Tag Archives: opinions

Donkeys or Elephants – It Doesn’t Matter

14 Sep

It’s no secret, I’ve always been a very wishy-washy person when it comes to politics or controversial issues.  It drives Andrew crazy because he wishes I would just take a stand on something.  Well, it seems I finally have formed an opinion and I’m actually going to put it out there for all to read and judge.

It all involves the coverage concerning the election.  People rooting for Obama are pleased as punch when journalists “tough” question the McCain/Palin camp. “Yeah!  Go get ’em Campbell Brown!  Woo hoo Barbara!  That’s the way to put them in their place!”  Those for McCain get disgusted and cry out that “It’s not fair!  They didn’t question Obama that way!  Wah!  Don’t be mean to Sarah!  What did she ever do to you?”

Well, it’s all crap.  It’s one thing for these “journalists” to want answers so they can better inform the public, it just doesn’t seem like that’s what they are really doing to me.  In almost every Big Media-McCain/Palin interview I’ve witnessed, the reporter/anchor was rude, argumentative, confrontational and almost certainly showed which candidate they really want to win. (Which I was taught was a no-no for journalists but maybe they are teaching something else these days.)  To me, it feels like these particular journalists are acting like the fans of a winning team that’s letting the lead slip through the cracks.

Does that mean I think McCain is going to win?  I have no idea.  Does it really matter?  Are you serious?  Haven’t we learned anything from history?  It doesn’t matter who has the title of President before his (or for some of you *gasp* her) name, it will always be the fault of the person who previously bared that title and for those who supported that person, it will be their gain when the current titleholder earns praise.

None of these candidates are perfect.  None of them are the answer to all that ails our country.  Do people really believe that any of these people are going to make it all better?  Or that they will make it any worse?  It is my genuine feeling that it does not matter who is elected.  We will still have problems.  We will still have positives.  We will still have struggles.  We will still have laughter.  We will still have debates.  We will still have agreements.  We will still be going through the motions.  We will still adjust to change.  No. Matter. Who. Is. President.

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The Tragedy of a Tragedy

21 Apr

I didn’t want to write about this because it’s hard for me to put it all into words. In fact, I just spent way too long trying to come up with an adjective to describe what happened at Virginia Tech.  I thought of horrible and then deleted it – terrible? no – heartbreaking? – scary?  – shocking?  – when you think about it – any word would be too generic and using one makes me feel like I’m writing TV news and that just makes me want to vomit.  I’m just so sickened by how many news organizations are reporting what happened and then adding their thoughts about why it happened.

This is really why I’m writing.  A recent opinion article in our local newspaper really infuriated me this week. It was entitled “What are we teaching our boys?”  The writer used some stats to show that boys are responsible for the majority of extreme violence in U.S. schools over the last 10 years and then went on to say it’s because we’re teaching boys that in order to be masculine they shouldn’t cry. If you’d like to read it, click here.  If you did, please tell me what you thought.

Here’s what I thought – those stats about the attackers may be accurate but what about the percentage of victims who were boys?  They obviously were “taught” right.  Also, you can be the most loving, caring, peaceful parent who ever existed and your son or daughter could still have violent tendencies.  Along those lines, why is it when a woman is the attacker people tend to make excuses for her – she either had something bad happen to her or she’s crazy – but when a boy is to blame it’s because he wasn’t raised right?  I mean, how can she even say that when she really has no freaking clue how any of those boys were raised?  I just feel she totally generalized and it disgusts me that she is paid to have her opinion published.

What makes me even more disgusted and saddened is all of the “expert” opinions and finger-pointing that happens after a tragedy. Isn’t it bad enough that it happened?  Why is it people always have to make it worse by hurting others more?  It’s campus security’s fault – no it’s psychologists’ fault – no it’s the school’s fault – no it’s the parents’ fault – no it’s your fault!  AH!

I’m not pretending to know what anyone involved is going through – I know, for many, finding blame is a way to heal – I guess I just worry about what comes next for the people who thought they did everything they could and now have to live with the judgment and criticism.  Really, what it comes down to is that my heart is hurting for ANYONE who is hurting and I just wish tragedies like this would bring people together – not tear them down.

 

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