By: Tripp Vistica
January 30, 2020
We all know the tragedy that occurred this past Sunday, concerning Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. When I began asking questions to students on the University of Memphis campus, they were not concerned at all with the impeachment hearings. They did not even want to talk about Donald Trump at all.
When renting a textbook from Tiger Book Store on Walker, a student and clerk at Tiger Book Store, Carrigan, was watching news about Kobe Bryant that was on the television inside. I decided to ask her what if she had been keeping with President Trump’s impeachment hearings. Carrigan responded, “No. All the news I’ve been watching has to do with Kobe Bryant, and the helicopter crash.” She immediately followed that up by asking me, “Did you hear they originally reported that Rick Fox was in the helicopter too? He wasn’t though.”
I could tell right then that she was not interested in anymore questions concerning the impeachment hearings, so I politely told her, “I about Rick Fox, and that it wasn’t true.” I finished renting my textbook, and then I immediately left.
I asked Katherine Broughton, a sophomore at the UofM. Her response was also, “No. I almost never pay attention to the news, but I have been keeping up with the news about Kobe Bryant.”
After asking two people about President Trump’s impeachment hearings and receiving practically the same response, I decided that if the next that I asked about the impeachment hearings goes straight to talking about Kobe Bryant that I would have gotten the picture by that point.
I decided to ask Grayson Young, a senior at the UofM, and again his response was about Kobe Bryant. Young said, “Honestly, I was keeping an eye on it until the news about Kobe Bryant broke. How many tribute’s do you think there’ve been to Kobe Bryant, his daughter and the rest of his family?” I told him, “More than I can count.”
After asking three students about President Trump’s impeachment hearings, all I got were responses about Kobe. Kobe Bryant’s death, the way it happened, and all the tragedy’s surrounding that story have made the impeachment hearing’s last week’s news at this point.
Isn’t that crazy that a basketball super-star could transcend the world and make the impeachment hearings of our own country’s president something no one wants to talk about?
In my opinion, it’s not crazy. I completely understand and can empathize with where they are coming from. I think it’s a good thing that mostly people want to talk and mourn about Kobe Bryant’s death, rather than talk about our country’s president possibly being impeached. I especially understand, because neither situation is within the public’s control. Obviously not only concerning Kobe Bryant but the impeachment hearings as well, because that is in the hands of our government’s senate.
In Memory Of
Kobe Bryant
August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020 (41)
And
Gianna Bryant (Daughter)
May 1, 2006 – January 26, 2020 (13)
R.I.P.
Tripp Vistica 