The War on Reality II Remember what I was saying about the right wing's War On Reality? Perhaps some of you just thought I was funning around. The Arizona Republic, though, provides proof this morning that such a campaign does exist, and is in fact working. The following comes from a Letter to the Editor that they published. It isn't very long, and the writing is crisp and abrupt, so I can deal with it one sentence at a time. It is written by a citizen named Terry Gustafson (very ethnic-sounding name, I notice). He or she does not live in the city of Phoenix proper, but in one of the loftier contiguous satellite communities. Ergo, Mister or Missus Gustafson is already somewhat detached from the less delicate aspects of American life. The writer, then, makes a fine target for the shenanigans of conservatives, who are quick to pounce on their quarry. "Pity the poor liberals," it goes. "Instead of chastising them, we should have sympathy. They have so many things to be unhappy about." I'll play along, in the interests of brevity: Gee, Terry, what might those things be? "The economy is booming; the stock market is up; taxes are down..." Well, not quite. New housing starts are considered "flat" in this morning's Business section of the same newspaper. It is also reported today that Ford Motor Company's profits are down by nearly twenty percent. And Hewlett-Packard announced yesterday that it will soon be cutting 14,500 jobs. As for the stock market, the Dow is down for the year by about 1.62 percent, and the NASDAQ is a bit off, as well. Taxes are lower, though, I'll concede that much - lower for some than most, which has resulted in a massive deficit. But don't let me stop you. "U.S. troops have overwhelming successes on the battlefield; the United States is standing up for itself, and has been reinstated as a superpower..." The war in Iraq was declared over in May, 2003, and the country has been a bloody mess ever since. It will soon become the second-longest conflict in our nation's history (behind Vietnam). The government is now negotiating with Iraqi insurgents, trying to find a way out of the morass. The United States "standing up for itself" is nothing new, and I don't recall us ever being taken off of the world's superpower list. The only thing that can stop the United States is our own fear and stupidity. Know what I mean? "The United Nations is exposed as a corrupt, ineffective organization..." Not that it has anything to do with liberals, Gusty, but the U.N. had to first listen to all of Colin Powell's bullshit (his word), and then had to stand by and watch the U.S. violate international law by attacking, without provocation, a sovereign country. If Terry is referring to the Oil For Food program, yes it was corrupt, and the first domino to fall in that case turned out to be an American, a rock-ribbed conservative named Samir Vincent. Keep going, though, Terry; it's your spotlight. "And media bias has been exposed and its credibility destroyed." He could mean the Dan Rather story, but it is much more likely that he's talking about Rush Limbaugh's stint in drug rehab, or Bill O'Reilly's multi-million dollar payoff to a former employee in order to avoid a sexual harrassment suit. As far as the media's credibility is concerned, let me fire off a quick e-mail to Bob Novak about the subject, and I'll get back to that after I read his answer. "It's no wonder liberals long for the good old days under Carter and Clinton, when things were different." Things were different. Carter presided over a time of peace following a war that had divided the American people, and he also had to manage an economy that had been completely screwed up by (among other things) Richard Nixon's fetish for price-controls. Clinton faced a similar scenario, but the economy actually boomed in Clinton's second term, in ways this poor sap imagines it must be booming now. The proof was in the surplus tax revenues. Remember them? That's all I can do for this poor devil and his or her weakened brain. He or she can go back to watching FOX News now, or listening to AM radio, or whatever anti-intellectual feel-good teat he or she suckles on each day. Poison never tasted so right. Paul Heller 7/19/05 << back to the archives
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