Talking to the TV

Ever talk to the screen? I do. Oh, sure, mostly I tell myself, "They do that because the writers write it that way," but often I'm asking questions (as if they can hear me). Like the other day.

On the news was a piece about teachers from the Sandy Hook shooting from 2012. They and others had formed a group aiming at preventing that kind of thing from ever happening again--Sandy Hook Educators for Gun Sense. It was primarily a gun control group. And I asked the screen, "What do you expect to do?" You see, I'm confused. The murderer illegally obtained legal guns (by murdering his mother) and used them illegally to kill people. Better laws would have made what he did ... illegal. Oh, wait, it already was. So I ask the screen, "What do you want?" What do you hope to do that would prevent people from doing this? "Well, limit high-capacity magazines," they say. So in California where high-capacity magazines are limited a gunman in Santa Barbara carried 40 ten-round magazines. "Restrict assault weapons." Okay, fine (although defining "assault weapons" appears to be in the eye of the beholder, since any weapon can assault), but the Sandy Hook gunman obtained his illegally. "Ban guns," others suggest. Well, perhaps. In April of this year a teen in Pennsylvania went on a stabbing spree, slashing 22 people in his high school. So we ban knives? What next? Baseball bats? Hockey sticks? Pens and pencils? Anything at all that might be used as a weapon? Mind you, I'm not opposed to regulating who can get what and I'm not arguing that anyone should be able to get everything at all. I'm just wondering what this group expects to do to. Because the problem is not whether or not you limit access to guns. It's a heart problem.

Big on the news these days are protesters. There are the most obvious, those protesting white police who have killed black men. (I am assuming that black police killing black men or white police killing white men or black men killing black men or even black men killing white men are all okay since no one is protesting those things.) They're mad and aren't going to take it anymore. So I talk to the TV. "What do you want? What would make it right for you?" Remember "Occupy Wall Street"? "Down with the 1%!" was the message ... but ... ? What did they want? It was never clear, nor was it clear how what they wanted would be possible, let alone good. "What do you want??!!" I ask the TV. "What would make it right for you?" It feels as if the only way to relieve the current unrest over the police shootings is some good 'ol public hangings ... of police officers. That would be good, perhaps. You know, if "good" is defined as "make us feel better". Because there is no sense in which it would actually be good.

So I sit there and talk to my TV and for some reason it's not answering. Nor are those who I'm asking. Sigh. So much for "interactive", right?