STUMPED

I've deleted two entries in the last two days. I thought I'd say something about the recent controversy concerning Wayne Coyne, his support of Christina Fallin (even firing his drummer over it all) and his direction of a very demeaning video that perpetuates violence and degradation of women. Every time I sit down to pull my thoughts together on the subject, I run out of energy. Maybe it has something to do with distance. I am no longer regularly walking into the same coffee shop as him or making sure that I am present at every event and concert. At first I was shocked by all the news. I just never pegged Wayne as someone who would support racist hateful behavior, let alone join in on the act. I'm all for supporting art and creativity, but I draw the line at being disrespectful and hateful to cultures that are not your own or any medium that perpetuates hate and violence. I am disappointed that Wayne Coyne turned out to be that kind of person. But really, I'm disappointed that this has been such a big "news" story. A few ago weeks ago I heard a snippet of news on NPR about 240 Nigerian school girls being abducted from their school. It was just a short little blurb and then I heard nothing else about it. Occasionally, I would run across an update. There is a belief now that the girls have been sold as brides. But in general, the story of 240 missing girls, has been a nonstory. The headline story on Google news today is about Monica Lewinsky talking about the Clinton affair. Three stories down is an article about how little the Nigerian government has done to find and rescue the girls. In fact the Nigerian President's wife has told reporters that she doesn't even think it really happened and that Nigerian women need to stop protesting. Right under this article is a story about Rihanna going braless. I'm sorry, but when is that girl wearing a bra? And why is this news?!?

An Islamic militant group known as Boko Haram is claiming responsibility for the kidnapping. Their name actually means "western education is a sin". But really...that's beside the fact. The point I'm trying to make here, is why are we not hearing about these girls EVERY DAY!!!??? I can't stop thinking about what if they were our girls. Would we as Americans, sit back and let our government do nothing about a terrorist group kidnapping 240 of our girls? No. Not at all. What's frustrating and disgusting is that any body can sit back and let this happen. These girls were kidnapped on April 15th and John Kerry announced Saturday that the US would help Nigeria in any way to find and return the missing girls. That's almost three weeks later. These girls, someone's daughter, your daughter, have been missing for weeks now with governments doing nothing. What the Hell is wrong with us?!?

When those kids on that South Korean ferry died, the TV was inundated with images of grieving parents. It was so heartbreaking you couldn't help but empathize with the family and garner outrage towards the captain of that ship. Why are we not being inundated with images and video of parents begging for the return of their girls? There's not even a discussion going on about this situation. What's the number of girls kidnapped in one setting that gets us talking or makes us outraged? Sunday is Mother's Day. What a gift to those mothers to have their girls returned safely home. I know that I can't do much but spread the word. We can sign the petition at Change.org. I want to make this the headline news. I want those terrorists to know that the world is watching and that we care about those girls and I want those girls to know that there are people out there who want them safe.

So...start the discussion. Spread this story like wildfire.