Hateful Expectations

It did not take long for the wagons to form around the issues of politics, violence and guns. They always do whenever a very public display of the worst in human behavior catches our collective attention. With our computer skills, I would not be surprised if groups save argument templates that search-and-replace tools can efficiently update with the latest names, dates, places and wounds.

At least enough time should have been allowed to pass, to bury and mourn the victims of the Tucson killings, before we blathered on about who and what is to blame.

Nothing I can say here is new or enlightening. Then again, nothing anyone has said in the past several days is new or enlightening. From the very first public murder I remember, the assassination of John Kennedy, there has been little originality of thought or debate. So much finger pointing takes place after events similar to the latest killings, it makes me want to recommend limitations on the possession of these offending digits.

The fingers tapping out the words on this keyboard are not being used to point blame, but to record, as honestly as I can, my thoughts and feelings sans any pronouncements about how recent events should change politics or the law. I have the same low opinion of mine own plan, and plans nearly everyone has ever had, to save civilization.

By coincidence a cable television channel the night of the Tucson killings was showing the 1969 movie version of True Grit. It is a deceitful movie. I say this because it celebrates the killing of eight men, uninvolved in any crime we know was committed. None of the eight hombres can be mistaken for Mr. Rogers. One kills his partner before our eyes. Even in terms of frontier justice, however, the killing of eight people to get one murderer is grotesque.

I am not blaming movies or other story-telling media for inuring us to violence. I only note that the violence it depicts is plausible and accepted to a degree that made the movie very popular. We the audience delight in the violence it depicts and we desire these men to be killed. Such stories make sense only because of such hateful expectations.

I began worrying about the expectations of hate because of another movie, this one from Iran called The White Balloon. (The film is the first by Jafar Panahi who is now in trouble with Iranian authorities.) It involves a seven-year-old Teheran girl who is desperate for a goldfish. After much family tumult, she is given the only bill the family has at the moment, which is far too much for a goldfish and too big a burden for a little girl, who is sent alone on the city’s streets to buy the fish. The city is unusually alive since the New Year’s celebration is about to begin. Throughout the film, I anticipated violence, especially as the girl turned a corner or walked past an alleyway. At one point a young soldier on holiday leave joins her, and I thought to myself, here it comes. Nothing came. The young man just wanted to talk to the little girl, who reminded him of his sister at home.

There is plenty of tension in the film. First, a snake charmer artfully enlists the girl and her bill in his act. Then, the girl drops the bill, and it falls in a the grate of a closed store, where she can see, but not reach it. Her efforts to retrieve the bill and get the goldfish are as heroic as Jason’s search for the golden fleece. For whatever reason, I had an expectation of violence before walking into the movie theatre and this wonderful movie, whose sole purpose seemed only to give viewers an idea of what life is like in modern Teheran, frustrated that expectation, and I am grateful for this.

I do not wish for a world where all the films are as violence free as The White Balloon, or where True Grits are banned or censored. That will not happen by regulation, even if such laws could be enacted. The gritty truth is anger brings in listeners, viewers, readers and voters. Without our hateful expectations, True Grit could not have been remade. Violence sells because we buy it, or vote for it. Now, if someone can figure out how to extinguish the anger in our hearts, we might be in for some progress.

A reduction in our hateful expectations is needed, but I am as flummoxed about that as I could be suggesting how to achieve world peace. My only hope is to lower how much hate I can personally accept. That and trying to stay out of the line of fire is enough for anyone.