Consider this diary as an entry in several different categories. It is simultaneously:
1. A lonely scream in the desert.
2. A minor snark-fest.
3. A cry for help.
4. The beginning of a new diary series?
My problem, friends, is that I live in Arizona. Like the vast majority of residents, I subscribe to the Arizona Republic, our major state newspaper. I like the paper, sort of. It's good for sports and local news, and things any person living in the community would want (e.g., traffic closures). The editorial page, however, is making me fucking crazy. Follow me beyond the floop, if you will.
Naturally, as a conservative paper, they manage to irritate me a little bit with their own, using their own (anonymous) editorial writers. On occasion, they will print their own columns about Iraq, or some allegedly disrupted terrorist plot. When they write these, they take this incredible heavy-handed and sanctimonious tone, ending their columns with lines such as:
... all Americans must remember that we have only one Commander in Chief. And that man's name is President Bush.
For some reason, this self-evident pablum is supposed to make all objectors to the litany of failed policies shut up. I'm never quite sure why. In any case, these absurd editorials are fairly rare, usually showing up after the State of the Union or some other "big" event. No... the real reason that the Republic is driving me crazy - letters to the Editor.
You see, one of the most devious ways that a newspaper can exercise its biases is by selecting which letters it will print, and which ones it will exclude. The Arizona Republic makes choices that seem nearly laughable, but there is no reason to believe their choices are meant as tongue-in-cheek comedy. No - virtually every day, one or more letters will appear that simply boggle the mind; they are right-wing talking points on pharmacy-grade meth. Naturally, the paper strives for "balance," by also printing letters by Democrats. However, they clearly choose letters that are:
(a) Poorly written or factually incorrect, as a way to belittle the underlying viewpoint. For example, the letter writer may claim: "Bush done real wrong when he signed that NAFTER agreement! Now we's got Mixucuns in the front yard!"
(b) Representative of a "soft-headed" worldview. For example, the letter writer may ask: "Why can't we just let the terrorists come here, but when they arrive, we give them kittens? Nobody can hate people who give them kittens!"
or
(c) Edited by their own staff, to achieve the goals above.
So, returning to the right-wing side, what sorts of letters do I protest? Well, just for all you kossaks spread across other parts of the nation, I have decided to share two recent letters. One appeared yesterday, the other this morning. You tell me if these letters belong in a major US Newspaper:
First, from yesterday (my own brief snark follows below):
Youth are failing our country (Aug. 24, 2006)
Regarding the Marine Corps' plan to call up inactive reservists:
Where are our young men and women in this time of need in our country? The military is obviously having trouble getting recruits in our time of difficulty. Always before, when our country needed people to sign on to defend it, young people did their duty and showed up to offer their service.
This appears to be another example of how our children have been coddled and babied all their lives. They have been given too much, and have not learned to appreciate what they have - including the freedom and other benefits of living in our country.
Where are the parents in urging their darlings to sign up and share the load? Not my kid, not in my backyard, and not me has become the all-too-sad refrain with today's youth and parents.
What if all parents and children had taken this attitude in past wars? What if all parents failed to teach their children the duties and responsibilities of being born in America? It seems too many have!
Sadly, it will probably take a recall of the draft to get the troops we need. A sorry commentary on all of us.
Nora Ortega,
Mesa
Ahhh... of course. So, when my Mom would ask: Would you jump off a bridge just because Doug told you to?" the trick answer was actually yes! No wonder she always seemed so annoyed - I never answered correctly! Hey, Nora - maybe, just maybe, some young people (and their parents) think that dying for Halliburton is... um... stupid? Thank God that Cindy Sheehan never coddled her son! Otherwise, he may not have died for no clear reason whatsoever.
Alright, well that letter was just moronic. It did not have the usual Fox News venom that I see nearly every morning in the paper. So, for your edification, here is today's letter:
Political correctness burying U.S. (Aug. 25, 2006)
Is Iran ready for some serious talks about nuclear weapons?
Iran knows that we are shackled by political correctness and the ACLU. We won't do anything about their nukes. Iran wants to talk, so they have time to work on their nukes. Also, Iran would raise oil prices to unbelievable heights if sanctions were imposed.
Iran's president has said he wants to wipe Israel of the face of the earth. If we leave Iraq, Iran will take that country faster than Hitler took Poland.
Once Iran takes Iraq, it will take Jordan. Then Israel will be gone. Iran knows it has the upper hand. It knows that the United States has become a nation of politically correct wimps. When President Bush is out of office, and a socialist liberal takes over, you can kiss this country goodbye.
If we don't eliminate political correctness and the ACLU, and soon, we might as well forget about defeating the Muslims. If we don't, within the next five years or less, we will be bowing to the East five times a day. Or we will all be headless.
Don Ren, Tucson
Honestly... I'm nearly at a loss here. I had no idea that my refusal to say "Macaca" would come to this!
All snarking aside, how in the hell does a major metropolitan newspaper give space to this? And seriously, this happens virtually every day in the Republic. In fact, I am considering starting a (nearly) daily series of brief diaries, wherein I simply share one or two letters from the morning paper. This would be a little bit cathartic for me (and fun snarking too), but my main objective is more serious: I believe that newspapers across the nation are printing very similar letters, all drawn from a pool of GOP talking points. I would really appreciate it if other dKos readers could alert me to suspiciously similar letters, should they appear in other outlets.
So, the poll: