

This is an incredible tragedy. Of course every feeling person’s heart goes out to the families of the students and faculty who were gunned down in this horrifying episode of sheer chaos and violence. There really isn’t much more you can say about the matter.

Playing the Blame Game

But that certainly hasn’t stopped the national media from desperately trying to turn a random event into a story. Naturally this involves finding someone to blame. Reporters are suggesting the campus security or the President of the University could’ve done more to warn students and potentially lessened the loss of life. Look, randomness can’t be predicted and insanity can’t be stopped. If a crazy person decides to shoot up a bunch of people in a public place then that’s what will happen.

Honestly I find it hopeful that this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. I have come to the conclusion that there are some people who could do a violent senseless thing and there are others who would do a violent senseless thing but luckily the two types of people rarely intersect. It is an anomaly when a personality has both the will and the wherewithal to reek such utter havoc and destruction. To me that is a small sign of a basic decency that exists.

Aside from this I am getting really nauseated by the general cries for more security. Security comes with a cost and generally the trade-off involves freedoms. I know it is natural for the family of those killed to be angry and frustrated and to want to try and place an order and a context on this sort of tragedy but that doesn’t mean the national media has to latch onto these reactions and rile up a virtual pitch-fork wielding mob calling for the blood of college administrators and campus security.

Don Imus

I feel like I should at least weigh in on this issue. I’ve been thinking a lot about the words and the reaction and for what it’s worth here’s my take. I believe in free speech and I accept capitalism as a viable driving economic force. So the firing of Don Imus alarms me for a couple of reasons. First and foremost he got fired for saying something distasteful. I could accept that if I believed that the overall market, or Imus’ audience, had abandoned the notorious radio shock-jock. But I don’t believe this is the case. I believe that there are likely a lot of faithful Imus listeners who are bitterly disappointed that they don’t get to listen to their favorite radio jock doing what he does and has done every morning for the last forty some-odd years.

So why was Imus fired? I think he was canned because the corporate sponsors didn’t want to risk tarnishing their images. This holds extremely dubious connotations. In this case the issue is racism, but if we project it is not inconceivable to foresee a future where corporate sponsors might hinge their decisions on religion, politics, or whatever the “outrage du jour” might happen to be. We already have a sickeningly limited choice of material to listen to on the “public” airwaves and if we continue to curtail it based on what corporate America is willing to sponsor then eventually there will be nothing left but Top 40 garbage and innocuous squeaky clean “Regis and Kelly” type morning show style banter. That may be fine for the swallow and smile quasi-Christian suburbanite sheep out there but for anyone with a streak of individualism or subversion this spiraling situation should leave us feeling slightly sick to our stomachs. Do I like what Imus said? No, but frankly if the corporate controlled national media hadn’t picked up on the story I never even would have heard it. I don’t listen to Don Imus and that’s my advice for anyone else who doesn’t like what he has to say. Change the station. Then let capitalism take its course.

We desperately need debate in these dangerous times. If we are constantly worried about saying the wrong things then we will never even be able to enter into these types of discussions. Free speech and a free press are the cornerstones of a free society and totalitarian regimes have always focused on controlling speech and print. So which direction are we heading in right now?