Being born and bred in the Commonwealth of Mass I have many friends in the Boston area. Even more so considering the years I spent working in the Prudential Tower, a building in extremely close proximity to the detonation area of the bombs.
My thoughts naturally go to the health and well being of my friends, many of whom, still work at the tower. I take to social media, scanning down my Facebook feed as more and more people begin posting that they're safe... scared, but safe nonetheless. I feel relief.
I continue to watch my feed as people began to post about open spaces in their apartments and homes, offering them to stranded runners. Posts to information pertaining to impromptu blood drives and volunteer groups. Friends I have from around the country, from California to Florida, Tennessee to Maine, an outpouring of thoughts and prayers. It's beautiful.
I open up Twitter and scan. I'm amazed that in the midst of a tragedy, some people feel the opportunity is ripe to leverage the crisis to somehow comment on their political beliefs. One friend is shouting about Monsanto, condemning them for sending the simple Tweet, "Prayers to Boston." It makes me sick. But nothing prepares me for the accidental revelation of...
I'll begin by saying I'm not unfamliar with Jeselnik. His "shtick" of pushing boundaries and offending people, has launched him in to the national spotlight and has even led to his own show on Comedy Central, The Jeselnik Offensive. To be honest, I'm fine with that. If that's the horse you ride to stardom then please, ride away.
I would also like to preface the fact that I am a believer in the power of comedy. Of all the arts, comedy, in my opinion, is one of the most important tools in the dissolution of fear, anger, and sadness. On a deep level, I genuinely believe that laughter often is, the best medicine.
Comedy like this is the lowest sort. Oftentimes put forth by the likes of irrelevant comedians, starving to be a trending topic on Twitter or praying for the possibility of appearing on a talking head news show to defend/apologize for their classlessness.
I'm reminded of Gilbert Gottfried's joke, 3 weeks after September 11th at the Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, Gottfried joked that he had intended to catch a plane, but could not get a direct flight because "they said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first." Gottfried, was met with hisses and "too soons," but suffered no real consequences. Most likely due to the fact that he's a hackneyed has been. Years later, Gottfried attempted another joke at the expense of the deaths of thousands, in regards to the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. This time though Gottfried's only employer at the time, the insurance company AFLAC, who does almost all of their business in Japan, fired Gottfried. He is still fame starved and annoying, even to this day. Somewhere, Andrew Dice Clay is nodding as he pumps someone else's gas.
Jeselnik though, is a particular kind of beast. Instead of fading, his star has been on the rise. Through the rage I struggle to make sense of someone trying to capitalize on a crises, and apparently having it work.
Look closer at that picture. Over 1,200 retweets and 1,300 favorites. An approximate total of 2,500 sycophantic suck ups and rebellious tweens who feel Jeselnik somehow represents their generations growing indifference to human suffering and death, yet will "rage against the machine" in regards to atrocities committed in any country, other than the one they live in every day. Because, you know, we deserve it... or something.
It's not unfamiliar to me. Having been a freshman at Umass Amherst 9/11/01 I went to class the day after in an auditorium of over 300 students. The Professor decided to Maury-Povitch-it-up with a handheld microphone, walking around the class to ask students their opinions on the attack.
My stomach turned as student after student took the opportunity to preach on the evils of capitalism, the US's behavior in world affairs, and blah blah blah, while not one person expressed sympathy or sadness. I walked out.
I'm glued to my tv. Watching as more details emerge. Though in no way trying to trivialize the carnage I am thankful the death count remains low. Among them though, a child. An 8 year old girl. Over a 100 more crippled or injured.
I start growing hotter, staring at the screen. It's not even a good joke. That's almost more infuriating. A lazy, half assedly put together punch line, vomited out in an obvious attempt to be edgy and controversial. It takes a brave, and cutting edge comedic mind to make light at the death of an 8 year old girl and the crippling of countless others so, good on you Anthony Jeselnik.
I wonder at what type of insecure and frightened person resides inside of a boy like Mr. Jeselnik? Having been raised by a rather emotionally tight lipped family myself, I sometimes find myself making jokes at improper occasions to disguise my own fear and sadness. I can relate with that and indentify it as a problem. A danger with the potential to turn me into a walled up, cold, heartless prick. I try to resolve this every chance I can get. I fight to remain empathetic.
Maybe it's not his fault. Maybe he's misunderstood. Maybe it's the symptom of an affluent life well shielded from the sight of someone bleeding to death on the street, or the loss of someone near and dear not by disease, accident, or natural causes, but by the sinister deeds of evil men who have schemed and acted with the sole purpose of harming the ones you love.
There is something so devastating about acts such as this. Sarah Silverman in a tweet today put it well, "I hate not knowing where to put all my rage and sadness." I can relate to that. It's hard to cope. And though I never try to understate or appreciate the value of a good joke and it's ability to make things seem not quite so bad, I believe there is something that gets lost in our omnipotent information society of sudden fame and instant opinions. Our humanity.
UPDATE: 4/16/13
As of this morning, Mr. Jeselnik has deleted the Tweet in question. For those who are wondering, no, there was no public apology. Not even in 140 character form. What a courageous man.
Also, the victim mentioned above turned out to be an 8 year old boy, Martin Richard, who's sister and mother were both seriously injured in the blast as well. My prayers and thoughts go out to the Richard family and everyone affected by this senseless violence.
UPDATE 4/17/13: My girlfriend has setup a PayPal account taking donations for the Richards family who live in her hometown neighborhood. If you would like to donate, the address is helprichardfamily@gmail.com.
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