Can we move on please?

Today I was sent an email with some unforgettable images of the World Trade Centers burning and falling. The email subject line was ‘never forget’. Honestly, how can anyone forget that? Do we really need constant reminders? What about the families that just want to get on with their lives, finally learning to cope with their tragic loss? How are they supposed to do that with things like this flooding our televisions and inboxes?

Don’t get me wrong, I have sympathy for those that were hurt in some way. But Jesus Christ people, when will it be enough? When will we be able to turn on the TV and see a happy story, a good economic forecast or open our email boxes to an uplifting story that doesn’t have us choking on the sappy fake lie someone wants us to believe is real.

I wonder why we don’t have pictures of the devastation from the Battle of Little Big Horn or from the Civil War flooding our minds. There are photos as well as numerous artists’ renderings. Hey, even better, let’s send out mass emails of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Let’s do a television series on all the shitty things we have done to other people. Our society’s gluttony of thriving on other people’s misery is disgusting.

It brings to mind a song I like to listen to. ‘Vicarious’ by Tool. I’ve copied some of the lyrics here. If you get a chance, find the rest of the lyrics online.

 

Eye on the TV
Cause tragedy thrills me,
Whatever flavor
It happens to be
Like:
“Killed by the husband”
“Drowned by the ocean”
“Shot by his own son”
“She used a poison
In his tea
And kissed him goodbye”
That’s my kind of story.
It’s no fun ’til someone dies

Don’t look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother holds her child,
Watches him die,
Pleas to the sky crying,
“Why, oh why?!”

Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too
Don’t lie.