I know we're all overly sensitive, but...

... this is ridiculous.

Emmy Plane Crash Skit Called Insensitive

Before I go on, I'd like to extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those people killed in the crash.  It was a senseless tragedy, and one (it seems from the NTSB's initial report) that could have been easily avoided.  The individual stories of those killed - the newlywed couple, the man catching an earlier flight to get home to his kids - are heartbreaking.

I'm not trying to lessen the impact of this event on these families and the rest of the nation.  I'm not saying that the timing of NBC's Emmy broadcast was great.  I'm not even saying that the decision to greenlight the bit, mere hours after the crash, wasn't insensitive.

But, to quote Rob Corddry, "Come on!"  (Or if you prefer John Stossel, "Give me a break!")

For those of you who missed it, the Emmy award broadcast last night started with a pretaped intro bit.  O'Brien, dressed in a tux, sits aboard a plane to the Emmys.  The plane starts to shake.  He gets thrown around and crawls into an overhead compartment.  Flash to O'Brien crawling out of the surf on a tropical island. 

To anyone who's ever seen Lost, this was a direct riff on all the plane crash and initial beach sequences from the show, except there were no actual planes crashing, no people being sucked out of a gaping hole in the plane, no exploding engines on the beach.  However, Jorge Garcia (who plays Hurley) appears in the scene, running with O'Brien to a "Hatch," through which O'Brien lowers himself and ends up in The Office, then on the phone with Jack and Chloe from 24, then in an exam room with House.  All very clever and fairly amusing for a TV awards show.

Understandably, any mention of a plane crash would be horrifying to someone who lost a loved one in a crash - doubly so if the crash happened recently.  However, "Gilbert said he plans to ask NBC for an apology.  'They could have killed the opening and it wouldn't have hurt the show at all,' Gilbert said. 'We wish somebody had thought this through. It's somewhere between ignorance and incompetence.'"

What the fuck?!?

It's one thing to be sensitive to the situations of others.  It's something completely different to neuter TV shows (or music or movies or journalism) to avoid offending them.

While I agree that NBC could have cut the Lost section of the opening montage (at the cost of coherence), I don't see why they should have had to.  Were they going out of their way to mock the plights of the Comair victims?  Were they being intentionally hurtful?  I sincerely doubt it.

By the way, Tim Gilbert is the general manager of NBC's Lexington, Ky. affiliate, WLEX.  He did the right thing by making a public statement.  I'm glad he's sticking up for the interests of his viewership, which has been directly touched by this tragedy.  But asking for an apology? 

The two events were connected by nothing more than subject matter and bad timing.  Insensitive?  Probably.  Bad taste?  Maybe.  Ignorance and incompetence?  Hardly.

These days, it seems that we live in an overly sensitive, overly litigious society.  People can't say anything even remotely controversial without having to come back later and recant the sentiment for fear of a lawsuit.  It's almost amazing to me that anyone says anything any more.

Don't get me wrong.  There are still words and acts that are hateful and stupid and have no place in society.

Mel Gibson is still a racist motherfucker.  Hate crimes against gays are inexcusable.  People who kill in the name of God are hypocrites and morons.

But should we stop making movies about wars or accidents or medical malpractice because we'll offend the victims' families?  Should we stop making jokes for fear of hurting someone's feelings?  Should we stop living our lives because of life's many tragedies?

Yes, life is tragic, and people can be cruel.  There's bad stuff all around us.  But perhaps everyone should stop looking for stuff to be offended by and start living their lives.  Maybe they'd find something to be happy about.