September 7, 2014
I have been talking to my classes lately about the shit pile we Baby Boomers have left them, and, that we still expect them to take-care-of-us into our increasingly extended, old age…that is if we don’t all get the Ebola virus and go-down-for-the-count – since there never seems to be enough vaccine for us poor folk…
I read-a-letter-to-the-editor of my beloved Times the other day; and, the author opened my eyes to the incredible contradiction of guns in America and Americans infected with some deadly foreign strain of whatever (wasn’t there something called MERS about ready to ‘nail us’ a few months back?). I mean, the set-up to handle the two American doctors infected with Ebola was pretty mind boggling (and I’m a ‘Star Trek’ fan). You’d think that we could handle our gun epidemic with similar clinical precision.
And truth be told, acts of violence committed with firearms have been an ongoing American epidemic; which, according to the Times contributor, have gone untreated — with all thanks going to the NRA. But imagine if the same money and media coverage committed to dealing with two infected American doctors had been committed to firearm possession at some point during the later rounds of our 2nd Amendment saber rattling (hmmmm…probably not the best of analogies): what state-of-the-art gun control might we now boast?!
But the folks who don’t want us to be outraged at school massacres, or fracking, or the medication of America, very effectively utilize the concept of “normalization.”
“Normalizing” is is a cerebral manipulation utilized by every industry wishing to squeeze our societal lemon: it is a sociological term that means convincing most people that whateveritis — is customary and usual: that everyone accepts it. It is mind fucking at its absolute best; and, the oil, pharmaceutical, gun and Hollyweird corporations (just scratching the surface here) keep the process going strong.
Elsewhere I have addressed the notion that we live in a social backdrop where “anything goes”: Everything can be normalized by those who control the media (buddies Clive and Mark sent me some cool articles of how effectively the media keeps-us-in-check) so that nothing jars our desensitized psyches: They have us to the point that survivors and victims simply want a cash payout commensurate with whatever crime Life has dealt them – which they can suffer (an oxymoron).
I want to empathize with victims of the Ebola virus and errant gun use, I want to save the rainforest and every fucking butchered African elephant – but I’ve been normalized: it’s just the price you pay for living this Life. Hell! We’re still dealing with West Nile virus in Sunny So Cal and we have no need for another African bug that could be as fatal as a bullet…
My apologies to my readers if this proffering is a tad short – but the courses I teach this semester have me treading water – so I may have a semester’s worth of shorter essays (which could prove to be a good thing).