Letters to the Editor
Mishima666
Published Letters: 125 Editor's Choice: 28
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The real problem
[Read the article: Bush's impeachable offense]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As I see it the problem is not so much that Bush broke the law, but that he operates under a theory of presidential power that would permit him to break virtually any law as long as he does it in the role of commander-in-chief.
In other words, I think that in the devastation and aftershock of 9/11 most people would give him a pass on a few well-meaning but ill-conceived illegal wiretaps. But we're talking about a pattern and practice of illegal activity that continues to today. Worse yet, it is a pattern of illegal activity for which he does not apologize, and promises to continue. But even worse than that, the justification -- his invocation of plenary or inherent powers -- of that illegal activity could be used to justify virtually any future crime committed in the name of the undeclared "war on terror."
It's one thing to commit a crime. It's another thing not to apologize for it. It's yet another thing to promise to continue criminal activity. But it's unthinkable to have a president whose perception of his own power would excuse any future crime.
If that's not an impeachable offense, then what is? And if the Republicans can't understand that, then it's up to the people to deliver that message to them in the streets of every city in America.
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Deteriorating as a person
[Read the article: The real war on Christmas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]O'Reilly and others like him claim that they are trying to restore traditional culture and values. They're not. What they are doing is helping to turn otherwise normal and nice people into shrill and angry people, artifically inflated with a sense of their own rightness.
Many of us have had the "who are these people?" experience. I've read the stories here, and they are heartbreaking. In my case it was an aunt and uncle in rural Oregon. They were ordinary, nice people, orchard owners, quick to talk about the harvest, what the other relatives were doing, the latest happenings at Sunday school. Then a few months later it was Rush this, Rush that, and the conversation turned strange and boring.
But I don't entirely blame Rush, Bill, and all the others. An adult has to decide what kind of person he or she wants to be. If someone wants to be perpetually pissed-off, perpetually outraged and filled with umbrage, that's a choice that an adult can make.
And here the movie _American History X_ can give us some understanding of how to respond to adults who have made that choice. In the movie a high school principal confronts a nazi skinhead with a simple question: has anything you've done made your life better? This is the question I would ask the right-wing devotee: after the countless hours of Rush, Bill, et al, after the continual anger and outrage, after the hatred of "liberals," and all the many others you don't like, in what way has all of that made your life any better?
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Yes, exactly
[Read the article: The real war on Christmas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Widget writes: "It's not the point of view that's the problem. . . In this case, the medium IS the message."
The point of right-wing media is not information; the point is to keep their followers in a continual state of outrage and umbrage. Widget is exactly right: the message is that people need to be angry and hateful, despising all who depart from the party line.
In the more extreme cases the right-wing message creates people who exhibit many of the traits of alcoholics -- depressed, pissed-off at life, striking out at family and (former) friends, looking for enemies. This is particularly painful when the relative or friend is a Christian, supposedly a companion of the apostle Paul, who said "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."
There's nothing wrong with being politically conservative. We need voices on both sides of the issues, and no one has the market cornered on the truth. But much of the right-wing diatribe is like "professional" wrestling: a violent show, in which the world is divided into good and evil, and inflicting pain on your opponent is seen as a virtue.
I would like to thank all those who have contributed their own experiences to this conversation. I have read your stories and they resonate deeply with my own experiences and observations. Wil Wheaton's article struck a nerve, and appropriately so.