Death & Politics

This past week Rob Reiner and his wife were found murdered in their home.

The first report I heard was that two people were found murdered in Rob Reiners house. Hmmm. Odd. Was he out of town and someone broke in? That was my first thought.

A couple of hours go by and we find out it’s Rob and his wife. Possible suspect is their son, Nick.

A few hours later it’s confirmed it was Rob and his wife, Nick is in custody, charged with murder, and is being held with a $4m bail.

I felt bad about all of this because the few times I’ve seen a movie he directed or saw an interview with him, he seemed like a nice down-to-earth guy.

Like many others, I read the updates on Facebook. I don’t watch the news.

I recently celebrated my five year anniversary of not watching any news. I don’t read the newspaper. I don’t read magazines. I listen to Sirius in my car where there are no news interruptions.

Have I buried my head in the sand? Yes. And proudly.

I used to be a news junkie. Had to know everything going on, everyday, everywhere. COVID changed that.

I have a small TV in my bathroom. In January of 2020 when COVID was first becoming a ‘thing’, I watched the news in the bathroom every morning while getting ready for work. EVERY SINGLE MORNING, first thing at the half-hour, our local news started each of their half-hour morning news show announcing that yes, COVID was a pandemic and yes, the news anchors were practicing safe distancing by staying six feet apart.

EVERY SINGLE MORNING I listened to that from January until November…and then I had enough. I turned off the news permanently. Andy Griffith reruns made me happier.

Anyway, back to Rob Reiner.

I am retired but have a part time job two mornings a week at an auto repair shop about ten minutes from my house.

Yesterday morning I went to work and during the course of the morning I mentioned to one of my male co-workers how bad I felt about Rob and his wife.

He replied, “I have a different point of view on this.” I asked what that was.

He said it was fine with him that Rob was murdered because he didn’t agree with his politics.

I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor.

Are you serious? It’s ok for someone to be murdered if they don’t agree with your political point of view????

Again, because I don’t watch the news or much TV at all, I had no idea what Rob’s political affiliation was. By end of day yesterday, I knew.

With everything going on in the world and in this country, how can anyone justify a murder by a political affiliation.

Just when I thought I’d heard it all…I hadn’t.