I got really ticked off today.
Check that, I got absolutely fed up today.
A person I was following on Twitter and FriendFeed said that the USA should kill itself. The reason given for promoting the suicide of a nation (don’t ask me how you’d do that) is because the top two selling books in America this week were from President Bush (W) and Sarah Palin.
Anyone that knows Bubba knows that I lean heavily, although not completely, to the right. I like both Bush and Palin; I even stood in line for 2 hours to get my copy of Palin’s latest book autographed.
That being said, I don’t get easily offended if someone on my social media streams is Democrat, or politically liberal. I don’t believe liberals are all wrong, any more than I believe conservatives are right about everything. Making a joke about a political person I like isn’t going to get my panties in a wad.
But this person advocating the death of America because these two books were bestsellers really pissed me off.
I have been listening to people roundly criticizing the new TLC show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” based solely on their dislike for Sarah Palin. I understand the sentiment; there are some shows I will not watch if I know someone is going to be on them. For instance, if you tell me Fran Drescher is going to host a talk show (and she is), I will not watch. This is not because I hate Fran, or think she’s a bad person. I just don’t like her voice.
Therefore, if someone asks me about Fran’s show, all I will say is that “I don’t watch it.” I might even mention that her voice drives me nuts. But will I call it a bad program? No! How could I do that if I haven’t seen it?
Unfortunately, this does not stop people from criticizing Sarah Palin’s show. Or her book. Now, if you have seen the show or read her book, and you want to criticize based on content, go for it.
But what I am ticked off about is people levying unwarranted negative feedback without experience.
George W Bush’s book, Decision Points, is currently the best selling book in the USA. I have not read the book (yet), but hope to based on the interview he gave at Facebook headquarters (video of the chat is here). No longer in the role of President of the United States, President Bush is relaxed, funny (“people are surprised I can read a book, much less write”), and genuine. He told the founder of Facebook that Decision Points was written not as a total memoir of his life (“because that would be too boring”) but instead details the decision-making process for several major events and decisions he faced while in office.
I am excited to read the book because the issues the President faces are extremely complex. Any person assuming the role of President of the United States accepts a job with 360 million bosses — us. The average person generally has issues reporting to two or three bosses; I cannot imagine what President Bush faced the eight years he played the part of most powerful leader of the world.
Whether or not you agree with his political philosophies, I believe Decision Points is going to be a fascinating read.
If you want to criticize the book, though, I just ask that you do one thing prior to criticizing it.
READ IT.
I wasn’t going to point out the person making the “kill yourself” statement. I don’t like picking on people, mainly because I’m not keen on people pointing me out. However, as I pulled up her timeline, her previous tweet is…well, I think it’s more than a little strange.
At 2:57, “we need to start revering facts”. Five minutes later, however, she advocates the suicide of America because of our reading choices. I did ask her if she read the books; however, I never got a response.
If you haven’t read the books, Miss Allison, how can you make such a statement? If you really believe “we need to start revering facts”, how can you make a statement about two books you haven’t read? And finally…if you believe that the USA should “kill itself”, does that mean you are going to take your own advice? You live here, right? Or are you moving to another country?
And just what did you mean when you said the USA should kill itself? Or is that something only a political science major would understand?
My impression of our Founding Fathers is a group of men with differing opinions that united for one purpose: break away from Old Mother England. They probably had many a heated debate over issues like states’ rights, representation, and the republic model of electing a national leader. I am guessing that some of those “discussions” even resulted in physical confrontation. But at the end of the day, I believe they listened to each other, compromised, and worked together to make America a free country.
The free exchange of ideas is what makes any organization great, whether that organization is a marriage, family, company, church, or country. And this free exchange doesn’t happen unless all parties listen; otherwise, it’s just a bunch of idiots auditioning for a spot on the Jerry Springer show.
I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or even Socialist. If you want to make the world a better place, you gotta listen at least as much as you talk, and probably more. Start examining ideas on their merits, and not just basing their worth on the person speaking. After all, endorsing everything that someone says is just as stupid as trashing everything somebody else expresses.
I don’t know where else to go with this. All I know is that I am sick and tired of people in positions of influence making asinine statements that do nothing but inflame and belittle people trying to make a positive change in the world. Political science majors advocating that a nation kill itself because of the books on the New York Times Bestseller list need to listen a lot more, and talk a lot less.
Bubba sez ’nuff said.
