You sound like Andy Rooney, Bartholomew--what do you want, should people shut up unless they have something "constructive" to say?

And consider all the things that people say about the morbid need that gawkers have to look at a bloody accident--what do people would say about the ones who walk right by and ignore the accident entirely?

Can anybody give me a good reason why we shouldn't be curious or interested in these events? Can anyone even show me a time or place when people weren't interested in this sort of thing?

This stuff is going to happen, and when it does, people are going to be interested in it--human nature--

My problem is with the people who stand up and make the sweeping noble statements, or the statements of principled outrage--epecially when they tie their cheap grandstanding with implied promises about how everything could be fixed with a new program or new, hardhitting, legislation--if we did this or stopped doing that--

McGrath, I often agree with you, and have had occasion to think that you have good insights--but I think you are a bit off on this whole thing--

First, Cuba, and other Latin American countries, have similar, and sometimes even greater problems with endemic violence, to that in the US.

And the problem is not an American problem--there is an increase in violent crime, particularly the seemingly unpovoked kind, throughout Europe, both Western and Eastern--

America is a big place, but with very tight communication links, so when something horrible happens in one place, everyone else has all the information immediately--

I (being an American) tend to think that it is touching that so many people care about the misfortunes of others--And we don't just gawk, we are very prone to send money, stuffed animals, food, or whatever crazy thing seems like it might help--Furthermore, when we are on the scene of the crime, the accident, or whatever, we tend to pitch in, whatever way we can--even at risk of life and limb, and even when it is for a complete stranger--

To finish this off--even though Elian and his family are going back to Cuba, we know that they will be back--because now they are celebrities--and symbols of the link between the United States and Cuba (as bizarre as that relationship is)--

Elian and Juan Miguel will return to Cuba as heroes--and of course, they are heroes here--the big question is, "What will happen next?" Stay tuned, Bartholomew!!!Whatever it is, it will be covered on all the major networks!!!!