The Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board published an editorial Nov. 19 about the Mercy Hospital shooting that took place the same day titled “And now, a massacre at Mercy Hospital.†In this editorial, they bemoan that this inevitably occurred in their own city with phrases like, “This time the bloodshed that indelibly stains Chicago violated this city’s first chartered hospital†and “What occurred Monday is a horror like so many other horrors here.â€
Chicago has a bit of a reputation when it comes to crime, often being labeled as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, so I understand the disdain that comes from residents of the area when a shooting at a hospital in the country’s third largest city garners national attention. However, the language the editorial board used in this unnecessary opinion piece seemed to me to be insensitive and stoked an already tense situation.
The shooting Nov. 19 is as horrific as any other shooting. I am merely commenting on the thought process that led the Editorial Board to publish an opinion with wording like this that I believe did not need to be published in the first place and did nothing to ameliorate the situation.
They went vivid in their language, as evidenced by the snippets I have already mentioned, but they shined the light right on a big blemish in Chicago’s reputation that many people there work every day to remedy.Â
I do not see how an editorial about this situation does anything but make people feel worse about things they already feel bad about. In this opinion, nothing that was written lent itself to solving, aiding or even assuaging the issue at hand. It is written in my opinion with an exasperated attitude about Chicago once again being in the news for crime with the outlook of nothing ever changes, and everything is hopeless, so why bother trying.
I am not going to mince words here; I despise this way of thinking. No, it is not a journalist’s job to solve anything. It is not up to The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board to put forth a plan on solving the country’s gun violence problem. As citizens, though, I have to wonder what the thinking is when you know what you are about to write is not going to do anything but magnify the negative aspects of the situation. I wonder what the point in saying anything at all was.
I bring this up to address a broader issue I am seeing pop up more and more. We cannot move forward as a society if we all zero in on what’s wrong with the world we live in. If you look hard enough, you can find something to complain about every single day. And that is your choice. No one forced you to look at the negatives in life.
The Editorial Board said in their opinion piece, “Each of them (crimes that occur in Chicago) should make all of us redouble our efforts to find causes and cures,†and I agree. Let us redouble our efforts to wake up every day and not be dragged down into the depths of despair when a shooting occurs and every other little bad thing that happens daily and instead choose to adjust our perception.
And that’s the tea on that.
