Tornadoes and Top Stories

"If it bleeds, it leads." was what my communications professor used to say of the news. In other words, if it was sensational and involved someone "bleeding" it lead the news story. Last night, people were bleeding and hurt due to the tornado in Oklahoma. Looking at the "top stories" section of my homepage nowhere do I see anything about the tornado in Oklahoma or remotely newsworthy for that matter. Instead, it looks like something out of "Entertainment Tonight" or "E! News." Brad Pitt doesn't have many friends, singer sues Mcdonalds Catherine Zeta Jones bipolar, Sharon and Ozzy Ozbourne. I have to go on facebook for any news about the tornadoes in Oklahoma and the survivors. There, I see photos of teachers carrying students to safety after the tornado hits the school, members of our National Guard and a local Air Force Base moving into areas hit by the tornado to search for survivors buried beneath the rubble. I see text RedCross to 90999 to donate to the Red Cross, text Storm 80888 to donate to the Salvation Army, text Food to 32333 to donate to local food banks, call 1-888-HOME-AGAIN if you're in Oklahoma and you've lost your pet or have found someone's pet. Oklahoma didn't stop bleeding but it stopped leading in the news. People ask me why I don't watch the news, don't I want to know what's going on in the world. Sadly, I do but I know I won't get anything but a 2 minute snapshot, if that from the news. As soon as the sensation of the story is over they move on to the next thing. Now if the same devastation had been caused by a terrorist instead of mother nature, the news would have "extensive coverage" as they did after the Boston bombings. We'd see "experts" on every station dissecting footage from every possible angle. The news would be requesting that people who were present call in and if they have footage to download it to their web site. I think it was said best in a recent episode of "Da Vinci's Demons," “Hell exists if the evil of this world exceeds our belief to conquer it." What if there is no good vs. evil? What if, as in the tornado that swept through Oklahoma there is no evil to conquer and only good to be done? Is that not of interest to the news? Is the plight of the human condition no longer of interest to human beings? Have we become so anesthetized to the plight of the human condition that we mourn the loss of a celebrity rather than the lives of those lost to the tornado? 

“Eyes on the Future, What’s to be done? Need UNDERSTANDING to stand as one”

The title of this blog comes from a favorite song of mine by the indie mongrel rock group BROTHER (www.brothermusic.com) called “One Heart, One Soul.” On April 15, 2013, Boston Massachusetts, USA someone chose to make a statement with explosions at the sight of the Boston Marathon.  Already I see web chatter “Kill the Muslims they are responsible.” I wonder why is it when it comes to acts of terrorism whether domestic or foreign we look for someone to blame first?

Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans blame Muslims first. After all, wasn’t it Muslims that took out the twin towers, the pentagon and United Flight 93? Americans are cursed with collective short term memory loss. On April 19, 1995 Timothy Mc Veigh, an American, bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth committed an act of terrorism by assassinating President Lincoln.

Domestic terrorism is nothing new to the United States. The difference between the United States and countries like Somalia, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan is domestic terrorism is not a daily occurrence. There is a line from the show The West Wing from one of my favorite episodes Isaac and Ishmael which aired shortly after the September 11th attacks. “Well, what do you call a society that has to just live everyday with the idea that the pizza place you're eating in can just blow up without any warning?” “Israel.” 

As Americans we don’t feel we live in that kind society where domestic terrorism can happen. It’s always foreign acts of terrorism on American soil. We live in a kind of protective little bubble. The truth however, is that we do live in a society where domestic terrorism can and does happen. Sometimes, the domestic terrorism is on a large scale such as the Boston Marathon, the Oklahoma City bombing, Sandy Hook elementary, or the Aurora movie theater shootings. What we fail to realize is that domestic terrorism happens on a smaller scale every day. I can think of no better way to describe drive by shootings, gang violence, drug deals even domestic abuse. 

The late folk singer John Stewart once wrote in his song I remember America summed it up best when he said “I remember America/I remember my friends/I remember America/And I want to be safe again.” If we truly want to be safe again I think we need to start internally. Stop looking for who is to blame and instead keep our “Eyes on the Future, What’s to be done? Need UNDERSTANDING to stand as one.”