We're all sickos
hy
about Elian Gonzalez. As with any controversial topic, battle
lines have been drawn and sabres rattled. I've read 'em all and
do enjoy seeing the posts, regardless of which side I agree with.
It's taken me a while to figure out exactly what my position is,
but I think I've finally got it. I'm posting it here because I
like hearing myself talk ;)
- All politicians are the same. Doesn't matter if they're
Democrat or Republican. Liberal or Conservative. They don't
care about me, they don't care about you and they certainly
don't care about Elian. They care about getting into office,
staying in offce and following the party line.
- Politics ruin everything. It's a necessary evil, but it's
definitely made a mess of this situation. It's beneficial to
both political parties to be partisan. Bi-partisanship means
that they can't foster the "us" against "them" mentality that's
needed to garner interest in elections. Conflict is better than
cooperation for politicans.
- The media can never be objective. Except for AP and Reuters
news services, which simply prevent the facts, everything
reported in the media is tainted by the political beliefs of the
editors, wrtiers, pundits, producers and reporters. Never
forget that media is a business. It's a commercial enterprise.
You tell your audience what they want to hear and you'll keep
them. It's doesn't matter if there is only one truth, there's a
million perspectives. And, there's an audience for every single
one of those perspectives.
- Does Juan Miguel really want Elian back? Who knows? And why
does it matter? We'll never know the truth and even if we did,
how does that change anything. There's no concrete evidence that
Juan Miguel would be a bad father. There's no evidence that
Elian would be in any danger. The father says he wants his son
back, if that's not enough in this case, then is it not enough
in other cases of child custody.
- Sure, Cuba's not a great place, it's a very bad place. But,
then why is Elian so special? If Cuba's that bad, why
not "rescue" all of them. Don't want to invade the country?
Fine. Have a small fleet of Coast Guard/Navy ships just outside
of Cuban territorial waters. Take on all comers. Any Cuban who
can make the trip to just outisde of the territorial limits can
receive asylum in the U.S. Why make these people have to reach
US soil? Spare them the hardship.
- I'm especially taken aback by the anti-communist stances. Is
this for real? Have we gone back in time to the McCarthy era?
Are there communists in America? Sure. Why not? Don't
like 'em, then don't vote for 'em. Easy enough. Is communism
really a valid threat? The Soviet Union is gone. It took less
than a 100 years there for communism to fail. Cuba's communism
will probably last only as long as Castro's life. China? Who
knows? But, is it a threat to America. I don't think so. Look
at our economy. Look at all the consumer spending out there.
Look at all the dot com IPOs out there. Is there a chance that
any of us will give that up for communism? Not likely.
- WE are all guilty of making this situation terrible. From
Castro to the Miami Relatives, Reno to Clinton, Lott to Hyde and
even us. The only innocent is Elian.
I've gone on for far too long and probably rather incoherently.
But, I feel better for having said all this. Now, I can
concentrate on the Sopranos threads only (pretty revolutionary
thing to do in a Sopranos newsgroups, no?)
HY
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Scott
hy <harrison...@apexinc.com.invalid> wrote
++Snip a very articulate and well thought out opinion++
> - WE are all guilty of making this situation terrible. From
> Castro to the Miami Relatives, Reno to Clinton, Lott to Hyde and
> even us. The only innocent is Elian.
>
SHHHHHH! Hey everybody did you hear that?!?! I think is was "The Voice of
Reason"! <gasp!>
The truth be known, IMHO, if Elian had arrived with 15 other refugees on a
boat instead of all by his little lonesome self, then his name would have
never been mentioned on any type or form of media. He would have simply
been shipped back to Cuba with the others, like thousands before him, and no
one would be the wiser. The fact that the media made him a point of
interest to the public made him a political gambling chip for the U.S. Govt.
It's that simple.
-stark-
> - All politicians are the same.
>
I gotta disagree with this point.
Here are the differences, as I see them. No judgements about who's
correct here. Just an explanation of the differences as I see them...
Picture a large circle. Pick a starting point. Let's call that point
"Libertarianism." To the left, you start to slide into the "Liberal"
Democrat side of things, which boiled down means that society at large
has a responsibility to take care of the peope that can not, will not
or aren't smart enough to take care of themselves. As you come around
to the back, the more extremists on the left espouse the same
philosophies and tactics as the extreme right, they simply focus on
different topics.
Now, go back to the middle and travel right, into "Conservative"
Republican territory. The basic philosophy here is that individuals
are responsible for themselves, and only those who *cannot* take care
of themselves should be "subsidized." The further around the circle
you go, the more extreme the viewpoint becomes, until the extreme
right starts to sound like the extreme left, only focusing on
different issues. Abortion rights arguments from the extreme right
sound an awful lot like gun control arguments from the extreme left.
So why do so many Americans think all politicians are the same?
BECAUSE THE EXTREMISTS GET PRESS. Moderates don't sell newspapers.
Men and women willing to work together toward a bi-partisan goal don't
get Nielsen points.
I find myself about 30 degrees right of center these days. I bet most
people find themselves within the same range both left and right of
center. But we don't get press. JBTs like Reno get press. Jerry
Falwell and Dr. Laura get press. Hillary gets press.
And there's something basically and inherently *WRONG* with us that we
allow it to continue. If the only time Americans wake the fuck up and
pay attention is when someone says or does something extreme, then we
have begun to fall as an empire. And collectively, we're fiddling
while Washington D.C. burns.
--
-[stark]-
"say it. say it."
"your kung fu is the best..."
Loretta Montrose
Lois Ferrari
Bravo...
-L
Me2459
>I totally agree, if he came with other people we would have never heard
>of Elian.
>
There were two other survivors that were with him.
ME
hy
>Excellent post and exactly the way I see the political system
myself.
>Bravo...
I must concur. stark's post managed to sum up the problem very
neatly. But, it made me wonder about ourselves. In a thread
that has seen words like "evil", "sicko" and many other words
that are clearly hyperbole; are we no better than the extremist
politicians? Aren't we being equally extreme when all we do in
this thread is see WHO SHOUTS THE LOUDEST and who can come up
with the "best (worst)" name-calling.
Richard H. Davis
PR in local government and you're exaclty right--politicians are all the
same regardless of "label." And the media have slanted the hell out of this
one, as usual. DD
hy <harrison...@apexinc.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:023b4850...@usw-ex0104-031.remarq.com...
> - WE are all guilty of making this situation terrible. From
> Castro to the Miami Relatives, Reno to Clinton, Lott to Hyde and
> even us. The only innocent is Elian.
>
> I've gone on for far too long and probably rather incoherently.
> But, I feel better for having said all this. Now, I can
> concentrate on the Sopranos threads only (pretty revolutionary
> thing to do in a Sopranos newsgroups, no?)
>
> HY
>
>
Loretta Montrose
Mohicanlady
Loretta Montrose <Re...@webtv.net> wrote in message news:17270-39...@storefull-171.iap.bryant.webtv.net...Hi, Loretta from the Sunshine State of Fla. Has anyone seen what is
going on In Little Havana/? We have people protesting about Elian with
Cuban flags and in another part of the City we have Americans waving
the American flag and showing support for the ex City Commisoner and
Chief 0f Police. And the circus goes on.If you are going to condemn immigrants or Americans with Cuban linage waving Cuban flags, then you must condemn some Southern states waving the Conferate flag...no?Mohicanlady