Dear JetBlue workforce,
Now that your company has spoken, please allow me to say something.
I am a single dad. I live in rural Missouri, drive a pickup truck, and work for any agency that helps abused and neglected kids. I fly about three times a year.
Warm Saturday afternoons I spend floating on the river.
I attend Mizzou football whenever I can and listen to the St. Louis Cardinals on the radio.
I drink Bud Light. I attend church occasionally. I worry about my weight. I love my parents. I drive a motorcycle. I like spaghetti westerns. My weakness is all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets. I buy all my clothes at J.C. Penney’s. I’ve never been to Europe. I hardly have any money in my savings account.
I am, in all respects, quite ordinary.
I also happen to read and post at Daily Kos. And for that, Bill O’Reilly thinks I’m a hate-filled, radical extremist. And your company leaders believe him.
Let’s get this straight ...
Bill O’Reilly thinks we’re extremist because we don’t like the Iraq war, even though 68% of Americans agree with us.
Bill O’Reilly thinks we’re extremists because we want to bring our troops home, even though 67% of Americans think we should do the same thing.
O’Reilly thinks we’re extremist because we don’t like job President Bush is doing, even though 6 in 10 Americans also disapprove of this president’s job performance.
Maybe he thinks we’re extremist because we didn’t like it when President Bush commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby, even though two-thirds of Americans believe the president shouldn’t have intervened at all.
I know. O’Reilly must think we’re extremist because many of us believe the government should provide national health insurance, even though 64% of Americans apparently agree with us on that, too.
Or perhaps Bill O’Reilly thinks we’re extremist because we think two gay people who love each other should be able to get married, even when half of America (and growing) also supports gay marriage and civil unions.
O’Reilly probably thinks we’re extremist because we favor the use of embryonic stem cell research, even though 60% of Americans also view embryonic stem cell research favorably.
Or maybe he thinks we’re extremist because most of us support a woman’s right to choose, even though polls have consistently shown that most Americans identify themselves as pro-choice and believe Roe v. Wade was a good decision.
Oh, wait. I know. Bill O’Reilly thinks we’re extremist because we are all so mean and say controversial things, even though I’m quite sure we’re not the ones who::
No, despite what Bill O’Reilly wants you to think – we are not extremists, Nazis or members of the KKK.
The people that post here are as diverse and colorful as the rest of America. We are teachers, doctors, government workers, plumbers, military soldiers, small business owners, advertising executives, students and more. We are parents, grandparents, sons and daughters.
We are liberals and moderates, and even a few conservatives.
We live in all 50 states and around the world.
The great majority of us live quiet, ordinary lives, with ordinary jobs and ordinary (though remarkable to us) families.
So, JetBlue workers, I hope you enjoy your time at Daily Kos. Perhaps you will learn a thing or two about who we really are and the issues we really care about. I think you'll find we may agree on many things.
It’s unfortunate that your company -- a company that calls John F. Kennedy International Airport its home -- would so easily yield to right-wing pressure from the likes of O’Reilly.
Maybe you can stay here a while, maybe you won’t. But here's the thing: don’t expect me to give your airline a chance when you won’t do the same for me.