Indexed, by Jessica Hagy
I didn’t, actually. Watch the news, I mean. Despite the song lyrics, I never do, because the news is full of people saying things that most human beings don’t need to know. I read the news, sometimes, in the paper, although Small-Town Paper’s scream-y headline today is, “PATRIOT’S DAY DEFILED!!” No, really. Defiled. And, all six East Coast transplants who even knew it was Patriots’ Day (It actually commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and I truly had no idea) are thus duly respected – and the rest of us get the scream-y headline with no context, as usual.
And I cannot TELL YOU how much I dislike the word “patriot” anymore, since it decodes as “jingoist” much of the time.
Days like these I am full of joy and praise for not belonging to social networking groups. If I hear one more solemnly intoned, “I run for Boston, I run for life,” I might have to whack someone. I know these things are, somewhere within, honestly meant, but Drama Vampires walk the day among us, and it’s time for the Clan of the Pointed Stick to start doing stretches and grabbing the vials of the Holy Water, or whatever it takes to shut those puppies down.
Understand – I know people have pain. I know people have deep feelings about this or any other tragedy. But, honestly, I just want to tape a huge reminder to the world’s fridge: “This is not about you. And, we need coconut milk.” Like the wonderful Auden poem F. sent, somewhere, today’s tragedy aligns insignificantly with a regular day’s duties. While tragedy diminishes a society, I dislike this sort of clingy, “we are the world” tribe that develops overnight, as everyone battens on to a community they might otherwise overlook or ignore. I mean, again with Patriots’ Day. So very few people on the West Coast even twigged to that at all. And yet. And yet…
I am not articulating this well, so I’ll let it go, and try to write some haiku.
toxic
talking heads babble
spout errata, platitudes.
unplug. desist. THINK.Around-the-Clock Coverage
accumulating
facts explain nothing at all
turn off the tv