A Few Random Thoughts

- saying this tragedy might have been prevented if students on Virginia Tech's campus were allowed to carry guns is ridiculous. From the descriptions I have heard, no one would have had the time to arm themselves nor the opportunity to return fire.

- could we get a law that says in order to buy a gun you need to present evidence that you have at least five friends? like they have to come with you and sign affidavits or something?

- our national obsession with these tragedies feeds the flames of copy-cats (more than our national obsession with guns). While everyone abhors the murders, it seems that all we want is more information about what happened. We're fetishizing their actions! We paste their pictures on every surface, we talk to their friends, their families, examine every aspect of their lives, and we try to figure out "what were they thinking?" Maybe they're thinking they'll get a lot of attention.

- is there a limit to the appetite of the news agencies (and by extension our society) for this stuff? other things are happening in the world. for example, this is happening every day in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan, Pakistan, etc... Every other day 30+ Iraqis are killed for particular no reason as they try to go about their lives. It happens once in America and the whole country shuts down. How do we expect the Iraqis to create a nation from scratch under such conditions?

Imus v. Rutgers Women's Basketball...

...Nobody wins!

So there's been some to-do the past couple days ever since this radio asshat made a disparaging remark about the entire Rutgers Womens Basketball team.

The media reports generally only mention that Imus used the phrase "nappy-headed hos". I decided there must be some context to this statement. He couldn't just have been like "So Rutgers Women's Basketball, those are some nappy headed hos." He must have been saying something else.

In actuality, there was no context. The newspapers and radio reports I've heard were quite accurate and practically verbatim. I mean, they left out some incoherence about the Tennessee players and Spike Lee. But essentially, Imus blurted out his racist, sexist remark like someone with Torrets syndrome.

Since then he's received his comeuppance. If the clip I linked to is any indication of the quality of his show, it's clear that Imus has fallen on hard times. I would rather listen to Smooth Jazz than five minutes of Imus' ... I don't even know what to call it, prattle? Senile babbling? So he's been suspended, he'll probably get fired. Whatever.

Buried in all this morass is the fact that Rutgers Women's Basketball went to the National Championship game. They're being paraded around (I believe Imus is going to apologize to them personally -- with cameras and reporters! -- tomorrow) so they can talk about how egregious Imus' words were. This is how their miracle season is going to be remembered and that's unfortunate.

These women are not victims! They're champions and they should be proud. Rutgers' run to the finals is a great story and it's a proud moment for the Rutgers students, players, coaches, family & friends who got to participate. The rallies, protests, and calls for Imus to be fired ensure all anyone will talk about is Imus. Who gives a crap about Imus?

Whelmed

This came up last night at dinner. And I am sure we are not the first people to discuss it.

Overwhelm is a word. Whelm is not a word. This injustice cannot stand!

(So what if Whelm actually is a word; it means the same thing as "overwhelm" and no one uses it anymore).

I think that Whelm should become an Over/Under word. And that Whelm by itself should mean neither Overwhelmed nor Underwhelmed. Kinda like Goldilocks. The first porridge was too hot (overwhelming), the second was cold (underwhelming), and the third was just whelming!

Who's with me?