About a month after 9/11 happened, there was a toy convention.
I read about it in the newspaper.
One of the more interesting toys at the convention was a scaled-down replica of the Titanic.
The inventor had turned the entire thing into a slip and slide.
That's right. Kids could slide down out of the Titanic into a waiting lifeboat--giggling and laughing the whole way.
The author of the newspaper article couldn't help but point out that perhaps a toy based on what was in fact a tragedy was not altogether appropriate.
The response from the toymaker was--"Oh, but that happened so long ago."
To which the author of the article replied--"Does that mean in 2101 it'll be okay to have a toy where kids jump out of a burning tower?"
I think he made his point.
Still, it brings up an interesting question:
Does sensitivity have an expiration date?
The toymaker in this case seems to be arguing that once everyone involved with a tragedy has died, there's no longer a need to be sensitive about it.
But does that have to do with the circumstances of the tragedy? Is a freak accident like an ocean liner hitting an iceberg fair game after a hundred years?
Are hurricanes okay to make fun of? In another century, will we be allowed to crack jokes about Hurricane Katrina?
Shouldn't a tragedy be observed as having been a tragedy even after the survivors or the survivors' families have died? Isn't it still a tragedy?
Right now the word sensitivity is popping up a lot because someone wants to build a mosque near Ground Zero. I'm not writing this as a comment on that debate. I'm taking issue with the word "sensitive."
I'm all for sensitivity, but I believe 9/11 and Oklahoma City aren't the only things worth sensitivity just because they happened to occur within my lifetime.
Shouldn't we be sensitive towards the World Wars? Yet, I've seen comedies about World War II. I've heard J.F.K. assassination jokes. Lately, comedians have been tiptoeing into Holocaust humor.
I'm all for free speech, and I certainly believe laughter can be the best medicine, but if we're going to start living in a "sensitive" society, shouldn't that sensitivity extend past the last ten years?
Or does a two-word punchline really sum up our attitude about when we can let the sarcasm that pervades our culture get its claws on a historical event:
Too soon?
I read about it in the newspaper.
One of the more interesting toys at the convention was a scaled-down replica of the Titanic.
The inventor had turned the entire thing into a slip and slide.
That's right. Kids could slide down out of the Titanic into a waiting lifeboat--giggling and laughing the whole way.
The author of the newspaper article couldn't help but point out that perhaps a toy based on what was in fact a tragedy was not altogether appropriate.
The response from the toymaker was--"Oh, but that happened so long ago."
To which the author of the article replied--"Does that mean in 2101 it'll be okay to have a toy where kids jump out of a burning tower?"
I think he made his point.
Still, it brings up an interesting question:
Does sensitivity have an expiration date?
The toymaker in this case seems to be arguing that once everyone involved with a tragedy has died, there's no longer a need to be sensitive about it.
But does that have to do with the circumstances of the tragedy? Is a freak accident like an ocean liner hitting an iceberg fair game after a hundred years?
Are hurricanes okay to make fun of? In another century, will we be allowed to crack jokes about Hurricane Katrina?
Shouldn't a tragedy be observed as having been a tragedy even after the survivors or the survivors' families have died? Isn't it still a tragedy?
Right now the word sensitivity is popping up a lot because someone wants to build a mosque near Ground Zero. I'm not writing this as a comment on that debate. I'm taking issue with the word "sensitive."
I'm all for sensitivity, but I believe 9/11 and Oklahoma City aren't the only things worth sensitivity just because they happened to occur within my lifetime.
Shouldn't we be sensitive towards the World Wars? Yet, I've seen comedies about World War II. I've heard J.F.K. assassination jokes. Lately, comedians have been tiptoeing into Holocaust humor.
I'm all for free speech, and I certainly believe laughter can be the best medicine, but if we're going to start living in a "sensitive" society, shouldn't that sensitivity extend past the last ten years?
Or does a two-word punchline really sum up our attitude about when we can let the sarcasm that pervades our culture get its claws on a historical event:
Too soon?
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