The Tale of Two Tragedies
This will be controversial. Trigger warning.
I can't help but compare the students post-Columbine and the students post-Parkland.
After Columbine, the heroism of the survivors and victims was widely reported and lauded. They saved each others' lives. They stood up to the killers who asked about their faith, and they died as a result.
While there was, deservedly, talk about gun control afterward, there was as much or more talk about what led the shooters (who will not be named here) to do it, the effects of violent media, and the age-old question, where were the parents.
That was 1999. This is 2018.
While there is much to talk about after the horrendous Parkland shooting tragedy (including the courage of teachers), it has been drowned out by the gun control debate. The media has gone wild on the subject.
I don't deny guns in this country should be debated. I favor some restrictions on what is going on now. I do deny that the way the current debate has been conducted is right. Legal gun owners and the NRA were not responsible for the shooter's (again, not named) behavior. We know there was a lot more going on. Those of us who own guns, hunt, and like target practice are not murderers with blood on our hands.
The young people of Parkland who have become celebrities by saying unwise and outrageous things may someday regret their words and wake up to how they are being used. Their fifteen minutes of fame is a trap; the media will exploit them and throw them away when not useful any more.
However, I can't escape the fact that these are the children of social media and the Internet and 24/7 news cycle. The children of Columbine had never heard of smart phones and social media, and the Internet had not been around their whole lives.
Are the children of Parkland getting the help they really need in this media chaos? The parents and the families who could not bury their family members in peace because the media intruded?
Sad. Very sad. We must resist.
I can't help but compare the students post-Columbine and the students post-Parkland.
After Columbine, the heroism of the survivors and victims was widely reported and lauded. They saved each others' lives. They stood up to the killers who asked about their faith, and they died as a result.
While there was, deservedly, talk about gun control afterward, there was as much or more talk about what led the shooters (who will not be named here) to do it, the effects of violent media, and the age-old question, where were the parents.
That was 1999. This is 2018.
While there is much to talk about after the horrendous Parkland shooting tragedy (including the courage of teachers), it has been drowned out by the gun control debate. The media has gone wild on the subject.
I don't deny guns in this country should be debated. I favor some restrictions on what is going on now. I do deny that the way the current debate has been conducted is right. Legal gun owners and the NRA were not responsible for the shooter's (again, not named) behavior. We know there was a lot more going on. Those of us who own guns, hunt, and like target practice are not murderers with blood on our hands.
The young people of Parkland who have become celebrities by saying unwise and outrageous things may someday regret their words and wake up to how they are being used. Their fifteen minutes of fame is a trap; the media will exploit them and throw them away when not useful any more.
However, I can't escape the fact that these are the children of social media and the Internet and 24/7 news cycle. The children of Columbine had never heard of smart phones and social media, and the Internet had not been around their whole lives.
Are the children of Parkland getting the help they really need in this media chaos? The parents and the families who could not bury their family members in peace because the media intruded?
Sad. Very sad. We must resist.
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