This evening my daughter and her partner and my grandson came over and we made a great dinner out of the various things lurking in the fridge, and hanging on in the garden. Quite a repast! The little one was in fine fettle, smiling and laughing at the least excuse and the chaos of meal preparation morphed in a surprisingly timely way into a beautiful and tasty meal that lingers with me now
As we finished the last of the salad, and pushed back our chairs a bit, Justin my grandson’s dad, an environmental biologist turned cabinet maker working in an upscale kitchen building shop, took on the clearing and clean up chores and the conversation turned to the day’s news – Obama and the Nobel prize. The link for me is strong, as my “boss” (the Chair of the Interpeace governing board), Martti Ahtisaari was the last Nobel Laureate, and multiple interactions with José Ramos Horta in East Timor over the past couple of years remain present as well. So for me the honor of and the reverence for the prize are perhaps less mythic, more practical and political, but nonetheless individually merited if not deserved. Some have said already that for nothing less than his speech in Cairo he should get the prize.
But that led to conversations about Justin’s co-workers and their views on the world, which it seems are mainly formed through listening to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and not much else. Obama the darky neo-nazi communist bent on destroying the health of the nation and taking our guns away. How has this happened? How have we let ranting radio ideologues dominate the sources of information which pour political hemlock into the ears of all too many uncritical and hungry citizens? Where is the failure that allows such uncritical acceptance of patent unsupported, harmful diatribe? Should we be looking at the media? The educational system? The Government itself? The political parties? How do we get back(?) to a point where informed debate is welcomed. Living in Bowdoinham and living in my circumscribed world I have not encountered this reality enough, though I am told often that it is real, extensive and very scary. I think
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October 1, 2012 - Begin
4 comments:
I think need to get out more, and change stations on the radio, and better know America. A suivre…
David Stewart made the truly sad remark --- "they hate Obama more than they love America". I similarly do not grasp the roots of this venom....
Ignorance, plain & simple, which leads to fear fed by a money-grubbing media happy to make bucks by rabble-rousing. Yellow journalism has been ever-present in our society (as early as the Mormon massacres at Nauvoo in the 1840s, which were egged on by a spiteful and intolerant press). The biggest difference today is that the means of disseminating this hate is so much more far reaching.
I certainly hope you would say the same about Olberman, Madow and their ilk. Ideology and hatefulness goes both ways...
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