Tuscon - The New Mis-Spelled Word For Senseless Violence

Quite the title!  It was the Tucson Tragedy.  Now the nightly news anchors just say T-U-C-S-O-N and an ugly image is portrayed of gun-slingin' nut-jobs that somewhere along the way quit being human.  There is also the constant showing of throngs of good people doing their best to show Tucson is a great town, and, since I live about 2 hours from the un-safest Safeway in the country, I can say that Tucson is a great town.  Not Phoenix in scope and breadth, but a nice town.  What ain't nice, however, is the number of Tucsonians who are unemployed, under-employed, bankrupt, uneducated, dying from lack of insurance, homeless, or all of the above.  The cameras aren't showing that underbelly of this ravaged place where.......wait a minute, I could be talking about Phoenix, or Las Vegas, or Florida, or 4/5 of California or Michigan or Louisiana or ...... just about anywhere you look USA!

Was the shooter any of these situations?  A couple - couldn't stay in comm college, couldn't get a job, not homeless but still living with Ma and Pa.  Did this drive him insane?  Probably not.  But what about the millions, no literally tens of millions in this country that are in many of these situations.  How come they're not pissed?  How come they're not half deranged and gunning for somebody that took their job, their home, their life savings or their fucking liver transplant.  Are they just saying, "Schucks, that's alright, I'll survive somehow.  Thanks anyway!"  Somehow, I don't think so.

The gun law debate is interesting.  The right thinks we need every kind of gun made in case the "government" tries to take over the country.  The constitution framers said as much in the 2nd amendment.  Of course, they're experience had been pretty much with tyrannical kings and such.  But, how do we, the citizens, defeat the military when that day comes?  With a fucking Glock?  We need bazookas, tanks, cannon, shit - we need a nuke!  So how utterly stupid this gun-rights argument is.  The left would just like to nibble a little at the edge with bringing back the Brady Bill and playing nice.  Maybe limit each family to one Uzi.  But what happens as the economy continues the current trajectory of haves and have-nots?  Only a fool would think this isn't happening, and as we move that direction, only a fool would think the probability of fucked over people losing it will somehow not increase.  The jobs ain't coming back, and apathy will only go so far, even in this country.  Then the right, the traditional holders of the guns and the wealth, will find:  A) Sheez, I got nothing left (holders of the guns) or B) I got everything and it's MINE (holders of the wealth).

The wealthy ranchers will be fine, even in Tucson.

Boomers, Etc.

Yeah, My Generation has fucked things up good.  But let's consider why.  As the rant went last week, I was zeroing in on the apparent lack of discussion anywhere, by anyone, of this obvious fact.  Sure, you hear how our children will be the first generation to possibly have it less good than the previous, but again, why?   Three things, the first covered in today's rant.  Wasting Away Of Empathy.  We got to stretch norms to the limit (and often beyond) so all things considered proper (mutual respect, topics of discussion, clothes, hairstyles, sex, etc.) were targets for our fun.  Shit, now you can't outrage anyone on anything as it's already been done.  The race to the most outrageous was a great time for my generation.  I don't believe this has necessarily lead to less prosperous economic times, but it has contributed to a change in social attitudes that in turn has resulted in less honesty, shame, morality and, of course, empathy.  
No one gives a shit what someone else thinks of them, mostly because they can't begin to put themselves in their shoes.  Why bother?  Doing so could somehow curtail my pursuit of MY needs.  So, you lose empathy and you lose a cornerstone of humanity.  This affects our economic well-being in so many ways.  One consequence, I believe, is there are fewer top notch sales people.  My parents generation had traveling anvil salesmen for hell's sake.  Now sales is generally relegated to mass marketing and sending e-mails. Has this contributed to the decline of manufacturing in this country as we were getting out-sold by more empathatic and less self-centered outsiders?  I think so.  Remember the 70's terms - the ugly American!   Not even servers in restaurants understand fundamental sales techniques.  They rarely zero in on the individual at the table who will determining their tip.  That's just dumb, but it doesn't occurr to someone naturally if their feelings for their fellow humans has been numbed.
One final comment.  How awful to read this morning about the killings in Tucson.  More later.....

Fuss About Nothing

I'm stealing this line from my current musical hero - Ian Hunter.  This song, written in early 2007, tells the story of trusting Wall Street, which had not yet completely pulverized the world economy..  This guy saw it coming -

I got a bridge I can sell ya
I got a pyramid
I got a time share in Florida
How'd ya like a piece of it?

You're making a fuss about nothin'
Everything's under control
That bee in your bonnet's got liberal on it
Sit back and relax, watch it all unfold

Never forget: I got a direct line
I'm a man you can trust in
If it's left to the left
There won't be nothing left
You're making a fuss about nothin'
To me, it's extraordinary to find a musician singing about an impending event that the great business minds of the world couldn't call - and defining it in clever political terms as in the line "if it's left to the left there won't be anything left" - brilliant!  Remember, in early 2007 things were still humming along-

This world is a ball with a map on
We conquer we buy and we sell
This world is a tank with a tap on
Business as usual

Now I'm just protecting your interests
I'm just defending your faith
These guys that were caught with their hands in the till
Nothing to do with me, mate, nothing to do with me

Nothing to do with me mate!   It's the other assholes that wrecked things. 

The one item Ian leaves out is the fact that most of these greedy bastards are his and my generation - the Boomers.  Suffice to say the Boomers have been a colossal disappointment.  Where's the disgust?  People (not necessarily Boomers) keep writing about the Boomers as if we are somehow still in a position to demand and receive whatever we want.   We fucking blew it!  Someone with a bullhorn should be pointing out how fucked up we have made these times.  It's fair to do that!!   

May I borrow your bullhorn?