There are moments when I feel that I have awakened on the wrong planet. Some of these moments came this past week.
A Tennessee volunteer fire department watches a man's house burn down with his pets inside. They don't put out his fire because he hasn't paid the $75 fee for the service. What would they do if a human were burning to death?
A college student discovers his roommate in the midst of a homosexual tryst in the next room. He secretly films the incident and streams it live onto the Internet. His roommate kills himself two days later. These two happenings have something in common _ there is no compassion in them. First, a volunteer fire brigade that demands a fee is not "volunteer."
The second incident is an expression of something much more insidious _ the phenomenon of what I call the "contemptible image."
I worked in front of cameras for 45 years in New York. Depending upon how it is used, the image in the viewfinder can be turned into a saint or a mere thing -- something devoid of dignity and deserving of contempt. It's a technique that is used all the time in the heat of political campaigns with the photos of opposing candidates. This is the unfortunate age of "Humiliation Equals Humor." There are misguided writers among us who feel that there is nothing more screamingly funny than emotionally undressing someone and then sneering at him or her. They have reduced persons with hopes and fears and feelings to simple images -- with whom they have no human connection. This has moved into our TV entertainment as well. Years ago, while watching "24," I realized I was watching a torture scene and was expected to be entertained by it. I turned the show off, and never watched it again. Currently, if I wish to, I can be "entertained" by watching a show, "Dexter," about a serial killer who kills criminals on camera and dismembers them. I choose not to, because I will not debauch my spirit by doing so.
We cannot rationally hold all Tennesseeans accountable for the actions of a few mouth-breathing troglodytes. Nor can we imagine that others of us might indulge in the savage invasiveness that the college student engaged in. Happily, I think the rest of us still outnumber these room-temperature IQs. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is worthwhile remembering; and when we're about to execute a decision, we might ask ourselves: "Does this come from compassion?"
John Randolph Jones is a semiretired actor who sings with the Catskill Choral Society.
Columns
Lamenting the death of compassion
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
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Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
I saw in the news last week that Disney theme parks are raising admission prices to almost $100 a person. Children (who Uncle Walt considers 10 and under) are now $86 a day.
Continued ... - Getting creative with gifts for grads
- Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
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Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
- Cary Brunswick
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Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
So what does the 1960s game show ``What's My Line'' got to do with the Bloomsday festivities occurring in Dublin, Ireland, this week? Surprisingly, there is a link.
Continued ... - Envisioning a world without terror
- We've become our own worst enemies
- Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
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Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
- Lisa Miller
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A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
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- Mark Simonson
- Rick Brockway
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Don't play around with snappers
The other day, I was driving along Route 205 between Mount Vision and Hartwick. Suddenly, I had to swerve out of my lane to miss a huge snapping turtle. It was crossing from a large swamp on the left to some higher ground on the other side of the road.
- Emmons Pond Bog is pretty easy to enjoy
- Fishing has gotten a lot more complex
- Waterfalls are even better when you keep them to yourself
- Kids have sparkle in their eyes
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Don't play around with snappers
- Sam Pollak
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Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
"If this had happened while a Republican was president, the liberal media would be screaming."
Continued ... - THIS WEEK'S POLL
- Using time off in the worst way possible
- Terror lives on, and there's no end in sight
- Remembering the glory of their times
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Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
- William Masters
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
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Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
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Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
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Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
