Enough

Last week's happenings gave me pause. Not only the shootings, but the reaction around the country. The bodies were still warm, and the facts still hazy, when the television announcers were clamoring for someone to blame. Mere hours after the shooting Sean Hannity was defending gun rights. I wondered to myself, with not a little irritation, why he would already be on that bandwagon. Sure enough, when I next opened a web browser, the homepage's news headline box linked the shootings to gun control. I was so disgusted with the coverage and politicization of a massacre that for a day or two I tried my best to avoid any news of it. Finally, I watched a "special" news program dedicated to the tragedy. I hoped to get some information, some facts about what happened. Instead, I was treated to a round of sensationalism, cryptic sound bites, and far too much speculation for any respectable journalist. It was disgusting. It was disappointing. The media is often criticized, sometimes unfairly so. But this time they truly failed.

With each new soundbite and headline the same line repeated in my head: Let us grieve. Over thirty people were killed and within hours of it happening it had become a media circus of assigning blame and playing politics. Enough already! Let people be sad.