Steven Rosenfeld writes
America's Focus on Terrorism Blinds Us To Everyday Violence and Suffering:
The Boston Marathon bombing and shootouts with the suspects frightened millions of Americans and turned into one of the biggest media events of the 21st century. But beyond lingering questions of whether the government went too far by shutting down an entire city and whether that might encourage future terrorism, a deeper and darker question remains: why is America’s obsession with evil so selective?
There are all kinds of violent events in America that go unheeded. The British-based Guardian newspaper reported that on the same day as the bombing, 11 people were killed by guns across the U.S. That sad list included a pregnant woman in Dallas allegedly shot by her boyfriend; a 13-year-old who took his own life after being bullied at school; and an off-duty New York City policewoman who killed her husband, her year-old baby, and then committed suicide with her police-issued handgun.
The lists of most violent American trends reveal the mundane shades of evil. There are the most violent cities. There are the murder capitals. There’s domestic violence primarily against women. There are the most dangerous jobs, where injury is common and death far more widespread than from bomb-wielding terrorists—such as at the Texas fertilizer plant that blew up last week and killed at least 14 people and where 270 tons of ammonium nitrate was illegally stored in violation of state and federal law.
What is it about the nature of one form of evil versus another that grips America’s attention, whipping mainstream media into a frenzy and pushing government to pull out the stops in one moment but not in another? Do we respond more to the unexpected rather than to senselessness that continues day by day? […]
Humanity certainly has dark sides that are expressed in violent rage. But there’s also something very wrong and dark about disregarding everyday violence, just because it’s the rule and not the exception.
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Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—He's with us on everything but ... everything:
Here's my rule -- and you can take it or leave it -- on referring to "the bloggers." You must keep in mind that blogs are communications tools, and that the people who use them aren't some new species from outer space. People who use blogs to communicate about politics are saying exactly the same things that they used to say, and that other people still say, to each other over the telephone, at the office water cooler, and over long lunches. This is just the first time that politicians and media types have ever had access to those conversations, because the tool we use puts them out there for them to see. (Yes, we are granting the media access to the minds of the voters. Where's the gratitude and groveling that politicians get when they grant access?)
So the bottom line is this: bloggers are just people who leave "paper" trails of their thoughts. If you have something to say about "the bloggers," try this simple exercise first to see if you might be talking out your ass: Substitute the word "telephone" for "blog." If your sentence still makes sense, you're onto something. If not, you're talking shit.
"The telephoners want us to get rid of him."
Well, that sounds a little dumb, really. But in this particular case, Senator Schumer Anonymous is probably onto something. Democrats who own or use telephones really do want to get rid of Lieberman, and in large numbers.
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Tweet of the Day:
The world's oldest person lived to be 122-years-old. Her diet was olive oil, port wine, and 1 Kg of chocolate a week.
— @UberFacts via Buffer
On today's
Kagro in the Morning show, seems the meme is spreading that there were some magical things the President could have done to erase entrenched obstructionism & pass the gun bill.
Greg Dworkin joined us on that subject at the top of the show, and
Armando comes thundering in on it at the end. In between, we run down the day's headlines from
The Hill,: filibuster reform, sequestration & the complicated politics surrounding both. Turns out the catalyst for sequester frustration finally breaking through is ... airport delays. And, Congress reverts to form with the emergence of a new kind of earmark: sequester exemptions.
High Impact Posts. Top Comments.