I was wondering what was wrong with our world. There is a lot wrong I know, but it seems that we have gone mad. Is reality tv ruining our grip on reality? I was watching a marathon of my fave reality shows (The Bachelor, Survivor, Hell’s Kitchen, Project Runway) and I left feeling badly. People were being insulted, put down, disrespected, belittled, laughed at and mocked. Openly! All in the name of entertainment. Have we sunk so low in our selves that this is somehow ok? I can’t think of any time that it’s ok to treat people that way. We don’t want to be treated that way, why should we treat others that way – or – take joy in watching others get treated that way. Are we all a bunch of spectators willing to watch someone get torn apart and made to feel like nothing? Have we all just become a bunch of meanies? Have I the right to think this way, when I seem to garner endless hours of entertainment from this trashy form of television myself?
Vancouver has undergone a spate of gang killings since January. We had something like 15 shootings in 11 days. This is sleepy Vancouver – where the only crime really is the crack addicts breaking into our houses, cars, offices and private storage areas over and over. Now the gangsters are fighting over the drug trade and seem to be killing each other. Brazenly and in broad daylight they drive up to their victim and shoot them with a variety of automatic and sem-automatic weapons (which I’m sure aren’t registered in Canada’s gun registry since they are banned here). Most of the gangsters are young guys in their early adulthood. What makes them think it’s ok to just drive up to someone and shoot them? Is killing real to them or is it just a really big video game? There don’t seem to be any consequences (unless of course the rival gang finds you and kills you). Our judges certainly don’t throw them in jail or mete out a viable punishment for the crime. (We need elected judges – not government appointed as some political favour).
I don’t worry about walking around in Vancouver, other than the usual “healthy” fears we should all have to keep us aware. I find myself falling back to that place though, where I can’t tolerate man’s inhumanity to man. How can we treat each other like this? We are all just human beings who inhabit this planet – and if you look at what motivates us, it’s probably pretty much the same thing for everyone. Nobody wants to feel bad so why can’t we all treat each other with respect and dignity regardless of race, colour, creed or religion?