FREEDOM OF SPEECH TO THE MAX

Last night while I was tossing and turning (and not sleeping), I pondered, among other things, what to write for today's post. I like being free to write whatever I want. However, today is the 4th of July and I really felt like I should stick to the theme of the day. Ironically, that is freedom.

History never was my best subject in school. Check that. I was an "A" student. I was excellent at banking things in my short-term memory, and spitting them out at test time. So, I could memorize dates and names and battles won and lost. I could then regurgitate that information for a test and get the "A" grade. However, the history would have meant more to me had it felt personal. For instance, I read the book RIDE THE WIND by Lucia St. Clair Robson and it changed me. It changed the way I saw the Comanche Indian tribe and it made me lose respect for several Presidents of this country, starting with Andrew Jackson. There was not a single peace treaty that was made with the Native American tribes that was ever honored, and it was not the Native Americans who did the the dishonoring. These Presidents do not make me proud to be an American. Okay, I didn't realize that this was where I was going with this today.

I thought that where I was going when I started that last paragraph was that it would have been helpful to have been assigned some outside reading in history class. A well written historical fiction novel that makes the story come alive, and still gets the history right, makes it real. Barring that, a well-done movie would accomplish the same goal. The idea is to make the student remember the events (if not the exact date), know why they happened, and understand the feeling behind what was going on at the time. I don't believe that a text book does the job. It's pretty dry reading.

As a person who likes to read historical fiction, I think I have learned more out of school than in. I think that is sad. I know a lot of people who don't read at all. I have learned some things from movies. It may not be completely accurate, but it's close, and I understand the feeling that motivated the events now, whereas I didn't before. That is compelling.

My problem is the history that is being made right now. I think that there are three big problems. 1) People who talk political (as in TV news and/or radio news) talk in political speak, which is a language that the average person does not understand. I hate to say this, but you need to dumb it down for the average person to get what you are saying. Honestly, I think that they talk this way half the time because they don't know what they are talking about, and if they use enough eight syllable words they will sound smart, and no one will be able to follow.

2) If you are the host of a talk show and you have a guest and/or caller on the line, let them finish their sentence or thought BEFORE you interrupt them. First of all, interrupting people is just RUDE. And, second of all you asked to to have them on your show or to have them call. You are interrupting them to point out how stupid and/or wrong they are. That is just MEAN. If you want your show to be hours of you talking and telling the listening audience how right you are, then just do that. Don't have guests and don't' take calls. As it is, you just sound like an arrogant a**hole. I don't care which side you're on, the right or the left. You're just a jerk.

3) If you really want to educate people, someone should have a show that alternates hosts. Someone on the left one day. Someone on the right the next. And each of those people should talk about pertinent topics in language that a seventh grader taking civics can follow. Why? Because seventh graders need to write reports for class. If the kid can follow it, his/her parents probably can, too. You will be doing a service for the whole country. People who understand the topics are more likely to get out there and vote. What a concept... we might actually have educated voters at the polls instead of people just voting a straight Democratic or Republican ticket because they don't understand the issues and their candidates take on them.

We live in a free country. Yes, this is true. We also live in a country that is bursting at the seams with controversy. Can you feel it? I hear about it every day in my house. My step-dad walks around muttering all day long. Too much federal government spending. The deficit is out of control. Too much federal government is what caused the southern states to secede from the Union. In other words, his pot runneth over. And his pot isn't the only one.



Having watched the television series Jericho, I've decided that should the day ever come that states start seceding and declaring themselves to be separate Republics (or their own countries), or if it even looks like that is going to happen, that is the time to move to Texas, people. You heard me... Texas. It has plenty of natural resources. It is large. And you can easily cross the border into Mexico. So, if Civil War breaks out Mexico could have its own illegal immigration problem. I think that is kind of ironic. Once again, I didn't see this blog going here. I am full of surprises.