Theme:– Operation C.R.U.S.H. Against Gun Violence, Bias and Clouded Vision

Recently, President Obama unveiled his administration’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. It was well received by a throng of supporters at the White House. He hopes to make a dent in dealing with some of the inner city struggles. Well, Paul Ryan had to walk back comments on the ‘fatherless problem.’

He was asked during a radio interview about the subject. He seemed to step on some toes by defining the problem in what was seen as “put down” terms. Ryan’s comments enraged a fellow congressional colleague. So he later issued a statement to clarify his take on some of the inner city culture woes.

Maybe the congressman was continuing in the realm of comments he made related to poverty. A medical doctor will say that we can’t confuse the symptom with the problem. It’s like with the issue of gun violence and attempts at passing laws on background check. Opponents say forget it while studies say differently.

This topic engenders emotional reaction to the N^th degree. It’s hard to convince parts of our culture on the merits of background checks because it’s hard to get some to do self-checks. That’s changed with women regarding breast exams and it’s also changed when it comes to wearing seatbelts. Go figure!

In order to address the effects of some of our pressing social/cultural challenges we need to be willing to see it for what it is. Increasing highway traffic fatalities caused our elected officials and culture to enact seatbelt self-check mechanisms. So has the concern for breast cancer. No clouded vision there!

Footnote: It might be hard to convince some of the merits of background checks because human nature has a tendency to shun self-checks. That’s changed for women and for drivers wearing seatbelts because they had the repercussion of public health/safety in mind.