Susanna asked for an update. And since she may just be the only one reading my blog...here it is. Happy Birthday.
Unfortunately I don't have happy things to talk about today. (Yet...I will post something nicer later...perhaps about Jay-Z!)
This is a very sad day for Northern Illinois and I'm sure it also is a sad day at places like Virginia Tech and Columbine as each new incident sparks the old memories.
I'm sure in the coming days and weeks and months much will be made of the shooter and his motives and the warning signs and all of this. In the meantime I would prefer not to break down what his motives may have been. I'm more concerned with another issue. The Chicago Police Department reported 443 murders in 2007. 44 percent of these are
believed to be gang-related. While 443 sounds like an alarming number, it was actually a cause for celebration as this was the lowest murder total in over forty years in the city of Chicago. And what I am concerned about is who decides that these hundreds of murders, just as senseless as the school shootings, are of less importance. Why do our favorite television shows not break away every time somebody is killed in a gang war? Or over a domestic dispute? Or in a robbery attempt?
Education can surely play a role in reversing this trend (which, I suppose you could
argue, is already being reversed with the tally down to a mere 443 killings.) Most crime (but not usually the crime that gets the big news coverage) springs from a feeling of hopelessness. If we had better systems in place to alleviate this despair perhaps we could see more progress. And the best way to do this is through an improved education system.
But of course there are roadblocks...
ANYWAY...perhaps this is an inappropriate time to address this subject. I certainly don't mean to minimize the tragedy at Northern but it's just something that crosses my mind whenever a story like this one steals the headlines.
On a brighter note...Jay-Z, the United Center, April 26.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The media decides. You can buy a gun and a fence and move to Park Ridge, but at a college, it could happen to one of YOUR CHILDREN.
That said, spot on. I agree with you in full - when someone just snaps for whatever reason, the media goes into full WHY DID HE DO IT mode, but when a gang violence epidemic continues for generations, it's shrugged off. Just keep working to improve it, a little at a time. We're making progress (hey, the projects are gone). Or just keep fucking until we're all Filipino. That works too.
Thanks for the birthday wishes and for that thread, that was real sweet of you to do.
...
"the Chicago Police Department reported 443 murders in 2007" if statistics are put together from a month in Venezuela, that is more or less the number of deaths - and it is an abysmal number especially considering there's less than 30 million of us in here.
Education is the key, that is for sure. But it goes beyond the educational system, I always heard that education starts at home and some people are so lost and have no guidance... it's so sad what the world comes to, out of desperation, out of selfishness, out of hate and anger (Whichever triggers that).
I wish people were nicer. That is all.
It bothers me how these tragedies keep on happening, there's a lot of talk about it and then it fades away until there's a new one and people seem to be making less and less noise about it. It's absurd.
It's so sad also how people take for granted gang related deaths, it's just like kidnaps of poor black or Latino girls are not airing on CNN or FOX 24/7., and yet that blond child is taken away from her parents all the way across the pond and it becomes breaking news.
Let the Dudies decide
Post a Comment