I make it a point to avoid listening to the president speak. I value my peace of mind more than I value anything he has to say. But, while working and listening to the news this morning, the statement he made following the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came on. So I sat down and watched, and listened.
Maybe I am more attuned to his demeanor when he speaks than most people are, simply because I am not used to watching him. (I guess when a person is immersed in something on a regular basis, he/she tends to become immune to it; whereas, when a person is introduced to something for the first time, he/she tends to take note of its peculiarities.)
What struck me most about the speech was his complete lack of passion or conviction when we was discussing the ‘tragedy’ (actually a terrorist act), and the courage and conviction of those who responded to it. It was an if he were a high school student delivering an oral report on a subject about which he had absolutely no interest.
The only time in the talk during which he became animated, or portrayed any conviction, was when he spoke about diversity and tolerance:
That American spirit includes staying true to the unity and diversity that makes us strong -- like no other nation in the world. In this age of instant reporting and tweets and blogs, there's a temptation to latch on to any bit of information, sometimes to jump to conclusions. But when a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the stakes so high, it's important that we do this right. That's why we have investigations. That's why we relentlessly gather the facts. That's why we have courts. And that's why we take care not to rush to judgment -- not about the motivations of these individuals; certainly not about entire groups of people.
After all, one of the things that makes America the greatest nation on Earth, but also, one of the things that makes Boston such a great city, is that we welcome people from all around the world -- people of every faith, every ethnicity, from every corner of the globe. So as we continue to learn more about why and how this tragedy happened, let's make sure that we sustain that spirit.
The president of the United States, when addressing the people of the United States, exhibited little genuine feeling when referring to a deadly terrorist act that resulted in several deaths and nearly two hundred gruesome injuries. He displayed an equivalent lack of passion when referencing the courage and determination displayed by Americans after the terrorist act.
He felt the need to remind us all that we should not be racially or ethnically discriminatory as a result of our loss and our anger. He believes that America is composed of such people. He believes that, without his condescending advice, we would all act upon our baser instincts and paint innocent people with broad, black stereotypical brushes. He believes that Americans embrace a lynch mob mentality, always prepared to make hasty generalizations, without basis, and brand innocent people as evil, just because of the color of their skin, their national origin, or their political agenda.
Maybe it's time for the president of the United States to stop following his own advice, at least to a degree. Maybe it's time for him to connect the dots and stop catering to nations and people who seek the destruction of the country he ‘leads’. Maybe it’s time for him to stop stocking his pool of advisors with Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers, or sending jet fighter aircraft to countries run by them.
I contend that the president of the United States is significantly more focused on ethnicity, country of origin, and political agenda than is the average American. And maybe that focus is working to our detriment. The fact that he sees fit to warn us against such a mindset is not only insulting, but it serves as a smokescreen. Americans need to begin to pay attention to what is behind that smokescreen before it clears permanently and we can no longer do anything about what we see. |
