What Has Happened To Us?

In this short and atypical episode, I navigate the choppy waters of a St. Louis tragedy that's stirred a national conversation, examining the threads of violence, and the power of our rawest emotions. It's a departure from the norm, but one that invites you to join in a session both therapeutic and thought-provoking.

With my former radio and current Tuttle & Kline Podcast partner, Tim Tuttle, we journey through the aftermath of a violent school altercation that has left one girl hospitalized and another girl arrested. It calls into question the threads that weave our society together—and sometimes tear it apart.

Tim and I discuss humanity's darker moments, as we contemplate the societal fissures that define us. This isn't just another discussion; it's a candid exploration of personal impact and the search for understanding within the chaos of our divided world.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Fuzzy Mike. The interview series, the podcast, whatever Kevin wants to call it. It's Fuzzy Mike, Hello, and thank you for joining the Fuzzy Mike. A little different episode this week. Don't have a guest. A guest that I was supposed to speak with had to reschedule, so it's okay that that happens. And it's actually kind of ironic that it happened this week, because there is something on my mind that I want to talk about, and I don't like talking about things by myself. I like to talk through them with other people, and so the other podcast that I'm a part of, the Tuttle and Climb podcast, which has new episodes every Wednesday. My radio partner from 20 for 28 years was Tim Tuttle, and he and I are back together doing a podcast, and he's wicked smart. Yeah, I know, wicked smart. No, I'm not from the East Coast, I'm Midwest born and bred. I don't even know why I said that. Anyway, I like to bounce things off of Tim and he's helping me with a major dilemma that I have this week.

Speaker 2: 1:03

St Louis, by the way, is Kevin Kline's hometown, and and Kev, I know that there's a story going on right now in St Louis that really has jumped in your head and you know, obviously I want this podcast not only to be us, you know, not goofing around and and being idiots, but also, you know, a little bit of a therapy thing.

Speaker 1: 1:23

What's? What's on your mind, buddy? I don't know. Man, this is pretty heavy. Do you really want to get into it, or just having just a great riff, I mean?

Speaker 2: 1:30

it's you know what. Let's just touch on it a little bit.

Speaker 1: 1:34

Okay, well it's. It's a story that's gone international, not this past Friday, but the Friday before. Two girls in high school at Hazelwood East High School got into a fight and one of the girls got on top of the other girl and bashed her head into the concrete multiple times and the girl is now in the hospital, basically brain damaged and basically fighting for her life. And it's it was a black girl and a white girl and the white girl is like 105 pounds wet and the black girl is a lot bigger, but apparently the white girl started the fight and she's apparently the bully in the school. And finally the 15 year old black girl had had enough and she, they, they fought.

Speaker 1: 2:26

But my thing is you, you've neutralized the situation. When you get the girl to the ground and you're on top of her, there's no reason to bash her head into the concrete three times. And I can't unsee the video. And it wasn't that I went looking for the video. It popped up in my newsfeed and it said it said warning graphic. And I'm like they're not going to show that and they did and I can't unsee it, man.

Speaker 2: 2:52

Yeah, I'm so sorry man, I'm so sorry that you know, and Kev, I mean and it's not a race issue with me, it's a humanitarian issue with me.

Speaker 2: 3:01

I forget about what the mainstream media and then a propaganda and their agenda divide us all. I mean, that's what that's what that's all about. You know, if you, if you look at the world today, the people who scream racist are the actual racist. The people who scream Nazi and fascist, they're actually using Nazi and fascist methodology. That would make Hitler proud. So, in terms of I have to say this in defense of the black girl Kev is, when you get in that mode and you've never been in it, have you ever been in a fight?

Speaker 1: 3:36

No, I mean not a, not an uncontrolled one. I've been in boxing matches.

Speaker 2: 3:40

Okay, I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but I used to be a little bit of a pugilistic asshole. No, you.

Speaker 1: 3:50

A little bit. I'm not proud of it. The guy that bowed up on Roy Jones Jr used to fight.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Imagine, and you know, when you're in that that mode, it's hard to come down.

Speaker 1: 4:05

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, adrenaline is running high. I get that. I get that.

Speaker 2: 4:09

I remember I was, I split up with this is my very first girlfriend that I was. You know I have her quote unquote love the puppy, love thing. Her name is Stephanie and this is at Ball State and we split up and I she started dating another guy, john Griffith or something like that, and I saw them at a party, an apartment complex party, and I walked into the same party and they were together and he made some kind of look on me. He looked at me like kind of funny, like you know.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I got her.

Speaker 2: 4:49

And I blacked out and you know I was there with Trevor Lee, my buddy and a couple and he and I have no idea what happened until you know, maybe 15, 20 minutes after my friends pulled me out of there and and allegedly I hit him like 35 times in 15 seconds.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Okay.

Speaker 2: 5:11

Did you bash his?

Speaker 1: 5:12

head on concrete.

Speaker 2: 5:13

No, I did not, it was all punches.

Speaker 1: 5:15

It was all punches and and even. Even that aside, okay, the bashing of the head on the concrete, which is extreme, is excessive, and it's it's going to. If she dies, at least at the least, it's going to be second degree homicide, second degree manslaughter. If she survives it's going to be a felony assault. But what bothers me more about this whole thing is when the girl is laying in the street and she's convulsing, people are fighting over her, not fighting to help her. They're fighting each other over her. Nobody's helping her and I'm like where did we fucking go wrong? Oh, I know we don't care about anybody anymore.

Speaker 2: 5:56

I know there's no compassion at all.

Speaker 1: 5:57

None, none.

Speaker 2: 5:59

And I don't know whether that's we're desensitized to it because of the movies we watch and the video games we play and stuff like that, but that is, yeah, that's all. You always want at least a couple people that are present to go. Okay, man, you know we understand what happened there bully getting fought back on. Now we've got to address the situation instead of it continuing to escalate.

Speaker 1: 6:23

And that's my whole point. We just got to care. You know, we just got to be better. We got to care. You know, fights are going to happen. I get it. Fights happen. When I was in school, fights are still going to happen. But when somebody is beat, you as the other fighter stop, or somebody with a cooler head has to step in and say, look, they've had enough. That didn't happen here. I mean, in professional fighting, you have referees for that, you know, and referees are there to protect the fighters. Somebody's got to be there to protect the battants and that didn't happen in this case.

Speaker 1: 6:59

So you know, bullying is a mental health issue and apparently both girls were being bullied. I mean, it all depends on who you read and what story you believe, but there's probably some culpability on both sides as far as why this started and why this escalated. But it did not need to go to the spot, the length, the degree that it ended up going. So I don't know. I just, I just want us to do better. I want to do better. So I will be on the lookout for opportunities that I have where I can help somebody out. You know, let's just try that this week, even if it's just a compliment help somebody out. You know, that's all you got to do. Let's lift up other people. Let's not tear other people down there. There's my soapbox. I'm off it. Thank you for listening. Like follow rate, all that kind of stuff, I mean my heart's just not into it, not into it this week. I'm so sorry and I owe you better. I really do, but this has been bothering me now for you know hell. It happened two Fridays ago. So yeah, for that long. So he has to move on now.

Speaker 1: 8:15

It's crazy how I went to bed the other night and I was having a good day, I was having a really good day, but I laid my head down on the pillow. I don't know what I was thinking about. I don't think I went. I know I wasn't thinking about this fight. I had a great day. Lay my head down on the pillow, woke up the next day, just not feeling it. It's not feeling anything, not feeling life, not feeling happy, not feeling. I mean I wasn't sad, I wasn't mad, I just wasn't feeling. You know, and those days happen and you got to ride them out and I wrote it out. I'm coming around. This was just four days ago, but still still kind of melancholy, I guess, you know.

Speaker 1: 9:01

And, yeah, this news story has something to do about it, but it just happens, man, it's just chemical, you know, and you got to write it out. You got to ride the wave and you got to think about something to look forward to. And for me that's going to be a run later on today and running the rest of the week, and then it's going to be doing the Tuttle Climb podcast, which I thoroughly enjoy, and then I've got to surprise some family members later on this weekend, so really excited about that. So when things aren't going right, you've got to find someplace to go to look for positivity and rearrange and re-change your thought process, and it's still something I'm learning, learning how to do so. Hopefully you'll continue this journey with me and we'll continue to help each other and get inspiration from each other and turn negatives into positives.

Speaker 1: 9:52

How's that sound? Sound good to you? Sounds great to me. Thank you so much for listening and I'm sorry I didn't have a guest this week. I will try and get a guest on next week. We had a cancellation and sometimes that happens, you know, and thankfully I had my buddy, tim Tuttle, there to help me get this topic started and, you know, have somebody to bounce off of, listen. There's nothing more boring than just sitting here looking into a camera and talking into a microphone and wondering if you're out there listening. I mean, what do I particularly have to say that is entertaining or thought-provoking or worth listening to? Many of you would say nothing, klein and I get that, but always nice to have somebody else to bounce back off of and open up maybe a different perspective that I'm not thinking of. So hopefully I've provided that for you Again.

Speaker 1: 10:39

The Fuzzy Mike is hosted and produced by Kevin Klein. Production elements from Zach Sheesh at the Radio Farm. Social media director is Trish Klein. Thank you to you for listening. Don't forget to like, follow rate, all that kind of stuff and please share the Fuzzy Mike with your friends and family and even enemies. That'll be something nice you can do this week. See you next week. Thank you so much. That's it for the Fuzzy Mike. Thank you. This is Fuzzy Mike with Kevin Klein.