Saturday, June 30, 2018
Stop shooting the messenger!
WTF, America?!
I can’t believe that just days before our nation’s 242nd birthday that I’d be so outraged at what has become of our country.
Granted, there has been a lot in the news lately that has left me shaking my head and wondering what has happened to the idealism and American Spirit that once made this country a beacon to the world. But the recent slaughter of five journalist at a Maryland newspaper has me fuming over what has happened to our society.
I may now be an IT guy, but I started my career as a journalist – and up until about a year ago, I worked for a community newspaper much like the Capital Gazette – so this story strikes rather close to home. Part of what has me so worked up is that this story isn’t being treated as what it truly is: A terrorist attack aimed at the very fabric of this country.
Yes, I know the death toll in this shooting comes nowhere close to those of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack;
the Boston Marathon bombing or even the aftermath of truck running down cyclists and runners on the Hudson River bike path in Manhattan last Halloween. And before you point out that (as of this writing) the gunman’s motives weren’t politically motivated, I’d beg to differ….
While in today’s political climate, it may not be “fashionable” to defend the press, I’d like to remind everyone – especially in the run up to the July 4th holiday – that our Founding Fathers thought that the proper, free and unfettered operation of the press was so important that they put it in the First Amendment of our Constitution, ahead of every other right we have as citizens of this country.
They rightfully realized that the press was “We The People’s” final check/defense against abuse of power: whether it come from the government, the wealthy, community leaders or even our own neighbors. And whether you like what the press reports on or even how they report it, a democracy like ours cannot survive without a free press.
So yes, this was a terrorist attack against the very fabric of this country, aimed at silencing all those who would dare question those in power and try to hold them accountable for their actions.
Sadly, I expect this type of intimidation of the press in Third-World juntas, dictatorships or authoritarian regimes such as North Korea, Russia and Turkey, just to name a few. But I’d never thought I see it happen here.
Now I know exactly how Steve Rodgers felt in the Captain America movies. After getting accidentally frozen back in World War II and awoken in modern times to find a nation whose values he no longer recognizes, he quickly becomes disillusioned with the path the U.S. appears heading down as it draws ever closer to becoming exactly like the countries he fought so hard against in the last century.
And that’s what has got me furious. Because unlike in the comics or films there is no shady organization trying to undermine our freedoms and take away our rights. We are doing it to ourselves!
It would be so easy to blame an evil cabal like Hydra for our current predicament. But the truth of the matter is the fault lies with us. For letting our politicians foment division among our people and promoting an “Us vs. Them” attitude for the sake of their own selfish desire for political power. And for believing them when they demonize anyone who tries to point out their misdeeds or hypocrisy.
So in effect, we are all willing accomplices to the murders of Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters, Gerald Fischman, John McNamara, and Rebecca Smith, because we’ve let our leaders convince us that the mainstream media is evil and full of “Fake News.” We’ve let them convince us that journalist are sub-human or second-class citizens and it’s perfectly acceptable to commit violence against them or shoot them for any offense, real or imagined.
A decade ago, such an attitude would have horrified us. It would have been dismissed as the rantings of some radical nut-job. But today, it’s simply shrugged off, or worse yet, accepted as true.
Look, I understand that not everyone likes what the press reports, and that’s okay. But it is NOT okay to kill them because of it and it also doesn’t mean that just because you don’t like the things they are reporting, it isn't true.
Instead of casting aspersions, do some research and seek independent confirmation. And if just about everyone else is reporting the same thing, then maybe the story has some truth to it and isn’t just a conspiracy by some nameless/faceless group bent on world domination.
To do this however, we need to stop listening to those voices who seek to divide us and start listening to each other. We need to stop calling each other names like “racist” or “snowflake,” because if you have to resort to this type of name-calling you automatically invalidate any point you may make.
We need to realize that those people who don’t agree with our point of view might actually have valid concerns or ideas and we need to work with each other to find a compromise that’s acceptable to all sides.
That’s what’s made this country work for the past 200-plus years and hopefully will make it work again for the next 200.
Most of all we really need to stop shooting the messenger – both figuratively and literally.
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