Shooting my blog mouth off?

Spend too much (any?) time on social media or scanning the home pages of newspapers these days and you may well end up looking like poor Mr. Jack below:

too much time spent on social media

Photo by J. Harrington

And yet, doom scrolling has become somewhat akin to watching an impending train wreck or rubbernecking past a serious automobile accident. Fortunately, there’s also bits and pieces of, if not absolutely good news, at least better news, but we have to look hard for it. Good news doesn’t draw clicks?

Part of the issues seems to be the expectations we have to begin with and whether they’re derived from a shifting baseline. We suspect, and hope, that during the past five or six years you heard the phrase “don’t normalize it” more than once. Despite my perfectionist tendencies and the problems they cause, I’m sticking with my belief that our society / culture has lowered our expectations much more than we should have. Here’s one example:

No doubt you’ve heard about the tragic shooting and death on the set of the “Rust” movie. There’s been lots of finger pointing around an assistant director informing those on the set about a “cold gun.” According to the gun safety rules I learned when I first started hunting many years ago, that call should have been irrelevant. Recently I was given a handgun as a birthday / father’s day present. The Safety and Instruction manual that came with it documents that the safe gun handling rules I learned long ago still prevail. To quote:

• Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction.
• Always treat every firearm as if it is loaded and will fire.
• Never place your finger inside the trigger guard or on the trigger unless you intend to fire.
• Always be sure of your target and what is beyond it.
• Safe gun handling is your personal responsibility at all times.
• You are responsible for the firearm at all times.
• Never allow a firearm to be used by individuals who do not understand its safe operation or have not read these firearm safety rules.

Each of the rules above, plus others not cited, is printed in the manual in ALL CAPS RED LETTERS. I haven’t seen reference to any of these rules in any of the articles about the tragedy. From what I have read, compliance with these basic safety precautions was conspicuous by its absence.

At the risk of overreaching a point, a similar criticism can be made these days about our politics, our economics, compliance with most of our basic legal and civic rules and the erosion of our public health and safety. We may not need more laws as much as we need to follow and enforce the ones we have. At the moment, we are suffering too much from the ignorance and tyranny of a minority. Some of the thinking in today’s posting results from an article I read this morning, one with which I don’t entirely agree by believe is worth thinking about. If you’re interested, follow the link to Review: ‘Gunfight, My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America’ 

Some Rules

by Wendy Cope

Stop, if the car is going “clunk”
Or if the sun has made you blind.
Don’t answer e-mails when you’re drunk.

You fire off something fierce. You’re sunk.
It’s irretrievable. It’s signed.
You feel your spirits going “clunk.”

Don’t hide your face with too much gunk,
Especially if it’s old and lined.
Don’t answer e-mails when you’re drunk.

Don’t live with thirty years of junk—
Those precious things you’ll never find.
Stop, if the car is going “clunk.”

Don’t fall for an amusing hunk, 
However rich, unless he’s kind.
Don’t answer e-mails when you’re drunk.

In this respect, I’m like a monk:
I need some rules to bear in mind. 
Stop, if the car is going “clunk.”
Don’t answer e-mails when you’re drunk.

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