Ratings > Perspective

Today there was a funeral for a Des Moines police officer, one of two killed last week in a late night interstate highway collision.  The officers were transporting an inmate from another jurisdiction when they were hit by a presumed drunk driver, who was driving on the wrong side of the road.

As with the other officer buried earlier in the week, there were scores of other law enforcement personnel in attendance from other parts of Iowa and the country.  That’s not a surprise.  What is a surprise, at least to me, is the production scope of the visitation and funeral ceremonies, and the media attention being given to these events.

For the past four days, main roads have been shut down for extended periods so the bodies could be transported from funeral homes to churches to burial sites.  These transports have included processions of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of police and fire department vehicles, with hundreds, if not thousands, of people paying their respects at the churches, or by standing along these procession routes.  And in something I believe to be unprecedented, there has been live TV coverage of the funerals on multiple stations.

Don’t get me wrong, the death of these police officers (plus two others, including the driver of the other car and the prisoner being transported) is tragic.  But can we at least agree that relative to other tragic deaths, the amount of attention being given to their funerals is somewhat disproportional to what happened.

Yes, they were on duty, and the law enforcement code rightfully gives them and their families an outpouring of support and respect.  However, they were not doing anything heroic.  Being killed by a (allegedly) drunk driver isn’t the same as being killed by taking a bullet, or running into a burning house, or trying to quell a riot.  The manner in which they died could have, and has, happened to countless others before them, both on the job and off.  And while those incidents often garner much support and attention, it isn’t anything like this.  Not even close.

To put it into more perspective, consider a military member killed on the other side of the world in Iraq or Afghanistan or some other god forsaken place.  Yes, the military gives that person tremendous respect, and the funeral is given much attention.  However, it receives nowhere near the attention that the public and media are giving to these officers.  And let’s be real, that military member deserves at least as much, probably more attention, given their sacrifice.  They are doing something extraordinary, just being on the other side of the world for months or years, regardless of the cause of death.

I blame the local media for whipping up public sentiment beyond the pale.  They’ve made it a race to see which TV or radio or newspaper or even social media outlet can show that they have more empathy about the local police officer deaths.  Consequently, people are paying more than the usual amount of attention.  That isn’t the fault of the officers, or their families, or I suppose even the police department.  But the whole thing is out of proportion nonetheless.

It reminds me of many years ago when Princess Diana died, and then Mother Teresa of Calcutta died days later.  Diana’s funeral became worldwide spectacle, covered live by international media.  Mother Teresa’s funeral deserved every bit as much coverage, probably more given the circumstances, but only grudgingly got some.  Ratings, you know.  It might have gotten none at all without the guilt of the networks for their over-the-top coverage of Diana.

I’ve privately mentioned my surprise to a few folks, and no one disagrees, but no one dares say it out loud.  Let’s just say the next time a local soldier is killed, I’d better see wall-to-wall media coverage about it.  It’s just a matter of time before another law enforcement or military funeral doesn’t have the same coverage, when there will be some public backlash.

About A Funeral

My dad passed away last week.  He had cheated death for 89 years, spending the final 70 smoking Lucky Strike or Marlboro cigarettes, at least when he wasn't using Red Man chewing tobacco.

I'm not going to eulogize him here.  There was plenty of that done last week by others, and I wouldn't be that good at it anyway.  By the time I was a teenager, my dad was in his 50s, and there's a lot I don't know well about his earlier years.

But I do want to write about my observations of the visitation and funeral, and what I think my dad would have thought about what went on.

The presentation of the casket and the memorials were very nice -- almost too nice.  It was all very calming, and the flowers/plants/statues are good for both the receivers and the givers.  But while I think my dad would have liked that, I think he would have hated the cost of the jewelry box-looking casket.  There's no good alternative short of cremation, but he was a frugal man.

The visitation was an exercise in stamina for the family.  With an immediate family that included my mom and all nine children and assorted spouses, there were a whole lot of visitors who made their way through the receiving line.  There was no break from 4-8pm.  I think my dad would have been surprised, and pleased, at all of the relatives and friends who were there.

The funeral service was respectful, and traditional, and unnecessarily sad.  My dad was a traditional man, a military veteran, someone who I think would have liked the formality of the service.  For me, it was fine except for the music.  So slow and somber.  A funeral is supposed to be a celebration of a person's life, right?  Shouldn't the music be more celebratory?  Makes no sense to me.

The short time at the burial site in the cemetery was difficult for some, but not all.  After the final words are spoken, it's apparently become a thing for mourners to stay and watch the casket be lowered into the vault, and then into the ground.  I suppose it's an attempt at closure for some, but it seemed to me to just prolong their grief.  I didn't stay for that, and I think my dad would have wondered what the hell we were still doing there by that point, and why we weren't doing something more productive.

All in all, I felt sad through my initial viewing of the body prior to the visitation, and again near the end of the funeral mass.  It was especially difficult seeing other family members having a hard time.  But other than that, I mostly felt calm inside.  It was much, much  easier than the prior week, when the immediate family came home to say a final goodbye prior to his death.

My dad lived a good long life.  It was very tough to see him go, but his health was failing, and his quality of life was getting poor.  He went to church the entire way through, praying that he might go to heaven.  He knew as much as anyone that you can't get there if you're still living.

Piss On The Taliban

This one is for all the bleeding hearts out there who are outraged (outraged, I tell you!) over the just-released video showing a U.S. Marine sniper team urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan.

Are you kidding me!?  The only outrage in this whole thing should be directed at the namby-pamby civilian and military personnel who are making the dead people the victims, and the U.S. troops the enemy.

This is not torture.  This is not Abu Ghraib.  This is a group of Marines who are probably damn tired of being away from their families in godforsaken country full of people trying to kill them (possibly including the pissees), and who want to exact a little bit of mental revenge.

Is this really so hard for us to accept?  I can imagine it now, one of these Marines says, "Screw this place.  These people are trying to kill us, and nobody at home gives a damn because they're too busy trying to decide whether to buy the 'grande' or the 'venti' today.  We got them before they got us, and since there won't be any parades, let's celebrate our victory by pissing on them!"  And the other Marines say, "Hell yes!  Great idea!"  And finally one of the dumber Marines says, "Yeah, and let's put it on video so we can show everybody back home some day!"

I get that the U.S. / Obama administration has to officially condemn this conduct.  We don't want to come off looking like barbarians.  The thing of it is, the Taliban and other radical Islamic terrorist group are going to think that about Americans regardless of what we do.  They would kill us in a second if given the chance, no questions asked.

What I don't need to hear are any religious scholars out there suggesting that somehow the U.S. is desecrating Islam.  Does anyone really believe these Marines were urinating on these people as a symbol of their hatred for Muslims?  Of course not, they couldn't care less about their religious beliefs.  The Marines are simply showing their disrespect for some people who probably just tried to kill them.

This is war.  There are no rules in war, at least not in combat.  Did we follow any rules when we captured/killed Bin Laden?  If there were rules, the U.S. would surely lose the so-called war on terror, because the enemy sure as hell isn't following them.

I hope the way this plays out is, soon there will be a groundswell of support for these Marines.  Most Americans are going to see through the pious rhetoric and realize that no one was actually harmed in the shooting of this video - although someone was clearly harmed beforehand.  And piss on them!