Some Observations...

So we all know about the terrible tragedy that occurred in Arizona over the weekend where a gunman attempted to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords is in a Tucson area hospital and is still in critical condition. All total 20 people were shot and six were killed.

I'm not gonna talk about the political shit that so many people are pushing that surrounds this. But, there are a few observations that I would like to make about the entire thing. Mostly about the media.

When the news first broke I saw it on Twitter. So, I turned on the TV and Fox News was the only cable news channel that was on with the story. While I was watching they had someone from Arizona on giving some background on Giffords and the area and whathaveyou. Then the anchor (I don't know who it was) asked “Had Giffords done anything outrageous lately? Or anything that would have ...” And then he stopped himself.

Now, I know that he was probably meaning to ask if there were any big controversies or had there been problems recently or whatever. But, the way he worded that question was straight out of the Fake Outrage Machine™ playbook. And, he really did sound like he was heading for the “did she bring this on herself” territory.

Then, a little later when they were interviewing a witness and she said that the gunman had yelled something before shooting. The anchor (I still didn't know who he was) immediately asked her “What did he yell?” “What language was he yelling in?” 

The way that both CNN and Fox were so obviously and desperately hoping that the gunman was a Mexican, or even better, a Mexican here illegally was particularly disgusting.  

Then, after I had turned it over to MSNBC I found that they had some dude on the phone and he was going to great lengths to explain that this was in no way a politically motivated shooting. He explained that if it was the gunman would only have shot Giffords. Or he would have at least shot her first. We now know of course that Giffords WAS the target and apparently was the first person shot. Worst of all was that this guy was spewing all this psychobabble without the anchor ever questioning any of it. He was just some news guy pontificating, but they were acting as if he was a freaking expert.

Then, a while later MSNBC ran an NBC News Special Report which also aired on their NBC stations. The report was that a “deranged gunman” had shot and killed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several other people. There were two major problems with that report. 1. By using the word “deranged” they were implying that the gunman was insane when there had been no definitive proof of this and still isn't. I know we like to tell ourselves that someone who isn't insane would never act in such a manner, but unfortunately that's not true. And, 2, and more importantly, Giffords wasn't dead.

And, there's one other thing that bugs me and this will probably piss some people off, but oh well. One of the people killed was a 10 (or maybe 9) year old girl. Now, I agree that this is truly awful and a very sad tragedy. But, I take issue with all the people who are claiming that the killing of this child is somehow more tragic or worse than the killing of the five adults. Every life is precious and everyone is equal. The child being killed is not more of a tragedy than the adults. Her life doesn't mean any more than any other person's life.

People get pissed at me when I say things like this all the time, but I don't care. I think it's wrong to elevate one person's life above others. People claim that “Well, she has more of a future or more potential since she's a child than an adult.” I disagree. Like I said, all life is precious and all this focus on the child diminishes the significance of the lives of the other people killed.

Anyway, that's all I've got about that. ….. For now.

–

In other news I got a Bourbon Ball Mold from Maker's Mark in the mail last week. I would have preferred a bottle of bourbon.

And in yet more news that nobody cares about, it snowed last night. It took about thirty minutes for it to look like this …