Richard Sherman got excited and ranted a bit after deflecting a touchdown pass into the hands of a teammate. Justin Bieber has been arrested for drag racing under the influence. And everyone has an opinion on both of these events, as well as opinions about everyone else’s opinion.
Here’s mine: good people, we are being snowed.
We are at war in two different countries. Climate change has almost reached the point of no return, with no sign of effective action to prevent it. Yet hardly anyone is talking about either of these issues.
As a survivor of campus rape, I should have been delighted by this headline from AP reporter Nedra Pickler: “Obama targets college sexual assault epidemic.” My reaction surprised me, though. As much as I admire Pres. Obama, I felt really ticked off at him. With all of the different causes he could have chosen to take on next, he chooses campus safety? Isn’t that the responsibility of college administrations? I’m not saying the college sexual assault epidemic isn’t important; I’m saying that it is not what the President of our nation should be focusing on. It feels like a ‘safe’ choice, as if the president and his advisors, exhausted by being continually under attack, said to themselves, “Is there anything we can talk about that won’t give the opposition any ammunition?”
A.J. Liebling has said, “The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.” Sadly, this puts the burden on ‘we the people’ to make sure that we are informed, active, and involved. If we are going to do the job of the ‘free’ press as well as our own, we can’t afford to be distracted by fluffy celebrity stories, nor can we choose our priorities based on what is safe and non-controversial.
revehstevens 