Imus, Virginia Tech and self-confident mentality
Recently the big news in America has revolved around Don Imus and the shooting of 30+ students at Virginia Tech University.
Some say that we need speech police to determine what's appropriate and what isn't.
I would like to focus on a different aspect of these stories. America is lacking a self-confident mentality that we can handle these problems. As soon as the Two Reverends entered the fray, I knew that the Imus story was going to bigger than it should have been and that he would lose his job.
We need to be more self-confident, this isn't the 1940's and 1950's.
Has Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson helped the women's basketball team make a shot, play defense, force a charging violation, write a successful lab report or an essay? The answer is NO, NO and NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How would Carolyn McCarthy (Congresswoman from New York who's anti-guns and pro-gun control) handled the situation in Virginia Tech two days ago?
Did Hillary Clinton or Barbara Boxer help someone pass a doctoral thesis or get them into a good law school such as Harvard, University of Chicago? Not too many, and those women students or other "disadvantaged groups" got off their duff and did it on their own.
Let's return to self-reliance, it has worked for us in the past. Yes we need other people and to help them in times of need. However, a victim mentality or crying all the time doesn't help the problem.
In Jewish Law, there is a specific time for mourning a loved one, seven days for a parent, sibling or spouse and thirty days where one doesn't do too much outside of his or her community. I am not a posek (decider of halacha) but the point is that the Jewish Sages knew human psychology before Sigmund Freud was around and knew that one needs a set amount of time to mourn or cope with a tragic loss. After that, hopefully with the right amount of love, one can move on.
Getting called names from an ignoramus hardly qualifies as tragic, as the young people of Virginia Tech can tell you, or even cancer, AIDS or other diseases.
Some say that we need speech police to determine what's appropriate and what isn't.
I would like to focus on a different aspect of these stories. America is lacking a self-confident mentality that we can handle these problems. As soon as the Two Reverends entered the fray, I knew that the Imus story was going to bigger than it should have been and that he would lose his job.
We need to be more self-confident, this isn't the 1940's and 1950's.
Has Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson helped the women's basketball team make a shot, play defense, force a charging violation, write a successful lab report or an essay? The answer is NO, NO and NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How would Carolyn McCarthy (Congresswoman from New York who's anti-guns and pro-gun control) handled the situation in Virginia Tech two days ago?
Did Hillary Clinton or Barbara Boxer help someone pass a doctoral thesis or get them into a good law school such as Harvard, University of Chicago? Not too many, and those women students or other "disadvantaged groups" got off their duff and did it on their own.
Let's return to self-reliance, it has worked for us in the past. Yes we need other people and to help them in times of need. However, a victim mentality or crying all the time doesn't help the problem.
In Jewish Law, there is a specific time for mourning a loved one, seven days for a parent, sibling or spouse and thirty days where one doesn't do too much outside of his or her community. I am not a posek (decider of halacha) but the point is that the Jewish Sages knew human psychology before Sigmund Freud was around and knew that one needs a set amount of time to mourn or cope with a tragic loss. After that, hopefully with the right amount of love, one can move on.
Getting called names from an ignoramus hardly qualifies as tragic, as the young people of Virginia Tech can tell you, or even cancer, AIDS or other diseases.
posted by JMNOR55 at 8:17 AM
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