There events in our
lives that are so stunningly horrible and unexpected that the only response, it
would seem, is silence, the ghostly quiet that follows a bloody battle, the
closed mouth response that takes over after all expectations and assumptions
about decency, order and general goodwill have been pulverized. "The
Dark Knight Rises" had premier midnight showing in Denver this
morning and a man shows up, wearing a mask, heavily armed; he releases a gas
bomb and begins to open fire on the crowd; twelve are dead, scads injured.
Nothing makes sense.
But we do have
yammering media reiterating the same spare facts, repetitions
occasionally seasoned with one talking head's glittering generality . It's not
that we can't stand not knowing, it seems to me, it's that we can't stand the
silence . We need to talk. And critics, it seems, need to seem serious about
their jobs no matter how tangentially a bit of horror touches their area
of expertise. Salon's film reviewer Andrew O’Hehir just couldn't pass up the
chance to opine
on something where opinions are useless.
The shootings in Denver are awful, evil in their intent and effect, an act of a deranged man, a "lone nut", that has , so far, left twelve people. It makes all of us heartsick to think of twelve gone from this world due to one person's delusions ; it makes me even sicker that a professional stress monger like Andrew O’Hehir is already wringing his hands with this inane, vapid column attempting to establish who is responsible for letting this massacre happen.When confronted with the horrible, the ugly, the unthinkable, the truly tragic, the likes of O’Hehir respond with copious amounts of scapegoating, finger pointing, general pouting. I venture this a way for writers who make a living interrogating the ebb and flow of pop culture make themselves feel relevant when events makes everyone's interests and passions seem absolutely trivial. This sort of writing appears to be an attempt to moralize, but the tone, uncentered and lacking any real point, seems less like an argument or more like someone talking to themselves after an accident. It is babbling of the first order, disguised as commentary. Shame on O’Hehir for feeling compelled to add his two cents. Two cents buys you nothing.
The shootings in Denver are awful, evil in their intent and effect, an act of a deranged man, a "lone nut", that has , so far, left twelve people. It makes all of us heartsick to think of twelve gone from this world due to one person's delusions ; it makes me even sicker that a professional stress monger like Andrew O’Hehir is already wringing his hands with this inane, vapid column attempting to establish who is responsible for letting this massacre happen.When confronted with the horrible, the ugly, the unthinkable, the truly tragic, the likes of O’Hehir respond with copious amounts of scapegoating, finger pointing, general pouting. I venture this a way for writers who make a living interrogating the ebb and flow of pop culture make themselves feel relevant when events makes everyone's interests and passions seem absolutely trivial. This sort of writing appears to be an attempt to moralize, but the tone, uncentered and lacking any real point, seems less like an argument or more like someone talking to themselves after an accident. It is babbling of the first order, disguised as commentary. Shame on O’Hehir for feeling compelled to add his two cents. Two cents buys you nothing.
