Within all of us biases lurk. Mine tend to be a favorable slant toward most things Jewish and/or progressive, two positions not always in concert with each other.
My biases and their counter biases—I’m against religious extremism and intolerance and conservative political dogma, along with other issues—are deeply rooted, though not to the depth that I would violate a moral code that should reside within all of us, though apparently not to be found inside Dylann Storm Roof, the allegedly admitted killer of nine blacks studying the Bible in a Charleston, SC, church Wednesday evening.
The mind has difficulty expressing revulsion toward Roof’s actions. It was horrific, tragic, racist, an act of domestic terrorism. It was not insanity, at least in the clinical sense, though anyone who thinks what transpired in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church can be rationally explained or justified needs to have his or her head examined.
I’ve often cited Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for their takes on the comic absurdities inherent in national and world news. I miss Colbert’s nightly takes and didn’t latch onto his replacement in the 11:30 pm Comedy Central slot, Larry Wilmore. But Thursday night (or in my case, repeats aired Friday) provided must-see TV as Stewart and Wilmore provided textbook examples of how media stars should react to events that demand comment. If you haven’t seen these telecasts, use the accompanying links, the first one for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the second for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. They express far more eloquently than anything I could the anger, the frustration, the anguish, the distress, grief, and heartache being felt across America, particularly among people of color:
