While the search continues for 21 still-missing passengers, and 11 people have been confirmed dead, Captain Schettino of the Costa Concordia is clinging to his claim of accidentally falling into a lifeboat (rather than running screaming into one while crying for his mommy), much the way his battered, terrorized, about-to-drown-to-death passengers must have clung to railings, listing walls, and each other in last desperate bids to stay alive.
This man’s cowardice and arrogance are astounding. The reason behind the Costa Concordia’s catastrophe seems to be that the captain, and perhaps another crew member tickled with himself and his neat job and neat boat, wanted to draw closer to shore to “salute” someone, or blow the horn at their moms. Captain Yellow, and, it would appear, most of his crew, clearly belong in jail, and will hopefully live the rest of their deservedly ruined lives far away from all life forms. Including plants. Any man or woman who is so cowardly as to abandon ship — especially within site and reach of land!! — while other men, women, and possibly children suck down ocean water cocktails is a danger to every human being in their vicinity and beyond, at sea or on land.
There should be a price paid for cowardice. And for other forms of bad behavior related to cowardice, like bullying and physical and verbal bloviating. The latest murder in Philadelphia (or maybe not; there are a lot of murders in Philadelphia) took place on my street, a few blocks away from where I live. Sounds like the typical post-2am drunkard situation, except this guy, Kevin Kless, 23, went beyond acting like a soaking drunkard: he bloviated and bullied, and he did it to the wrong group of men.
I would think that most people, especially those who live in Philadelphia, know that you better watch who you tell off, how nasty you allow your lost temper to make you, and what exactly you allow to fly out of your mouth. Because if you say the wrong thing the wrong way to the wrong person at the wrong time, you just might end up with a mighty ass whooping. Which is exactly what happened to this foolish young man.
Did he deserve to be beaten to death on the street for being a loud-mouth, bloviating wiseass? No. And the three animals who killed him deserve to be in jail for the rest of their lousy savage lives (actually, I’d hang them, if it were up to me, but I’m one of the few people left who believes in actually executing those unfit for life among humanity, like child molesters and murderers).
I am saying that it matters how a person behaves in the world, especially a dangerous world, which ours is. It matters what you do. It matters what you say. It matters how you treat other people. It matters on the street at 2am, on sinking ships, in terrorized skyscrapers, in the hallway at work. And being scared of death or being drunk are not excuses for lousy behavior. There is a price to be paid for breaching decency, breaching standards of man- and womanhood. Sometimes that price is far too steep, as when a too-sauced bloviator tries to push around a pack of wild immorals on the hunt for fresh blood.
Sometimes the price is too light, as with Captain Yellow, who may live a shamed life from now on, but will live, unlike at least 11 other people. Of course, how Little Yellow will fair on the street is debatable. Because there is that price to be paid, and often it is exacted by the street, on the street, rather than in the courtroom.
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Woops, I Tripped and Fell to Safety While the Other People Died; Or, Grumble Grumble, Your Mama!! Profiles in Cowardice and Bloviation
In News commentary on January 19, 2012 at 9:37 amWhile the search continues for 21 still-missing passengers, and 11 people have been confirmed dead, Captain Schettino of the Costa Concordia is clinging to his claim of accidentally falling into a lifeboat (rather than running screaming into one while crying for his mommy), much the way his battered, terrorized, about-to-drown-to-death passengers must have clung to railings, listing walls, and each other in last desperate bids to stay alive.
This man’s cowardice and arrogance are astounding. The reason behind the Costa Concordia’s catastrophe seems to be that the captain, and perhaps another crew member tickled with himself and his neat job and neat boat, wanted to draw closer to shore to “salute” someone, or blow the horn at their moms. Captain Yellow, and, it would appear, most of his crew, clearly belong in jail, and will hopefully live the rest of their deservedly ruined lives far away from all life forms. Including plants. Any man or woman who is so cowardly as to abandon ship — especially within site and reach of land!! — while other men, women, and possibly children suck down ocean water cocktails is a danger to every human being in their vicinity and beyond, at sea or on land.
There should be a price paid for cowardice. And for other forms of bad behavior related to cowardice, like bullying and physical and verbal bloviating. The latest murder in Philadelphia (or maybe not; there are a lot of murders in Philadelphia) took place on my street, a few blocks away from where I live. Sounds like the typical post-2am drunkard situation, except this guy, Kevin Kless, 23, went beyond acting like a soaking drunkard: he bloviated and bullied, and he did it to the wrong group of men.
I would think that most people, especially those who live in Philadelphia, know that you better watch who you tell off, how nasty you allow your lost temper to make you, and what exactly you allow to fly out of your mouth. Because if you say the wrong thing the wrong way to the wrong person at the wrong time, you just might end up with a mighty ass whooping. Which is exactly what happened to this foolish young man.
Did he deserve to be beaten to death on the street for being a loud-mouth, bloviating wiseass? No. And the three animals who killed him deserve to be in jail for the rest of their lousy savage lives (actually, I’d hang them, if it were up to me, but I’m one of the few people left who believes in actually executing those unfit for life among humanity, like child molesters and murderers).
I am saying that it matters how a person behaves in the world, especially a dangerous world, which ours is. It matters what you do. It matters what you say. It matters how you treat other people. It matters on the street at 2am, on sinking ships, in terrorized skyscrapers, in the hallway at work. And being scared of death or being drunk are not excuses for lousy behavior. There is a price to be paid for breaching decency, breaching standards of man- and womanhood. Sometimes that price is far too steep, as when a too-sauced bloviator tries to push around a pack of wild immorals on the hunt for fresh blood.
Sometimes the price is too light, as with Captain Yellow, who may live a shamed life from now on, but will live, unlike at least 11 other people. Of course, how Little Yellow will fair on the street is debatable. Because there is that price to be paid, and often it is exacted by the street, on the street, rather than in the courtroom.
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