Newsflash, National Media: Uvalde Does Not Need You; Leave Them Alone to Grieve and Process
Democrats, the Left, and the legacy media that colludes with them lack decorum, boundaries or a narrative they can milk.
My prayers go out to the families of the Robb Elementary School, and the community of Uvalde, Texas. Any loss of life before its time is horrific. Children murdered at the hands of a shooter for seemingly random reasons makes the pain even more unbearable.
The reasons why this shooter targeted innocent little kids, and how it all happened is unfolding and is still being investigated. In a generation that was fed on Law & Order and CSI, we assume these types of morasses will be resolved quickly.
It will not. Answers, solutions, justice, resolution of grief; those won’t come quickly either. Ecclesiastes 3:4, “a time to weep…”
Sadly, what national news does is prognosticate, opinionate, and insert information into the discussion that disrupts truth and justice from unfolding. It has been done in the midst of every tragic incident that I have been old enough to witness: from Columbine, to Sandy Hook, to George Floyd, to the Buffalo shooting. If it bleeds, it leads, and if it’s not bleeding fast enough and from their selected artery, they’ll do their utmost to make it happen.
Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference on Wednesday to update the community of Uvalde on what they knew and what was being investigated. As the governor of the state of Texas, that was his duty, and he did it well.
Abbott hit it squarely on the nose with this portion of his statement.
"To begin with, let me point out the obvious: Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have the evil in his heart. But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids. It is intolerable and it is unacceptable for us to have in the state anyone who would kill little kids in school. Children are a blessing. God teaches us that. They are filled with laughter. Innocence. And joy. Their love is a gift that parents get to unwrap every single day. Parents in Uvalde had that gift taken away from them. Stolen by a demented person.
First principles: the ones who are suffering are the parents and the communities. Yes, we as a nation are saddened, heartbroken over such a loss of innocent life, and angry over [insert your knee-jerk political position]. But we have no idea what those parents, the community, or even the law enforcement arms are going through. Nor, unless they tell us, will we ever know. Proverbs 14:10, “The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares in its joy.”
Abbott brings this home as well:
To say the least, Uvalde has been shaken to its core. Families are broken apart. Hearts are forever shattered. All Texans are grieving with the people of Uvalde, and people are rightfully angry about what has happened. Events like this, they tear at the fabric of a community. Our job is to ensure that the community is not going to be ripped apart. All Texans must come together and support the families that have been affected by this horrific tragedy.
Which brings us back to our legacy media arms. Until there are concrete facts presented and confirmed:
STFU.
I am sure you can suss out that acronym.
Aside from local press and media, who needs to give information to the greater community, the region, and the state, there is little reason for national media to disseminate this information. We live in an internet age where if you care about a local story, there are channels who, frankly, do way better reporting than the nationals.
All CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, et al do is serve to feed the incorrect information. Then, the types that only feed from those particular news troughs run with it, unvetted.
Here’s one: Reporting that the shooter (I will not name him here) shot his grandmother and she had died. This was grossly incorrect. According to Abbott’s update, the grandmother was shot in the face, but was able to contact authorities and warn them about her grandson. The grandmother is now hospitalized.
The “grandmother” disinformation went viral. Even Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on her Monday program said the shooter killed the grandmother.
Call it what it is: journalistic malpractice. There have been few corrections or retractions, just pushing along for more views and clicks. Now that confirmed reports about the shooter, his timeline, his behavior do not fit the legacy media narrative, they are out looking for a different scapegoat than racism, mental illness or THE GUN. The national press and pundits are trying to demonize the local police now, cherry picking local reports and interviews to suit their purposes.
Like this progressive journalist who thinks he is doing the Lord’s work by honing in on the fact that some local law enforcement officers (how many? When? Who?) did breach the school to try and save their children.
Interesting that Hollywood script writers use these types of plot points and character nuance to humanize them and allow audiences to put ourselves into the character’s shoes. People sigh, and empathize with Olivia Benson of Law & Order SVU when she slips up; but a real life LEO? Oh, they’re terrible, selfish people and deserve to be stripped of their job and condemned.
What is apparent is we have a legacy media that is on the hunt for a narrative to keep pushing the anti-law enforcement and pro-gun control agenda. How do I know? Because the Uvalde community is coming together and legacy media has no clue on how to report this. All they got is gun control or how local law enforcement failed. The community of Uvalde and those that truly care are doing the work of grieving, and comforting one another.
The community met together on Wednesday night for a vigil. TODAY seemed befuddled by the display of 1) honor and worship to God; and 2) unity and comfort towards each other.
As the sun set on the Uvalde County Fairplex, the friends, families, neighbors, classmates and community leaders of Uvalde, Texas, gathered for a candlelight vigil in honor of the 21 lives lost Tuesday in the second-deadliest school shooting in United States history.
More a Sunday morning worship service than a vigil, religious leaders from various churches led the community in hymns and prayer — in both English and Spanish — before reading passages from the Bible and urging those in the crowd to lean on their faith.
"The Lord Almighty is with us," a religious leader said. "The Lord Almighty is with you, and your sorrow and your questions and your pain and your agony. God is there and God sees."
(Emphasis mine)
Grief is legitimate. Anger is legitimate. Advocating for a cause is legitimate. But when unspeakable tragedy occurs you have few recourses. All you can do is look to the God who sees you and sees beyond the current crisis to uphold and redeem. He is a God who brings beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:2), and this vigil allowed the community to press into that promise.
The TODAY writer seemed confused that a community would latch on and press into this. This was reflected in the one interview they chose to use: a freelance writer who was not a part of the community.
"It doesn’t seem real. It doesn’t even really hit you," Taylor, 32, a freelance writer who attended the vigil told TODAY Parents after it ended. (He asked that his full name be withheld.) "I hate to say the feeling 'helpless,' but it just feels like we're here to bear witness to a lot of terrible things."
Taylor got that right. You bear witness. It is not the time for solutions, conclusions, analysis, and when it is, it may not even be your role to be a part.
Stay in your lane.
What is being reflected in this national response, from our brain-addled president down to the legacy media and our politicians is a mental illness in and of itself. Knowing how to read the room is an art form necessary in public and private life, and everyone in these groups are failing miserably at it.
This reached an inflection point when perpetual politician and wannabe Texas governor Beto O’Rourke decided it would be a good idea to crash the Wednesday press conference being held by Abbott to inform the Uvalde community, merely to grandstand and campaign.
This Austin community reporter is wrong: O’Rourke didn’t shake things up. He was out of line and unwanted by everyone there, including the parents who lost their children. The Mayor of Uvalde lost it, and told him in no uncertain terms to get out.
This is the way. Call these cretins out and then remove them.
To the national media one can only plead: Allow the information to unfold, allow the investigation to happen, and allow the community the space for grieving. You’re an outsider looking in—have some respect.
To mock “thoughts and prayers,” and ramp up your political agenda on gun control is simply rapacious and tone deaf.
As Abbott said:
What the community [of Uvalde] need now more than ever is our love. What they need is uplifting from all of our fellow Texans, all of our fellow Americans.
If you cannot disseminate facts and correct information, unplug your keyboard, go home, and maybe find another profession, because you are sucking at the one you have now.
Great article Jennifer. I call Bidumb Jr. an unelected dictator since he lost in a landslide. You are correct, he is brainless