Comments on: Something else to learn from Tim Russert’s death

By: tictacgo

tictacgo — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:06:21 +0000

“I say let those who loved Tim Russert mourn him anyway they see fit. But an additional tribute to his loss would be to remain ever aware of how one personâ€™s life can positively impact so many others and to actively see the media cover America and the world with this reality in mind, where every human life is afforded dignity and where no oneâ€™s suffering or death is coolly rationalized.”

Can’t agree with you more. One outcome of the present day sado-masochistic culture* is a suppression of natural outpourings of grief or other emotions for that matter. When we fear our own emotions and pain for far too long it becomes all to easy to ignore those of other societies and peoples. As Russ puts it …

” …. few anywhere in the world are capable of concern about the suffering of those outside their groups, whether national, community or religious.”

Sad but true. Can’t agree with you more. Again not just an American condition, but we might as well try fixing our own roofs and hope that our neighbors will heed common sense too.

* clarification: by the sado-masochistic culture I don’t mean literally and this is not an attack on anybody’s sexual preferences. The problem is not in that area, but when our daily lives become disturbing examples of role-playing where we refuse to question except to question those who dare otherwise. Think Scott McClellan vs the White House media hounds.

By: Russ Wellen

Russ Wellen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:40:10 +0000

Our own mourning should help us understand and strive to prevent the unspeakable pain of others. And whatever love we have for one person, we should try to apply to the world.

Much as I respect Norman Solomon, that’s not gonna happen. We instinctively take our fellow Americans to task for the narcissistic nature of their nationalism. But few anywhere in the world are capable of concern about the suffering of those outside their groups, whether national, community or religious.

By: Dr. Slammy

Dr. Slammy — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:25:59 +0000

For me the issue isn’t about genuine mourning by friends and family and colleagues. That’s all more than appropriate, and even if it weren’t it’s sure as hell not my place to tell people how they ought to grieve.

The issue is the public, institutional response from people who didn’t know him well enough to feel any kind of genuine grief. Russert was both a person and a public brand, and on the second component he was both liked and disliked for reasons that had to do with his role in our country’s distribution of power.

I, for one, have a problem with institutional, political faux-grief. When somebody mourns the loss of a loved colleague, that is as it should be. When somebody mourns the loss of the power vested in a political ally that they barely knew at a genuinely personal level, but they treat it as though they just lost their best friend, then I’m a little bothered.