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 .