Response to Kansas City Star for "American Sniper" Cartoon
February 15, 2013
I'm sure this will get some of my friends' blood boiling. I just sent this email to representatives of the Kansas City Star.
If you choose to (respectfully) express your opinions, here are 2 of the email addresses I found on a website about the cartoon. I guessed at Donovan's. ljudge@kcstar.com; mpepper@kcstar.com; ddonovan@kcstar.com
===
Lee Judge & Miriam Pepper,
Allow me to express my extreme outrage over your decision to publish the cartoon depicting an “American Sniper” with the caption “If only there had been a good guy with a gun around.” This was a despicable, tasteless act!
It’s okay to disagree with the gun rights “good guy with a gun” sentiment but this expression of it is not humor, adds no value to the gun violence / gun control / gun rights / 2nd Amendment debate that’s currently raging, and is a sickening, morally low thing to publish.
If you have any moral fiber in yourselves or your organization, you will publish an apology to the family of fallen US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle for this pathetic exploitation of the tragic death of this American hero who dedicated his life, in service and after, to defending this country and helping others.
Shame on both of you and any others involved in the decision to print this bile and for Ms. Pepper’s defense of this cartoon as not being “disrespectful” but just “uncomfortable”. This was inexcusable exploitation and is disrespectful at its core. Let me be clear that I am not attacking your 1st Amendment right to publish this. I’m attacking your moral character for choosing to do so.
I also do not accept Derek Donovan’s justification, “But it’s the Opinion section’s job to provoke thought. Even make people angry.” (http://www.kansascity.com/2013/02/15/4068724/lee-judge-american-sniper-cartoon.html) The gun control debate has been raging in the print and television media every day since the tragic event at Sandy Hook Elementary. This piece did nothing to provoke reasonable, constructive thought. All you accomplished was to stir a hornets’ nest of emotion on all sides of the issues which is already being done amply.
Incidentally, Wayne LaPierre’s statement “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” is valid, though it doesn’t surprise me that you can’t see its logic. The statement implies the bad guy already has the gun and intends to use it for evil purposes. When a “bad guy” has a gun, the only thing that can definitively stop him is another gun. You might note that LaPierre’s statement did not say a good guy with a gun would stop “ALL” bad guys with a gun.
Perhaps instead of publishing this cheap, hollow expression you should put your efforts into supporting initiatives to ensure “bad guys” don’t get guns WITHOUT “infringing” upon the 2nd Amendment rights of law abiding citizens everywhere. This will require fixing the mental health system in this country and ensuring those deemed mentally unqualified are entered into the NICS system. The NICS system is currently in place but is not being used properly or for its intended purpose.
[Signature]
No comments:
Post a Comment