Message to all Americans: it is time to get back to being the great nation we are
Folks -- we need to stand tall and stand up for ourselves.
There are simply some things that none of us is required to take, and I think we all ought to join together on this.
I don't care if you think the president is an asshole and you are blaming him for every problem in New Orleans. I don't care if you are convinced that the Mayor of New Orleans and all that went before them are lying crooks. I don't care what you think of the Governor of Louisiana. I don't care if you think FEMA is a bunch of incompetent idiots. I don't care if you are absolutely refusing to pay one dime to relief efforts in Louisiana. For purposes of this post it is not relevant if you have personally gone to Louisiana and are draining water out of the city with cups. None of this is important.
What is important is this: not a single one of you is required to sit and listen to people tell you that "Americana" caused what happened in New Orleans. If they even inimate it, put the smackdown on immediately. What these people who say these things are too stupid to knwo is that Americana is going to SOLVE the problems in New Orleans. What it is is impossible to know right now -- if it's anything -- is "what caused this," and at the appropriate time, the president's investigation team will report; Congress may run an investigation; there may be local or statewide ones; and there will be the normal investigative journalism, academic and professional work. Whether they will generate more heat than light is anyone's guess, but those processes will have a chance to work.
The one group of people, however, who are not at fault are YOU! To even posit that you are means one of two things: (1) the person doing it is a bigoted jerk; or (2) that person is stupid.
I can take the argument that the "American system" is at fault apart without even trying. Anyone with two-digits in his or her intelligence quotient can do it. I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this, but if you are starting to get irritated out there and are having trouble thinking straight, the basic response runs like this: "if you change something so fundamental about the U.S., then virtually everything else would be different, too. Since that is the case, you cannot know if this or any other tragedy would or would not have occurred. Since every system can be "said" to have produced tragedies, none of us being perfect, then at best the 'U.S. is at fault' argument cannot be true, and at worst, is silly drivel."
We are Americans. We have been down badly even in recent history, but we have never been out. This is a terrible thing, but we will get through it. We always do. Real Americans need to stand together, be loyal to each other, work through issues. I would say this: maybe "normal service" should not resume shortly. "Normal service" with all our nastiness to each other over the past five years hasn't been all that brilliant. If we can take something away from this, maybe it is that "normal service" isn't good enough, and it is time to get back to being the great nation we are. There is no reason we cannot come out of this thing better than we have ever been except ourselves.
Don't ever let anyone tell you we're not a great nation. I have a solution for that and it is "ban_set." I used it today, and I won't be ashamed to use it in the future.
There are simply some things that none of us is required to take, and I think we all ought to join together on this.
I don't care if you think the president is an asshole and you are blaming him for every problem in New Orleans. I don't care if you are convinced that the Mayor of New Orleans and all that went before them are lying crooks. I don't care what you think of the Governor of Louisiana. I don't care if you think FEMA is a bunch of incompetent idiots. I don't care if you are absolutely refusing to pay one dime to relief efforts in Louisiana. For purposes of this post it is not relevant if you have personally gone to Louisiana and are draining water out of the city with cups. None of this is important.
What is important is this: not a single one of you is required to sit and listen to people tell you that "Americana" caused what happened in New Orleans. If they even inimate it, put the smackdown on immediately. What these people who say these things are too stupid to knwo is that Americana is going to SOLVE the problems in New Orleans. What it is is impossible to know right now -- if it's anything -- is "what caused this," and at the appropriate time, the president's investigation team will report; Congress may run an investigation; there may be local or statewide ones; and there will be the normal investigative journalism, academic and professional work. Whether they will generate more heat than light is anyone's guess, but those processes will have a chance to work.
The one group of people, however, who are not at fault are YOU! To even posit that you are means one of two things: (1) the person doing it is a bigoted jerk; or (2) that person is stupid.
I can take the argument that the "American system" is at fault apart without even trying. Anyone with two-digits in his or her intelligence quotient can do it. I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this, but if you are starting to get irritated out there and are having trouble thinking straight, the basic response runs like this: "if you change something so fundamental about the U.S., then virtually everything else would be different, too. Since that is the case, you cannot know if this or any other tragedy would or would not have occurred. Since every system can be "said" to have produced tragedies, none of us being perfect, then at best the 'U.S. is at fault' argument cannot be true, and at worst, is silly drivel."
We are Americans. We have been down badly even in recent history, but we have never been out. This is a terrible thing, but we will get through it. We always do. Real Americans need to stand together, be loyal to each other, work through issues. I would say this: maybe "normal service" should not resume shortly. "Normal service" with all our nastiness to each other over the past five years hasn't been all that brilliant. If we can take something away from this, maybe it is that "normal service" isn't good enough, and it is time to get back to being the great nation we are. There is no reason we cannot come out of this thing better than we have ever been except ourselves.
Don't ever let anyone tell you we're not a great nation. I have a solution for that and it is "ban_set." I used it today, and I won't be ashamed to use it in the future.