Well..I know I promised to be better in this post, to try to be less shrill and more reasonable, and to take no pleasure in the idiocy of the right and in particular to not name the commentators on the right who are so inconsistent in their writings. But, you know that hasn’t been true but I’m not here to apologize, since they just keep it up and no one is calling them out on this stuff. So, I’ll try to do it with one of my favorite people from the Detroit News; Noland Finley…again. His column today was this mish-mash of inconsistency where he blames the US for not taking care or having programs for delusional people like the shooter from Arizona, then moves on to charge that the violent images that Hollywood shows in it’s films and TV programs as the cause for many attacks by these deranged people. But, that’s not all, he goes on to assert that there is little that parents can do to counteract violent images in video games and today’s media.
How many ways can this guy be wrong and still have a job writing? First, let’s touch on his idea that there are not enough programs for the mentally ill but who is responsible for this? It’s the progressives out there who fight tooth and nail to keep just the skeletal safety net that is still there for ordinary Americans…and this type of social program is the first thing that the repubs attack as being the creeping “welfare state” whenever they are in power. Number two..if the media is so all-powerful, why did he, in an earlier column, assert that the right wing hate speech had nothing to do with the shooting…what is it Nolan? Does media matter or doesn’t it? Or is it just the media that is associated with the progressive leanings of many of those in Hollywood? And, your assertion that parents can’t effect the reactions of their children to these images, what about the millions and millions of children who see these same images and don’t go out and shoot someone? I don’t like to share the lives of my children here, but I have to add the anecdotal evidence that I have observed while raising my kids. They watched violent movies and tv shows…they played violent video games and still do to this day…but not once, and I’ll repeat that NOT ONCE did my kids ever get into a fight with anyone…and this is because their parents gave them the grounding of what is real and what isn’t…that when someone gets beat up or shot on tv…the actors can get up and walk away….but, in real life, there are real consequences to their actions and resorting to violence was a sign of failure; and not to be glorified like the right does today. These 4 young adults are the most peaceful, nice people you would ever want to meet and that is because of what Nolan says has no effect…parental involvement….geez…Nolan, think a little next time….