Letters to the Editor
Kizno123
Published Letters: 2
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Beyond words
[Read the article: Kiddie prisons]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is one of the most shocking and deplorable scandals I have ever read about. To even contemplate such a situation as this exists in this country is beyond comprehension.
I pray it isn't so. I fear it may be. My disgust is beyond words.
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A Splendid Con
[Read the article: The dumbing down of the GOP]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We've finally gotten to the point in our society where ignorance has become strength. I've been working on a project this past week that has required listening to hours and hours of events around the 1964 Republican Convention. I'm no Republican, but I kept finding myself amazed at how far we've fallen as a people - the sheer eloquence of even the most vocal street demonstrator was breathtaking. It was as though I was hearing words spoken from another planet. This couldn't have been America. Were we ever like that? People spoke in sentences, articulated their feelings. The press however, were still viewed with jaundiced eyes, so I guess some things have never and will never change.
But what happened to us? Where did it go so terribly wrong? When did presenting yourself as a caricature of a person become the norm? When was it okay to present a lifelike replica of a human being as the real thing?
Palin reminds me of the High School Cheerleader running for Student Body President - all flash and perky adrenaline, signifying basically nothing. Just wants the attention, has really no clue what's required once she gets it. Thinks somehow no one will notice. Convinced the world really is naive and Americans can be fooled by anything, at least once and for long enough not to realize so much has been lost while we were being dazzled by secret winks and seductive smiles
Lately, it's become the norm in our society that presentation and flash have become all - substance is ridiculed, called "elitist" - as if having any knowledge is considered evil, daring to question is deemed unpatriotic. As if patriotism and blind obedience are bedmates.
I believe knowledge is power. The ability to rationally look at an issue and examine it is crucial, especially living in our society now in this precarious place. To see the con for what it is and question what's going on behind the curtain, to ask just what it is we're agreeing to. There's too much at stake to pretend, too much at stake to point ludicrous fingers and label people "elitist" because they have the nerve to question. There is no room for that, not now.
The people playing to the "Joe sixpacks"of the world know exactly what they're doing. Create diversion and trot out fluff and it blindsides everyone. Appoint the "babe soccer mom" to position of power, hoping no one will notice it's a con - a diversion tactic to put across a bogus claim of "maverick" and "Washington outsider" in order to achieve the darker motive. All the false modesty and "gee whiz" sham as a pretense of "tuning in" with a largely snowed and dazzled voter base - too busy imagining a file cabinet full of prurient teenage scenarios to be able to see what's being done under the guise of political change.
It's no change - it's the same old boss. But it's hoped you don't notice.
Yes, if I were a true conservative I would be in a state of abject despair. To find that my ideals were being trivialized and marketed as a con, an ugly sham would be horrible.
The Chinese curse has finally come to fruition - we are truly living in "interesting times".