A plea to America

I.....I....I can't believe it's been two months since I've written anything. It blows my mind b/c I was at a steady pace of twice a week. We are still talking about writing right?

Anyway, so much has happened in the past month alone it may take me awhile to get caught up, but today I'll focus on something other than sports. It's the over-caffeinated, hyper-sensitive, reactionary culture we live in today. Part of this blogumn is owed to Dennis Leary, but only b/c it's fitting.

We have reached a point, especially after the recent tragedy in Arizona, that society and the media NEED someone or something to blame events on. If we were to believe certain critics, we'd be led to believe that 9/11 was an inside job, and that Sarah Palin put the gun in Jared Loughner's hand.

Pundits have pointed out that Palin established a map with a bullseye on it, with Arizona being one of the "targets", and referenced "re-loading". Did Palin also say to go after an unsuspecting 9 year old, a judge and other civilians? I don't remember that as part of her speech.

Before we get any further, I'm certainly not a fan of Palin. In fact, if she were ever elected Vice-President or President, I would give serious thought to becoming a Canadian citizen.

Yet, as soon as this shooting happened, those with "Liberal" views, tried to establish a connection and someone to blame. Look back at every tragedy, and you'll see a pattern. Parents wanting to blame video games, athletes, their teachers, TV shows, and music. Never just chalking it up to "just because they were crazy".

My god, if you are that easily influenced by what a song says or video game shows, not only does a newborn baby understand more about the world than you do, you deserve to be locked away for life in an institution.

I can see it now, soon people will be demanding for Target to change their symbol from the big Red Bullseye. I LOVE Target, and this would be completely ridiculous, but if you think about it, how far-fetched is that outcome?

This is the same society that has demanded for Sports Teams to change their name, b/c they were supposedly offensive, degrading, or endangering the thoughts of millions. The Washington Bullets had to change the name they've had since the 1940's because of violent overtones. When the public chose the "Wizards" there was MORE outcry b/c Wizard is a ranking in the KKK. As far as I know Wizards in my mind were usually associated with magic, but I digress.

St. Johns University became the Redstorm because the media felt "Redmen" was too gender-specific and racist towards Indians. Wrap your mind around that one for a minute.

Society as a whole needs to take a step back and breathe. Sometimes things happen, and the only reason is "just because it did". More often than not, there were no underlying meanings, agendas, or conspiracies. People are just crazy sometimes, and we need to deal with it, not diagnose it. They were not suffering from anxiety, OCPD, ODD, PTSD, OPP or ABC, they were just insane. They weren't wired correctly from the start. I will say there is always evidence of some sort a person is ready to snap, that you can prove 100% of the time. Unfortunately 90% of the time, you find out too late what someone was planning.

I'm not trying to make light of the situation whatsoever, I'm saying society as a whole needs to relax and simplify things sometimes. Not everything can be related or caused by another event or person. Let's get back to the basics, and place the blame back on "just because".