My First Post

Here is my first post, Cutting Off Your Legs.  I wrote this piece a little over two years ago, but I felt it would be a good start for The Knightly News.  The post gives an intriguing perspective of the Bush Administration while also incorporating self-mutilation, cross dressing, and Jerry Springer.  Enjoy.

A little over two and maybe even three months ago I saw the most fascinating character on Jerry Springer.  This husband and father probably in his late forties to early fifties who went by the name of "Shandra" decided to not only become a cross dresser, but provided the icing on his family's cake of outrage by cutting off both his able bodied legs with a circular saw.  While sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of the stage wearing a curt dress that showed off his two uneven stubs that only the steady hand of alcoholism could create he declared amidst expletive laced tirades from the two female family members who sadly decided to incorporate themselves in this sad state of human existence that, "I don't even miss my legs... I didn't need them... I didn't want them."

The other day out of the blue I realized why this episode resonated with me so much that now months later I find myself inclined to write about it, and the reason rests in the difference between ignorant and oblivious.  One incorporates effort and the other does not.  When all is said and done effort remains the difference maker in all life situations.  Expert and dilettante.  Dictator and chancellor.  The list goes on.

The literal reason for me remembering this sight may rest in those two words, but the emotional reason remains that this scenario gets replayed each and every day in this country.  Two thirds of a group constantly yells and berates the one remaining member about his lunacy with only indifference and disdain as his response to feed off of, but in America's case it is closer to 72% and not 67%.

When W. first took the reigns in 2000 most Americans acknowledged that he remained oblivious to many pertinent issues, but assumed due to his great team of "advisors" (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, Rice, Powell...) that he could overcome this temporary setback.  At the very least he should be a quick study considering he came from a much enviable political lineage.  9/11 temporarily guised his oblivious nature as courageousness, but nearly six years on that facade has worn thin.  Oblivious has come back to the fore, but the world has changed yet he tries to remain the same.  In trying to remain the same effort has been exerted to ignore reality and that causes the problems.  Ignoring reality leads to ignorant behaviors and most people can't accept that.  The only progression of these actions leads to more ignorance and not becoming a quick study in the ways of the world.

Roughly one month later the same man came back to Springer with his new girlfriend and five family members who disapproved of his actions.  Eventually, practically 75% of the studio audience jeered and loathed him as fervently as his own family.  That percentage decreased a little when his girlfriend fled the stage in tears, but quickly rose to over 80% when he declared that he intended to dispose of his left arm in the same fashion as his legs.  The girlfriend then came back from off stage with circular saw in hand.  At that point Steve, the head of security, quickly rushed the stage and the show went to a timely commercial.  Upon its return the stage had been cleared and a new segment was about to begin.  Jerry politely informed us that "Shandra" would not dispose of anymore "needless" body parts on his watch, and recommended that the studio and audience at home refrain from following "Shandra's" example.  At least the Springer producers know when to stop a spectacle when it is either no longer entertaining or shows no sign of progress.  He might believe he does not need his legs due to some abnormal delusional state, but most people do and it would behoove him to follow our advice instead of proudly gimping around on national television, syndicated or not, for all the world to see.  I don't want to see the episode when he barely has a body remaining.