NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I didn't grow up during the Vietnam War. I arrived on Earth shortly thereafter. But I assume, when soldiers came back in body bags, it was a big deal. Imagery from some of my favorite rock-n-roll icons -- Springsteen and Joel, for instance -- and a somewhat close inspection in college suggests Americans considered the human toll headline news.
Or maybe not. We had already fought several "good wars." Maybe, by Vietnam, we became desensitized to seeing men (and women) in uniform go down. That reflection on history is neither here nor there because, as it stands today, news of an American death in Afghanistan or Iraq is effectively an afterthought in print and on television.
Often, when a soldier dies, its not front and center on national news. Usually it appears in some weekly roundup that lists the name, hometown and rank of multiple people lost. If the death comes as part of some larger-scale attack, usually pulled off by a terrorist group, the media sometimes gives it preference. Occasionally, it's even the lead story.
When we invaded Iraq the first time, Afghanistan and Iraq the second time, I watched CBC's (Canadian Broadcasting Company) nightly newscast "The National" almost every evening. I remember remarking to my wife how Canadians made such a "big deal" on the relatively rare occasion they lost somebody in one of these conflicts. Then, on Saturday evening, during Hockey Night in Canada, Don Cherry would make emotional mention of the dead during Coach's Corner, a Canadian pop culture institution. He still does. The phrase "big deal" might sound crass or disrespectful, but it's not. Please don't take it that way. It was the only way I could articulate the difference between the way we react to the war dead in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Dead servicemen and women rank only slightly above dead gang members and other victims of America's epidemic of urban, inner-city mayhem. Here in Los Angeles, the news rarely reports anything at all about the fallen in South LA unless a baby was caught in the crossfire or something else spectacular went down. Even growing up in Buffalo during the 1980s, the media used gang violence like a promotional gimmick, using a homicide count around the holidays to see if "we" could "beat" the previous year's tally. Sick.
Monday morning, at least six people died in a shooting at Washington's Navy Yard. I'll leave details of what happened to the folks whose job it is to cover this stuff. I don't envy them. I prefer being a diversion focused on the relatively meaningless. But I just can't get past the notion that -- after Aurora, after Newtown, after every big, small, random, coordinated mass murder, murder-suicide, whatever -- we've done nothing, as a nation, to truly address the situation.
For example, we still have virtually zero productive discourse on mental health in this nation.
I can't live with myself writing about Apple, but ignoring the stuff that really matters. I'm all right with being a diversion, but not an apathetic fool.
Top Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now
Last week -- after something happened involving a gun somewhere in America -- a Canadian Twitter follower sent me this direct message: My 10 y/o said last night "daddy how come the u.s. let's people have guns and keep talking about war, its good we don't in canada" My daughter turns 10 this year. As such, that hits home more than it would have otherwise. Admittedly, I have no real answers. I'm as helpless as the next guy. But I write because I want to, if at all possible, play a small role in making sure we do not become desensitized to the casualties mass shootings and guns in general trigger like we have so much other loss of life in this country. It's just not OK that other countries not only don't have to deal with this the way we do, but that they live and breath in cultures that couldn't even imagine such sick reality in the first place. Follow @rocco_thestreet --Written by Rocco Pendola in Santa Monica, Calif.
Rocco Pendola is a columnist and TheStreet's Director of Social Media. Pendola makes frequent appearances on national television networks such as CNN and CNBC as well as TheStreet TV. Whenever possible, Pendola uses hockey, Springsteen or Southern California references in his work. He lives in Santa Monica.
No comments:
Post a Comment