1 post tagged “the holocaust museum”

Shootings in DC are unfortunately, not than uncommon. They occur mostly in the sections beyond the center of the district away from the tourists.  The shooting the day before yesterday at the Holocaust Museum was an exception.

Local news stations are still carrying this story as one of the lead stores.  In this morning's news it was noted the museum wil reopen and the doors of the museum which had bullet holes in them were now replaced.  Personally I believe these doors should have been left as they are, sealed against the elements of course but kept there as a reminder and a means to accentuate the message of the museum. The Holocaust Museum you see,  is not a place one takes in to feel uplifted or to marvel, as other public places in DC are designed to. 

And of the gunman, an 88 year old man who ought to have been enjoying what is left of his life, spoiling his grandchildren, grand nieces, nephews etc?  What he did was beyond disgusting.  In the same breath however, I would say he is a product of an increasing intolerant and polarized social-political environment, both right and left.

News programs all of them, are blatantly tailored to a selective audience and instead of letting in fresh air, simply reinforce and stoke preconceptions and intellectual rigidity.  News and commentary, rather than thought provoking is more like modern day bear-baiting with ratings as the prize. Political blogs on both sides are even more self-serving and intellectually bereft.

I see this manifested on a personal level too.  On my Facebook page, I have as a friend a woman I grew up with. An otherwise good person, but since the election of the current occupant of the WH, I see almost daily postings-rants about the President and the direction he is taking.  I too did not vote for him, have grave reservations about the consequences of what has happened already and what is under consideration, and would like to see him 'one and done in 2012' but throwing intellectual tantrums is not constructive.

Think the zealots on both sides of the divide need a long 'time out' to take a deep intellectual breath and to 'get a life'.  Otherwise one could find oneself like the gunman, a life devoid of everything else but ideology and hatred.

As the lyrics from a Beatle's song go, "Life goes on within you and without you."