Wednesday, 12 January 2011

WTF? Honouring the dead? Please explain

Seriously, I really don't understand 'honouring the dead'. Really. Seriously.

When I was 20, my husband of six months was killed in a workplace 'accident'. Four years later, my father died.

I think I know something about death, but I know nothing about honouring the dead.

I watched the big memorial thingy at the University of Arizona tonight. (I lived in AZ for about six months a generation ago and it was nucking futs about guns then.) Obama had a bully pulpit to speak about the national discourse. He didn't have to get political. Though some reference to 'rhetoric' might have been good.

Instead, it was all glurge.

Here is Andrew Sullivan on the glurge-fest.

Obama FAIL. US FAIL. World fucked.

If someone can explain 'honouring the dead', I'd be grateful.
Publié par fern hill à 10:27:00 pm
Libellés : , , ,

1 comment:

Cathie from Canada said...

I am not sure why you found this speech so poor. The Arizona students cheered a little too cheerfully at the beginning but this was not Obama's fault. A report I read on Kos from an Arizona student said that after the horror of the previous days, there was great excitement that Obama was coming to this event, people lined up overnight to get in, they were eager to hear what Obama had to say and to participate in the event. Obama spoke very honestly and sincerely about the people who died, he gave as much time to the grandmother as he did to the judge, he was respectful and yet warm and personal in his descriptions of the people who died. He paid tribute to their lives while trying to help America move forward. He talked more about the little girl but I appreciated this because I was affected by her death the most, and I think just about everyone else feels the same about this poor child.
So, in my opinion, it was not a FAIL at all.

13 January 2011 at 00:10

Post a Comment