Like many, I am an NPR junkie. I love it. As a US citizen who has lived in three other countries over the past [nn] years, NPR has been my comfort food, providing the necessary sustenance to warm my homesick soul. It's not that I prefer not to listen to (or watch) the media outlets indigenous to the countries in which I am living. I certainly do that. NPR is a balm. And it's home.
Many slam NPR for having a blue slant. For being too progressive. I say, what's wrong with with being progressive? Shouldn't we, as a society, progress? Shouldn't we move forward to adapt to the current of time and the advances it brings?
I just heard two very frightening things on NPR. One was a rant by an Alabaman who felt immigrants should completely "assimilate" (his word) into US society. The other was a newsbite that militia are on the rise in the US. Reportedly, this is, in part, due to the Obama presidency. Apparently, these militia members feel their rights are threatened. Seems to me like the goal is to enhance rights for all, not to take them away. I think these people are misguided, but I've thought that for a while now.
Last fall, my 17-y/o brother [don't ask!] engaged in a Facebook thread with his fellow high-schoolers in Arkansas about the upcoming election. The prevailing consensus took the form of objection to Obama, based on the fact that he is a person of color [actual statements censored], and that "his middle name is Hussein...need I say more?". <sigh>
The culture war is here, and it is ugly. I never thought that the push for healthcare for US-Americans would be the vehicle. Why is it that those who stand to benefit the most raise the most hell?
I cannot watch the Town Hall clips on the news. I did see the one from Arkansas, my home state, with the woman decrying the loss of "her" America through her raspy sobs. Obviously, she was distraught. But why? Another woman who looked very much like my late grandmother, jumped to her feet upon hearing her, her jaw set in a way that made my spine chill. I suspect she did not want to counter the bereft woman's statements. I think she had her own cross to bear. Probably the same cross her husband planted in someone's yard the previous night.
I am losing patience. I'd like to think we are moving forward as humans. I'd like to think the world of Zane's future is going to be much happier than that in which I grew up.
But I think I am wrong.
As much as I hate to admit, I think you're right. It is so thoroughly disappointing too. I'll keep pushing boundaries though in the hope it does some good, if only a little.
Posted by: The Mutant | August 13, 2009 at 04:07 PM
I assume NPR is like an SBS type service here in Oz?
Posted by: Kevin | August 14, 2009 at 09:45 PM
Unfortunately, lots of politicans are playing the fear and so many people are falling for the foolish games without even reading or understanding more details. It is sad.
Posted by: John | August 15, 2009 at 02:14 AM
"While i observed the rounds in this psychanalytic struggle, a quite different, less lurid, more scattered sort of story was taking place within me, one that lacked narrative drive or even direction" Edmund White.
The worlds of people's minds are strange and unknowable places sometimes but in the midst of the rabble please know one thing... you are missed and very loved xx
Posted by: Mykel | August 15, 2009 at 03:13 AM