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May 20, 2003 Please, come in! Have a seat on the couch. Why not just lie down? Now why dont you tell me all of your troubles..What brought you to me today? The New York Times is losing subscribers. I think it is a sign of the end! Ah, yes. The Times. Perhaps the Jayson Blair situation has been part of the problem. Plagiarism doesnt play well with the common man. No, its more than that! Fox News Network is growing like mold on stale bread. Last time I looked into viewership numbers they had the top four cable news programs and CNN and MSNBC are fading farther behind. The conservatives are taking over the news media! Oh, I hardly think so. After all, with ABC, NBC and CBS around there is plenty of the Liberal viewpoint being dished out. What do you mean? Those networks are neutral! Besides that there is radio. Rush Limbaugh is actually popular! We cant seem to find anyone to counteract him. Did you know Mario Cuomo started a show and the ratings were too low to keep it going? How can people want to listen to that Limbuffoon and ignore a great man like Mario? Watch the name-calling! Sorry. I just cant comprehend it. Then there is the Internet. The Drudge Report! I can barely speak the words. I am afraid I like that site myself. I think it averaged over 4 million visitors per day in the last year. I think it is more than that now. Exactly. So what concerns me is that America is being brainwashed by the right wing. It is changing for the worse. Look at this Iraqi war! The Bush gang took my tax money without my permission to take over that country and get all the oil money and. Wait a minute! Where did you get the idea the President needs your permission to do his job? Well, I didnt vote for him. I didnt vote for the Arkansas Shyster who managed to get himself impeached before leaving office, either. I thought you said no name-calling? Agreed. In any event, we have a representative form of government. We vote for the representatives and they hopefully express our wishes in the form of laws. The Republican Party has a majority in Congress and of course our president is also a Republican because that is how the voting went. America is going crazy! You cant even protest the war without being accused of being a traitor or being unpatriotic. Celebrities, simply exercising their right of free speech, find themselves being vilified and boycotted. That is offensive. Its frightening! Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks. It seems to me that the Chicks expressed their opinion and their potential customers expressed their opinions. How is that offensive? Its the American way. The American way is to protest. How will we be able to protest if people are going to treat us as second-class citizens or not buy our albums? Didnt Rosa Parks have to pay a price for protesting the back of the bus rules? Heck, didnt Patrick Henry have to pay a price? Martin Luther King? Labor Unions are here now, but the first organizers were beaten, sometimes killed. If you want to shout slogans out on the streets, there are some people who will not like it and may shout back. Its your right. Its their right. Freedom of expression, my friend, goes both ways. But it is intolerant!! Intolerant? It isnt fair! Okay, I think we have come to the bottom of your troubles. You think that if someone disagrees with you, they are intolerant. But they are. You think there should be no consequences if you take an unpopular stand. Of course not if its the right stand! You believe the country is going downhill. Its becoming a living nightmare! Doc, you really do understand, dont you? Things are so bad right now I dont know what to do. My friend, I do understand. I think you need a long vacation; you need to get away from it all. Take a trip and get away from the tumult of American political conflict. Do you think so, Doc? Where would you suggest that I go? How about..France? ------------ About the author: Erstwhile gym-rat, former independent driven by disgust for the Democratic Party into the arms of the Republicans, current parent and expert at puns, jokes that make people groan and eating Debbie's cooking. Mr Binder lives out in the boondocks of NW Indiana. Email Kimbal Ross Binder: radar@eternalisp.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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