I don't miss being a reporter. Today, I got a breaker up on PJ Media about the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin. I hate those stories. I hated covering them when I was in the field, and I hate writing about them now.
As usual, the available information was scant and contradictory. The number of dead and injured was scaled up and then down as threads of possibly valid information came in. In some ways, I feel for the reporters. In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, you have to get something on the air or the web -- usually both. At least that way, everyone knows your outlet is at least aware of it. In the meantime, you have to continue to post on social media and on your outlet's site, all in the hope of attracting eyes and ears. It's a rough job, and I'm glad I don't have to do it anymore.
On the other hand, it is difficult to summon up mountains of compassion for the media. Too many times, I have watched the members of larger outlets sashay into the middle of a tragedy, cameras rolling, mics bobbing, their bearers seemingly immune to the horror and human cost of whatever they are covering at the moment. Occasionally, said junkets were accompanied by a news chopper for some unfathomable reason. At one time, I would have chalked it up to the stress of the job. The longer I was in the business, the more tempted I was to turn to them and say, "F**k you and your g*****n whirly-bird, you blow-dried ghouls." When the Uvalde incident happened, a seasoned, respectable anchor with whom I was reasonably well-acquainted made a post on Facebook. The gist of his post was a message of sympathy and support for the reporters who were on the scene. He exhorted his readers to empathize with the journalists because this was "gut-check" time for them. The reporters did not have my empathy. That was reserved for the victims and their families.
The antiquated idea that the members of the Fourth Estate are hallowed guardians of truth and gatekeepers of information is finally being put to rest. Look no further than the massive rake upon which CNN's Clarissa Ward stepped when she "freed" a prisoner in Syria who was, in reality, one of Bashar al-Assad’s henchmen. Anyone with half a working brain would have been able to see that something was amiss. I would not go so far as to say that CNN staged the story for views. Instead, Ward got into the "zone," smelled a scoop, and had visions of accepting one or more of those unimpressive awards that the members of the media give one another for mediocre work with an extra-big side of ego. Well, that and an opportunity to show her "concerned and compassionate" side on TV.
With the rise of the internet, we have also seen the rise of the citizen journalist. The web is a great equalizer as it gives everyone the chance to make their voices heard. Even me, which is a small price for you to pay to maintain your First Amendment rights. That, of course, means that, at times, pubic discourse resembles a good old-fashioned red-eye-fueled brawl at the Long Branch.
Chief among the dueling venues in the 21st century is the comments section of any given website. As a disclaimer, in my experience, PJ Media commenters are among the most thoughtful, well-read and funny out there, although trolls do occasionally make it under the wire. That is not the case for other platforms, where the trolls run wild and free until a mod brings down the ban hammer. Comments sections do offer a degree of anonymity, allowing the reader to vent his spleen, speak his mind, or sound his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. And not everyone is circumspect in their musings.
As I perused the various comments sections, I saw the majority of them offered opinions on why the incident occurred, with blame being placed at the feet of the trans movement, gun-free zones, Progressive policies and programs, and a lack of parenting. There were also the requisite calls for a return to better values and some comparisons made to Australia and its national policy on firearms. A few even took the time to remind readers that now that Trump has been reelected, we would see a return to law and order. One even lauded the GOP takeover of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. Another bizarrely exhorted readers to be of good cheer since better economic times surely lie ahead. There were those on the Left who felt obliged to blame Republicans (including Trump and Vance) and, of course, pull out their Ouija boards and summon the specter of the NRA.
There was a smattering of people offering thoughts and prayer, which has become a target of derision for Leftist trolls who never miss an opportunity to take any event and degrade it. This is because the Left seriously, and perhaps intentionally, does not understand the nature of the phrase "thoughts and prayers." To the Left, anything that does not result in swift and severe punishment of thought criminals is unacceptable. Therefore, the concept of "thoughts and prayers," which by its nature mandates personal and national moral inventories, is incomprehensible. The Left has no god with which to reconcile itself, and so must find something for it to destroy. And, may I add, there are those on the Right who take the same tack.
No serious believer contends that thoughts and prayers will remedy a tragedy. Only the most immature or narcissistic members of any faith believe that God is their personal servant. Thoughts and prayers are no cure. They will not change what has been done. Reality does not work that way. Instead, thoughts and prayers provide a balm and, when possible, genuine catharsis and empathy. Thoughts and prayers also act as signals that the world has gone tragically wrong and serve as signposts to a better way, should we choose to heed them. And therein lies the key to faith, which, as St. James said, is dead without works.
Naturally, there were those who took to the comments sections to mock God and mock believers and their thoughts and prayers. That such people would take such an opportunity to wallow in shallow, hateful rhetoric is unsurprising. After all, for those who cheer the deaths of the unborn, the shedding of innocent blood will quite naturally elicit a Pavlovian response. The irony here is that such people will gleefully ignore the bloody travesties committed by atheist regimes throughout history while remaining firmly high-centered on the crimes, problems, and injustices committed by believers. While they consider themselves morally and intellectually superior to the superstitious hut-dwellers who pay homage to the "Sky Fairy," they prove that they embrace a vicious and primitive form of narcissism that hearkens back to the earliest days of mankind, skulking amid rocks and clinging to tree branches, depending on the survival of the fittest to propagate their seed and feast on a dead leopard for yet another day. To revert to instinct and nature, red in tooth and claw, is not enlightenment. It is regression. As for myself, give me the Sky Fairy that makes demands on my life and my behavior and expects accountability in all things. It certainly beats fighting my neighbor over a dead leopard.
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