It seems as though a sector of the population is in an uproar over a picture of journalist Helena Andrews on her phone during the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
The Twitter World is aflutter with angry comments regarding how unpatriotic and disrespectful the journalist was for typing on her phone during the National Anthem. Granted, it may have been rude. It may have even been disrespectful, I would not go as far as accusing the journalist of being unpatriotic, however.
It is very evident to me that we live in a very judgmental, yet hypocritical society. I say this because, for all the people who are criticizing Helena Andrew, I wonder how many acts of disrespect they have perpetrated, possibly on a daily basis. Many, I suspect, that are much more damaging to our society than not paying attention during the National Anthem. All you have to do is read a few Twitter comments or Facebook posts to find people being disrespectful of what our country is supposed to stand for: life, love and liberty for all.
If we want to focus on unpatriotic behavior, why don’t we focus on the way our veterans are treated in this country?
What about the way politicians want to cut services like food stamps, even though a number of our military rely on them to help feed their families because they aren’t paid nearly enough for the atrocities against mankind they have seen. How patriotic is it that we have so many veterans who are homeless? What about the countless military men and women who have taken their own lives because they are inadequately prepared for how society may treat them once they return home?
Maybe Helena Andrews didn’t really think about the kind of fallout looking at her phone during the National Anthem would cause, but it is not like she committed some great crime against society. Crimes against society would be the way many are so easily to justify the senseless murders of so many men who just happened to be in the wrong place and ran across the wrong police officer on a day when he/she may have just decided it was easier to shoot than to pursue.
We live in a society where many people would sooner demean a homeless person than lend them a helping hand. Ours is a world where it is just assumed someone living in the street or receiving federal aid is a lazy bum. It is a world where someone will degrade someone down on their luck without taking the time to consider how they got where they are.
Before people decide to criticize this one journalist on her “unpatriotic” behavior, maybe more consideration should be given to the shameful, unpatriotic treatment that is being shown everyday to the countless men and women who are just as much a part of this country as anyone else.
