About Newtown, Connecticut . . . [Sugar Binge]

By Emerald Pellot

Our condolences and kind thoughts go out to all those trying to reconcile this unexplainable tragedy. We urge you all who remain directly unaffected to think about this horrific event in a much broader context. Think about gun control, think about the culture we live in that creates this kind of  behavior, think about how important each and every individual’s life is. Pay close attention to the often baseless and tacky reporting of these events. Think about the images reporters and anchors choose to show you. Does interviewing traumatized children and airing or publishing frantic students add value to the conversation or does it sensationalize and exploit victims? Doe stealing the Facebook image of a presumably innocent man who happens to share the name with what is only a suspect and plastering his photo everywhere solve anything? Or does it just add fuel to the fire? How do we talk about something so terrible with respect and dignity? 

Instead of the usual Sugar Binge here are some of the more reliable news sources. 

* Business Insider has been posting slowly and therefore tend to have more accurate information as opposed to posting the latest “guesses.”

* CNN provides up to the minute information.

* The Wall Street Journal is providing up to the minute information along with interesting commentary.

* You can watch Obama addressing the tragedy here.

* The New Yorker equates not discussing the implications of these massacre to cultural cowardice.

“I don’t think today is that day,” Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary, said on Friday. He was responding to a question about gun control . . . Carney’s response was a predictable one. This is the way that we deal with such incidents in the U.S.—we acknowledge them; we are briefly shocked by them; then we term it impolite to discuss their implications, and to argue about them. At some point, we will have to stop putting it off, stop pretending that doing so is the proper, respectful thing. It’s not either. It’s cowardice.”

* The Atlantic has an interesting article on how the National Riffle Association is winning the battle for gun control.

* Some thoughtful words on how America is failing its people over at Slate.