i just read these comments…damnation! i didn’t take the time to see them the first time i stopped by.

A) People that read your blog every day should *know* that this is how you roll.
B) They could have stopped reading at any time.
C) I don’t think that you have a malicious, cruel, bone in your body toward women.

I just wanted to pose some questions to the multitudes here about the WHY behind this happening. Because it occurred to me that EVERYONE (including myself) is shocked, angry, disgusted, horrified, etc. about what happened to this child.

But is anyone looking at how/why we, as a nation, have been so desensitized to things of this nature?

How much do we look past and ignore on a daily basis? That homeless person begging for food down the street from our offices? Yeah – we ignore him/her because we’re convinced they have a drug/alcohol problem and there’s no reason they shouldn’t have a job.

We don’t blink twice listening to the latest news about how someone was shot and killed behind the local Wal-Mart the night before.

We ignore SO FREAKING MUCH it’s ridiculous. And then something like this happens that hits an area of our hearts that hasn’t been completely hardened yet and we get the response that SHOULD be a normal response.

But it’s not. Because we’re jaded and cynical and we’ve seared our conscience in an effort to block ourselves from the pain and ugliness this world has to offer.

So my question tonight is: what is the biggest culprit of hardening our hearts? Of making us so USED to things that they become commonplace and we don’t bat an eye?

What is it that almost every American family has in their home… usually in more than just one room of the house? What is it that we allow to speak and teach and show us… and our children?

Violence, murder, rape, sexual exploitation of females… they are on EVERY CHANNEL of the television set. We expose our children to that starting at one and two years of age. By the time the average American kid graduates high school, he’s witnessed 55,000 murders on television. Is it any wonder they’re bringing guns to school and there’s no VALUE placed on human life any more?

God only knows how many rapes they see on tv… how many Law & Order: SVU shows have these kids watched? Or whatever?

And since we, as the adults and leaders in this society, are allowing our kids to watch this and watching it ourselves… is it possible we are perpetuating one of the root causes behind a conscience-less society?

The sick and twisted scum that raped this girl… I hope they get the maximum punishment allowable by the law.

… And yet… they didn’t get that way overnight, or by themselves…

I wonder if we really gave it some thought, what we would come up with in answer to: what are we exposing ourselves to on television?

We need some responsibility and accountability in this nation and for everyone to stop pointing the finger there, shifting the blame there, closing a blind eye here.

This is… absolutely morbid and completely unacceptable. But if we don’t do something to change where we’re headed NOW… then even brutally gang-raping someone in front of a group of witnesses is going to be commonplace and then what’s next?

Sorry for the rambling… just trying to make sense out of the thoughts/emotions flooding my own head over all this…

You don’t defend the word?

On 10/29/09 @ 6:39am YOU wrote:

“I’m sorry that you’re offended by the use of “nigger”. I’ve used it in several posts if it calls for it.”

You “excuse” is that people use it and in the same context that you did? Well, people often are afraid to speak up, to be the one person in the crowd to do something. People often let bullies decide how they are going to act. People often keep silent and don’t do something. Isn’t that what you are attempting to expose by this post?

“That wasn’t me saying it.” Huh? YOU wrote that. You “said” it.

I totally understand where you are coming from with the use of the “r” word because that’s how I felt too. Until I read Tanis’ post. I realized what might be funny to me would be hurtful to other people who did nothing to deserve it. I knew that I could do better than hurt people, even when it was thoughtless and even when I just was trying to be funny.

Really? You really think that there is NO word that lacks humor.

I’ve got quite a few but I’ll stick with one for now.

I read this post from Redneck Mommy and it changed the way I speak. I’m old and set in my ways, but her post moved me, made sense to me and of course shamed me. Of all the things it did, the most important and impactful was spur me to action – I have eliminated it from my vocabulary and correct people when I hear it:

http://theredneckmommy.com/2009/03/10/dear-internet-im-placing-you-on-notice/#comments

“Surely there is a better way to prove the point you are trying to make…” – this could be applied to racist language (see your use and defense and the “n” word); gender or sexual bashing language, etc…

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114287592&ft=1&f=5