ABC apologized. Is that “It”?
Being a Chinese American, I hesitated to join the discussions about the recent events arising from the Jimmy Kimmel show, because I was afraid that I might have been overly sensitive, because I don’t want to scream “discrimination” when someone non-Chinese looking accidentally stepped on my toes. However, the heated debates on the Internet, the protests by thousands on the streets, and now the formal apology from ABC have shown, to me at least, that my initial gut reaction was right, that this incident reflected something more damaging and deeper than a harmless joke during a late night skit.
So, ABC apologized. But is that it? Taking another look at this incident, this is FAR from It. As a mom of three very young children, I have to ask: when we think a little boy’s gut reaction answer of “killing everyone” to solve a problem is merely a joke, aren’t we playing a joke on ourselves, our children and their future? When, and indeed, why, did it become OK to a little boy that his first choice to solve a problem is such violence? Did he truly understand that it was just a late night skit and that he was just trying to be funny? When we try to look at the world through his eyes, perhaps it is not as innocent as it seemed.
He lives in this world, that even Minecraft, a game that can be highly creative and intellectually stimulating, is filled with zombies, villains, and yes, killings, that the so-called “family” movies and TV shows are filled with violence in the name of promoting the value of honor, respect and integrity, that news headlines are overwhelmingly, repeat, overwhelmingly, about some senseless and horrible tragedies caused by acts of humans (where stories about ordinary heroes rarely show up on the Breaking News banner), and that the United States can police, through violence, invasion and killings, other countries when we think we are the good and they are the bad. It is the world we live in today, not the little boy, that has lost its innocence, the fundamental human goodness.
ABC apologized. So what? The fact that they decided to broadcast this episode as merely a joke is proof again that the “mainstream” has become numb and insensitive to violence, however portrayed, however conveyed to our children, not just the discrimination against an ethnic group on the face of this particular “joke.” The fact that ABC is owned by Disney makes this even more disturbing. Disney, “where dreams come true,” where are you now? Care to share your thoughts?
I live in Boston. My girls actually look forward to the winter here now. Why? Because last winter, we escaped a huger nor’easter and had a most wonderful vacation on Disney’s Fantasy. In my 5-year-old’s mind, winter means another cruise. With Disney, “where dreams come true.”
In 1999, I watched news coverage nonstop, heartbroken for the Columbine students and their families and friends. I was saddened then. In 2012, Sandy Hook broke millions of hearts again and left eternal wounds in those related to the twenty six beautiful souls. By then, I was a mom of three including a second-grader. I was scared so much that I started having nightmares of having to race through Route 128 traffic to get to the school. I am sure that I was not alone. I am sure that many parents jumped when they saw a message left by school on their phones and with racing hearts, they listened to it. While the heart rate might return to normal quickly, our confidence in the safety of our children has been broken forever.
I wish, for my fellow parents, that our nightmares will be forgotten. I wish, for my children, for all children, that their dreams come true.
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