Thread: Arizona ‘Memorial’: A Most Disquieting Display

Have we forgotten how to be somber?

Arizona ‘Memorial’: A Most Disquieting Display

By Warner Todd Huston
Thursday, January 13, 2011

Last night in Arizona someone planned a memorial service and a pep rally broke out. In a wildly inappropriate display of mirth, rock star adulation, screams from the crowd and raucous applause the purported memorial service held at University of Arizona for those that fell at the hands of a crazed shooter earlier in the week went badly awry Wednesday night.

Nothing this gauche has been seen since the classless memorial turned pep rally held for Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone that got so many in trouble back in 2002.

The tenor of the event lacked propriety throughout even as the speeches themselves were for the most part perfectly alright.

In fact, a whole weird vibe was set at the very beginning of the memorial with pseudo Indian medicine man, Carlos Gonzales. He began the off kilter scene by his pseudo Indian blessing of rocks and trees, northern doors, and… well, whatever he was blessing, anyway. His self-referential promotion was also quite off-putting.

Arizona University President Richard Shelton was also wholly inappropriate in the way he emceed this pep rally His fawning introduction of President Obama, for instance, was absurd and out of place. He introduced the president as if Obama were about to bound upon the stage for a campaign appearance. Very badly done.

Fortunately President Obama’s speech was very well crafted and generally delivered properly — except that he had to raise his voice at times to be heard over the foolish reaction of the audience. Obama’s speech was perfectly fine. He didn’t focus on himself for a change and that right there is an improvement over most of his speeches.

The Governor Arizona’s, Napolitano’s and Holder’s short addresses were also fine, really. In fact, aside from U of A President Shelton and the hokey medicine man all the speeches were fine. The problem here was the raucous crowd reaction to the program.

Have we forgotten how to act as a nation in mourning? Have we forgotten how to be somber?

There was a time when Americans mourned in a respectable manner. Women would wear black dresses with hats featuring a gauzy black veil. Men would don suits, fedoras and sport black crepe ribbons on their coat sleeves. People would stand silent, heads bowed as they prayed or at the very least delivered respectful contemplation for the fate of the fallen.

Today, after our fellow citizens have been murdered by a madman, we have events where giddy teens applaud speakers like they were attending rock concerts or a school pep rally. I kept waiting for someone to yell out “Go Wildcats.â€

I thought the very same thing. I guess most of the crowd was U of A students excited to see Obama.

Sad display if I had been a family member of those killed I would have walked out, to pick a university as memorial site was bad judgment if he truly wished to give a memorial could have been done for family only in a church with cameras. I quit watching when th audience jumped up and down as if in a State of union address.

This was simply a campaign event.

I also caught the beginning of it. It was nothing but a Leftist media circus of self promotion. The first guy who was a medicine man made sure everybody knew he was a "5th generation Mexican". I was expecting a speech from him on Amnesty. An example how not to hold a memorial service.

What do you expect to get when you hold it at a university led by a typical Communist college president?

The president should be ashamed but doesn't have the sense to know anything beyond his agenda.

I had to turn it off I was so disgusted. That was not a memorial!
The truly sickening part was hearing that they were selling t-shirts for the event. What in the hell kind of memorial event sells t-shirts?

I would of had all the people who were there and suffered losses on stage with me so they could all be together and had my arm around Pat Maisch and never let her go, made her head of my Secret Service! And quietly say
"I will miss your face!"