The End of Civilized Behavior?

The outrages have been a daily assault -so many videos of police beatings and shootings of unarmed civilians!  The discussion gets framed by matters of race. A recent outrage however perhaps showed us that what we are witnessing and experiencing may have less to do with race and more to do with a continuous descent into incivility.  The scene is a pool party in a Texas suburb that got over run by teenagers who heard on social media about a pool party!
Police were called and the kids scattered much to the chagrin and outrage of the "authorities!"
What we witnessed because it was captured on a cell phone video was a police officer assaulting a young teen age girl clad only in a bikini.  It's unnecessary to recount the vile details of his actions. It's not necessary to mention that this same officer drew his weapon. On kids! Once again the story began to be told via the perspective of race because the young girl on the ground being dragged by her hair as she cried for her mother was black.  But what we we really witnessing is basic incivility ! Who treats a child like that? What man( never mind that that man is a policeman sworn to protect and serve) lays his hands on a girl,a child in such a brutal manner! Is this what we've come to? Forget this police officer's training- we've witnessed enough police brutality to question that training.Where is his basic training as a human being? Didn't anyone teach him how to behave? How to treat another human being? A girl, no less.

So all the kids were running away! So what? Was he going to miss his quota? Weren't the police called to rid the pool club of these interlopers? Didn't  they succeed as the kids try to scatter to the wind?  So the point of tackling children and brandishing a gun was what?

We Were All Neglected!

All of sudden "free range children"  is a topic on the news.  Free range children refers to kids who are allowed to be off and play by themselves! In Silver Springs, Maryland such "free range children " were picked up by police and turned over to child protective services. Their parents were charged with neglect.  Those of us who grew up with such "neglect" can only shake our heads! We all went out and played out of range of the hovering protection of our parents.  We learned independence,creativity, and all kinds of survival skills.  Unlike the current generation that lives at home until they launch in their late twenties or thirties, we left home at 18 to go to school or to work and forged a future built on resilience and the enduring belief that we could take care of ourselves.

It has been apparent for a long time now that our country's children are in trouble. They are lost! Forced to compete for overpriced college slots that lead to disappointing jobs and massive debt,these kids do not demonstrate the ability to land on their own two feet.  We are reaping the rewards of day care parenting and helicopter parenting. We are seeing  what happens when children are programmed with hourly activities from an early age. I applaud those parents who are trying to free their children from the brain deadening routines of over programming.  Yes we were "neglected" and were "free range children" but we took our independence and hard won creativity and built lives we could be proud of!

Mental Illness Strikes Again?

Once again mental illness is at the center of conversation as the world grapples with the deliberate crashing of an airplane flown by a co pilot who it appears was in the throes of a major depression.  Yes it is a tragedy and heart breaking for all concerned. It is also an opportunity to talk about the real villains in this tragedy. Villains like  ignorance, denial and stigma. Pilots undergo routine evaluations however it is not clear whether these evaluations include a sophisticated psychological evaluation by an experienced mental health professional. And as we know, even an annual evaluation could miss a serious episode. So if a pilot seeks help from a general practitioner (by the way 95% of medications for mental illness are prescribed by general practitioners) what oversight and follow up care is provided. Much of the evaluations of pilots depend on self disclosure. Denial saves embarrassment and loss of your job. In this case the co pilot was given a note indicating he was not fit to fly. He ripped it up.  Stigma is a powerful deterrent to openness and honesty. What is the answer? Damned if I know!  Should there be a "duty to warn" similar to Tarasoff which obligates a mental health professional to warn a specific person of a specific threat has been made towards them. If anyone in a position to evaluate a pilot believes the pilot is unfit to fly they could  be obligated to report it.  Or if society could ever overcome stigma then the repercussions of seeking treatment would disappear and those in need would be helped. Just sayin'!

     

Privacy No More

So many times while watching TV we are treated to the private conversations and videotapes of unsuspecting citizens.  It scares me. It reminds me of Hitler's Germany and other countries and times when people were afraid to speak freely. I am writing this blog because it seems that there are countless examples of private moments that "someone" has deemed newsworthy that  are beamed into our living rooms  on our television . It is a practice that would have our founding fathers up in arms. It's called a right to privacy, a right held sacred for hundreds of years that is now dashed to pieces.  Now anyone at anytime can catch our words or behavior on their cell phones and pass it on to the rest of the world via the Internet. The press can pick it up,add their own spin to it and send it out over the air waves. Out of context, no fact checking and so on! People's lives and careers are destroyed in an instant. So scary! And there is no push back! We have surrendered our right to privacy without comment or outrage.  Really? Is it possible that we folded so easily? How do we balance this right with  our desire to out perceived wrongs?

Cuba-what's the point?

I wrote the following  last year and never posted it! Now that we have made an overture towards Cuba I can be viewed as prescient?


After a trip to Cuba two years ago, it was clear to me that our lack of a relationship with Cuba was a big mistake. We ended the Cold War and yet could not find our way to straighten things out with Cuba, a gorgeous but impoverished island whose people are resilient , gracious and seemingly content despite the hardships that our decades long embargo have caused. What's the point?

Not to beat a dead horse, but they reside a mere 90 miles from our shores. China is drilling for oil there. Russia's Putin is now visiting. What are we waiting for to normalize relations with them?
The people of Cuba have suffered needlessly under our policies. The poverty is something that has to be seen to be believed. Buildings in Havana fall down on a regular basis from neglect and disrepair.
Why? Again what is the point?  We are waiting for.......what?

Maybe we are waiting for Russia to move the missiles back in.  Or maybe we are waiting for China to do something similar.

What would it take? The majority of people in this country probably don't even understand why  we aren't better friends with Cuba. Yes there are folks in Miami and other places who fled Cuba and want nothing more than for Castro to be suffer and be overthrown.  To what end? so they can retrieve their decaying properties? Wouldn't it be better to accept Castro will leave when he dies and not until then. Shouldn't we be helping the citizens of Cuba who cannot get essential items.

so now news isn't entertainment?

Brian Williams

 

For a long time now, what has been called news has  really been entertainment. Stories have been sensationalized time and time again. "Breaking news" more often than not is a half baked attempt to grab ratings. Even the weather report is suspect. Weather reports are misleading and inaccurate . Character assassination is  standard; people are tried in the media and  are actually deemed guilty before even one fact is in. So given this backdrop will someone please explain to me why Brian William's recollection of events demands this crazy response. He experienced what he experienced, he remembered what he remembered and he said what he said.  Whether he consciously or unconsciously embellished matters little. All news has become entertainment! Brian Williams is yet the latest victim of a public lynching. Give it a break!