CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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What does "Freedom" mean, anyway?

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

this entry brought to you by gorillaz, "clint eastwood"


When I was in high school, I could feel myself leaning towards being political, could have guessed I'd've turned out to be into politics. I wasn't particularly raised in a political family. My mom is extremely liberal in most rights, but she never really voiced any particular political leanings. At the time I think I'd figured my mom really wasn't into politics, but now, looking back, I think she simply didn't voice it because she wanted me to grow up to make up my own mind.

I think my leanings into politics were kind of inevitable, though. But it's difficult for me to imagine how everyone my age couldn't be political. Every day during my sophomore year, once the Lewinski bullshit exploded, I would turn on the TV and watch the witch hunt. Maybe I was too young, I'd think to myself at the time, maybe I couldn't really grasp the severity of a semen stain on a dress. Because it seemed to me like Clinton's popularity couldn't get any better, we'd had a budget surplus for the first time in my entire life, crime was at it's lowest ever, education was at its highest, and hell, we'd had the worst terrorist attack enacted by an American in the history of the country, and that was taken care of promptly and without any bullshit. Seemed to me we'd had a good President there. And yet here they were, their fangs dripping, waiting to sink into his neck, trying to tie him up and suck him dry. They said they were just trying to find out if he'd lied under oath, but anyone with all five functioning senses could have told you that that was clearly not what they were doing at all. They were trying to humiliate him.

I don't see how anyone could have watched that shit-slinging and not try to keep an eye on politics. I don't really think I had an option.

I knew at the time I was leading toward political mindedness. But I never once thought that I would become so cynical and paranoid as to believe, to know that, in the future the President of the United States would have stolen the election. I never thought the media would jade me to the point where I would feel like I couldn't rely on the news, and instead switch to the Internet as my news outlet. Never thought I would believe in the "vast right wing conspiracy" Hillary cryptically referred to years ago. Turns out she wasn't lying. Turns out it's been growing.

I've wondered whether it's just me. I ask fellow coworkers of their opinions. Read liberal-minded blogs. I want you to do the same thing. Find people that you know don't like Bush, people you know didn't or wouldn't have voted for Bush. Ask them if you think he stole the election. I think you already know what their answer will be.

What happened to this country? What happened when half of the entire nation believes that the President is a thief? It's no longer just the bat-shit crazy aluminum foil hat wearing schizoids that believe in the conspiracy, it's half the fucking country. Everyday people. You and me. Our neighbors. Our coworkers.

And you know what infuriates me the most? If this undercurrent of distrust for the government is so strong, why does no one in the mainstream media other than Michael Moore want to talk about it? Aren't they our news people? Aren't they supposed to be reporting what we want to hear, want to know about? Don't we pay their checks through ratings numbers, which in turn drives advertising? Don't they have us in target demographics, so they know how to advertise to? Don't they know what we want? So why isn't 20/20 doing a special on Bush's stolen election? Why doesn't CNN have a scoop on how flawed electronic voting was? Why is no one in the media willing to talk about this in public?

Imagine, if you will, the Nixon Watergate scandal. Imagine how ridiculous it would have been if it became public knowledge, yet the media did nothing to cover it. It didn't happened that way. It got national attention, and is an engraved, dark part of American history. It changed everything in our popular culture as well as our political culture. And now, a mere 30 years later, the media is afraid to touch what half the country knows anyway.

Our President keeps blathering about our freedom, yet shows us no reason to believe it exists. I want you to think of what kind of society you have when half the country knows for a fact how bad their leader is, but no one is publicly willing to talk about it. I assure you, what you picture is not a "free" society.
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with love from CRS @ 6:12 PM 

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