Maybe it's the Apocalypse, but honestly it's almost humorous at this point.
I live in China, so fortunately, I miss a lot of the overly-spread and publicized media from America. Unfortunately, even China can't censor crazy.
When someone in the office (typically not American) says, "What's going on in America today/lately/this week?"
My response is usually something along the lines of, "Which state had a shooting?" Or, "Who got shot today?" Sounds a bit heartless doesn't it? Maybe it is. The attention is what they want though, isn't it? The media, the so-called journalists, the peace keepers, the prayers, and everyone. Well, here I am caving to give it the attention it deserves. I'll say what most of you think and I'll take my chances of criticism against the rest.
Here are some pet peeves of mine when it comes to shootings, shooters, guns and the rest of it.
First, for the love of all things holy, if you're going to off yourself after shooting an innocent human, do the world a favor and just turn your lights off before wreaking havoc. Thanks. We all got issues. Deal with them.
Secondly, if you think you're shooting for a cause and getting justice or whatever your reason is, don't off your self like a spineless coward. Don't post a video of your "redemption" on the world wide web, then kill yourself before taking credit. You're even more of a piece of shit for killing yourself than you are for not facing the consequences. Grow a pair.
Thirdly, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Fantastic idea, but knives, bombs and even words kill people, too. Sadly, I don't even think the surmountable rising of random shootings and/or slaughters will effect the demolishing of the Second Amendment. And honestly, as it states, "the right to keep and bare arms as necessary to maintain a state militia," you might want to hang onto it, because it seems before long we're all going to need a few guns and extra ammunition to make a trip to the grocery store. Let's be honest.
Growing up, the fear of a school shooting was put into my mind from Columbine. It was temporary, though. Also, I was only nine years old. The idea that something like that could really happen is like the idea that Santa Claus wasn't really real at that age. It just wasn't logical. And then there was Sandy Hook...
Over the next decade school shootings were sporadic. But today, it seems a shooting is on the front page daily. Or the cover story for FOX and CNN news reel, or the punch line of a Family Guy episode. But we needn't worry about one specific shooting clouding our news feeds because it's always immediately put on the back burner when a new one occurs. That's probably the only positive in so many shootings, right? There will be another one to top the last, or take our minds off the one that hit closest to home. But the victims, the families, the classmates, the bystanders, for them, those headlines are flashing in their minds constantly. Trust me, I've seen a freshly dead body. Doesn't fade.
Here is an example of how the media, although the majority of "bad news" is blocked in China, still spreads like a plague. I was writing about the misconceptions of Chinese stereotypes and I wanted to discuss the issue of communism. I've copied the following directly from my unpublished blog.
"The communism thing... I've discussed this with many of my foreign friends here and we all agree that we feel 100% safe here at all times. We walk down dark hutongs (small, alley-like streets) at night with headphones in and not a care in the world. We'll run to the market and leave our doors unlocked. We'll take a cab alone. I've lived on my own, or with roommates since I was 20, and I've never felt as at ease as I do in my apartment in China.
Last week, there was a stabbing in a popular foreign hangout here in Beijing called Sanlitun. The foreigners were almost in a panic. But only for a day or so. See, China controls their media and the spreading of news. Although the photos were posted and the story told, that's all it was. It was tragic for certain, and we'll be a bit more cautious in coming weeks, but at the end of the day, we're still safer here than the streets of Johannesburg, London or New York.
I've lived in China for 15 months and this was the first serious event to really hit the circuit. I don't feel any less safe, just sad for the girl who died and her fiancé who held her as she passed.
In a country of billions, Communism works. It has its negatives most certainly, but the control puts an unspoken fear in the residents. The fear results in behavior. There are rebellious people as in any place, and I think some of the laws and regulations are excessive, but at the end of the day, people sleep peacefully.
All that being said, the Communism most Americans think of, Mao Zedong and WWII, doesn't exist. I'm not saying it's amazing, but I'm saying it works in its own way."
Now, all that came to mind because about three weeks ago there was an explosion in the bordering city, Tianjian. In Beijing, we have many friends from the area, etc. We were concerned, but that was it. It happened and there was a death count. Was it accurate? Probably not. But it wasn't dwelled on for weeks. A week later, a friend from home messaged me about the explosion. It was still on American news. Why? This is why a large majority of Americans think the world is so terrible. We harp and harp and harp on the same shit for weeks until the next bleed comes. And we roost on foreign situations that don't even pertain to us. Mind your beeswax. Come on...
At the end of the day, I don't live in a free country. And at the end of the day I feel safer because of that. Does that say something about freedom? Maybe. Or maybe it just says something about the amount of freedom we as Americans have. The amount of wiggle room we have to do as we please, the same way the Court has wiggle room to justify its reasons. I'm not advocating Communism, so you can all relax. I am however, advocating we worry about the madness within our own borders before we save the rest of the world. Cause I can promise you this, as a power house, the rest of the world isn't coming to save our asses when we go up in flames because we couldn't implement a little more fear or discipline into our citizens.
Freedom don't come free. That's about as true as it gets. The history of the American world is based on violence and murder to get where we are and that, my friends, is disgusting. We use violence because the country was founded on it.
So yeah I don't have the guts to grab a gun and shoot up someone to make a point, but I've got the guts to write a few words telling those people to go fuck themselves. Look at history. No one knows Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold's names. I only do because I read Dave Cullen's, "Columbine." And how long will they remember James Holmes or Adam Lanza. (Don't worry I googled their names too, because they're not worth storage space in my brain.) The point is, these people aren't heroes, but they're known, even if briefly, because of the tragedies they caused.
America is a lot of things and that's great, but congratulations, we're No. 1 in mass shootings. There are countries at war, there's ISIS and the Taliban, but we're No. 1 in mass shootings. Is that making you sick yet? It should. I pulled this shot from the web. Look at all these dots that don't even have names. The dots are so occurring there is no room for more.
When I graduated college with a journalism degree I swore I'd never work for a newspaper, TV news or any other company of the sorts. I am a writer, not a journalist! Becoming a journalist is often like selling your soul. Often morals and opinions need to be set aside and the story found or told. I have classmates, friends and mentors who are journalist, and this isn't to poke at them. It's their job and that's fair. And it damn sure isn't a jab at the journalist and photographer killed on the job yesterday in Virginia as they were the final draw in no longer biting my tongue.
I will never write something because it bleeds. I will write what I want, when I want, because that's what freedom should be used for. In the long run, it begins and ends with the media, so until we stop using social media as a weapon, nothing is going to change. And that is freedom in 2015.
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