Talk of The Town

First off, I would like to applaud Adam Gopnik for a superbly written essay. Not only because I agree with what he had to say, but because from top to bottom I found the essay perfectly constructed. It wasn't at all a chore to read, it had smooth progression and a knack for for hitting all of his key points home at just the right time. I have to get out of the way just how impressed I was with his writing.

The opening of Gopnik's portion really grabbed me. The concept of a newly deceased person's cell phone ringing is a really abstract and disturbing thought. I feel in writing it's important to highlight strange phenomena such as this, rather than explaining what people already feel. Quickly, but without feeling rushed, the essay delved into the reasoning behind America's murder problem. He first pushed culturally driven problems off of the table by explaining how maniacs are profiled all over the world. This allowed him to tackle the real issue here, which is gun restrictions.

I was immediatly disgusted to find out that other countries were immediatley proactive in preventing gun related mass murders, tightening weapon control as soon as possible. Disgusted because America hasn't even come close to doing anything about it YEARS AND YEARS AFTER THESE MURDERS KEEP TAKING PLACE.

I am also disheartend to live in a country where an organization such as the NRA can influence such important measures. It's extremely irresponsible of our governmental system to give such pause for profit driven organizations.

Finally, I feel it's probably going to be impossible to outright ban firearms that could be used for self protection. The paranoia of our society is too great, Bubba needs his shot gun under his pillow to feel whole.

As for Susan Sontag's essay, I wasn't as enthralled. I agreed with her points, but the article feels very dated, which it is. Since it was written, hundreds of songs and dozens of documentaries have been made making the same protest as her, and I'm sick of it at this point. Yes, the media is broken, yes the Bush Administration was corrupt. At this point I've just been fed too much of this. It's by no means a bad essay though.

See ya next time!