Tag Archives: editorial

A house of cards

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It’s amazing just how high you can build a house of cards. But the challenge is that no one stops building, it’s too enticing to keep going. And so eventually the cards collapse.

I think the cards are about to fall. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Maybe it’s just the top layer that will fall and then it will be rebuilt. But I have a hunch that it’s the base that is crumbling. And you can’t build a house of cards without a strong base.

And finally, if you even remotely think I’m talking about a deck of playing cards, you are mistaken.

Our inability to rationalize the irrational

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I found a letter to the editor that my dad wrote on September 13th, 2001,

In the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attack a few days ago, there seems to be a perception that the U.S. intelligence community had been completely unprepared for the magnitude of its ferocity and destruction.

The incomprehensible fanaticism motivating a large number of individuals prepared to commit their lives to such a suicidal and barbaric undertaking. presumably may have been considered an inconceivable scenario by intelligence strategists.

Nonetheless, the unthinkable has happened – which demonstrates clearly our inability to rationalize the irrational.

Abraham Truss, Scarborough (Ontario, Canada)

It was published on September 16th in The Toronto Star, page A12 in the Editorials and Letters section, changing only the opening sentence to clarify, “In the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attack in New York City last Tuesday…

The last sentence is chilling to me: “Nonetheless, the unthinkable had happened – which demonstrates clearly our inability to rationalize the irrational.”

As we approach 24 years after 9/11, it seems as though we are still committing irrational acts, and we are still incapable of rationalizing them. The news is filled with contrived rationalizations, profiles of killers, talking head debates, and biased perspectives inventing rhyme and reason for irrational acts. Reasons we search for, but are clearly unable to meaningfully comprehend. And still the irrational behaviours continue…

Enough is enough

I invite everyone to write a letter to the news editors and producers of their favourite newspaper and newscasts, and feel free to borrow freely from what I share below:

An Open Letter to News Editors:

You wouldn’t do it. You wouldn’t quote a Nazi manifesto and share their message. You wouldn’t promote hateful messages of racism. You wouldn’t incite a riot. Yet day after day, year after year you promote gun violence and mass shootings. You contribute to them. You incite them. You shoulder part of the responsibility. Shame on you for perpetuating the problem.

There are decades of research that suggest publicizing mass shootings and suicides lead to more of each. This is a known fact. We know that publicizing high profile shooters will often lead to more shootings. Yet last week media outlets across North America shared detailed information about a killer in Buffalo who committed a senseless act of violence. Five years from now no one outside of Buffalo will remember the victims names, but there will be an unwell person in North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Nevada, or Philadelphia that will know the killer’s name… will have read his manifesto… will have saved photos of this evil person… all of which you shared, all of which you made possible.

What you are doing is unconscionable!

Remove the details of the murderer in the Buffalo story from your headlines, and it is unlikely that the school shooting in Uvalde Texas would have happened yesterday. That’s right, it happened because of you and your media colleagues. Because of you. You didn’t pull the trigger, but you are partially to blame.

And when I go to news articles about the Uvalde massacre, I see the killer’s name. I know where he worked, I can learn all about his life. What you are actually doing is inciting a similar incident. You are inviting it. You are partially responsible for it. You, the editors of newspapers, the producers of television news, you hold some of the blame for Uvalde. Shame on you.

Stop printing the killers name. Stop sharing their words. Stop sharing images of them. Stop profiling them. Stop the cycle of contributing to the problem. To continue is to be complicit. You are complicit, you are an accomplice to murder.

You can help break the cycle.

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