Thursday, September 3, 2009

Time to put haters in their place



I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I'm tired of seeing people trying to do something good and then seeing the haters try to turn it into something bad or evil.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutchner, along with quite a few other recognizable Hollywood stars, made a video called "I pledge," which is basically a lot of people pledging to be less self-centered and do good things for the country and the world.

It's a response to President Barack Obama urging people to look outside themselves and be a better neighbor.

Here are some of the things the people in the video promise to do:

1. Work to end hunger.
2. Smile more.
3. Laugh more.
4. Love more.
5. To be a great mother.
6. To be a great father.
7. To be an American, not an African-American.
8. To find humor in everything.
9. To consume less.
10. To volunteer time.
11. To show more love to others.
12. To meet their neighbors.
13. To be a mentor.
14. To help build a culture of intelligence, not of ignorance.
15. To understand that we're all in this together.

All good things, but in the last minute of this 4:18 video, two different people pledge to serve President Obama in what he is trying to do to change America. It's these two quotes out of nearly 4 1/2 minutes of quotes that the people who hate Obama are using to characterize the video as "indoctrination" or "cult-like behavior."

The media is doing what it always does -- covering the controversy. Instead of the truth of the video, which is that people are trying to get people to do good things, they're treating it as if it is something shameful.

I'm tired of it. I don't care if it's liberals or conservatives, if anyone in this country urges people to do good things to help others, I'm on their side. If Rush Limbaugh says we should volunteer at the local hospital, I'll praise him. Ditto if Jane Fonda were to say the same thing.

It's time to call the haters what they are.

Bad people.

And liars.

allvoices

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It suddenly occurred to me that you do a lot of giving ultimatums.

You must be an angry little man.

It's always about chastising someone whose view or opinion or practice you personally take issue with.

And then you go on rant declaring how you (or we) should not take it any more.

I don't remmeber the actor or his character's name, but there's a 1970's movie called "network" where this aging and crazy newscaster goes on a rant on the air and declares, "I as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

That's who you seem like over the last few months.

Chill out.

People have the right to disagree with one another and with the government and with the president.

You spent the last year disagreeing with everything Bush did or said. You disagree with most Republicans and many Democrats.

I guess no one measures up to YOUR standards, huh?

Jim

nan said...

mike's rant
swaying no one
showing his own shade of grey
he missed the new age Light Mission
or so it seems
*sigh*

Mike Rappaport said...

Gosh, Jim. I'm ordinarily a lot nicer than this, but I'm just not that fond of anybody who defends Bush.

We gave him eight years to try and destroy everything America stands for, and he almost managed to do it.

I like Obama.

I like people who urge people to be good to their neighbors and participate.

Yeah, I get angry.

I'm not that little, though.

Sorry to disappoint you.

Anonymous said...

Well, as long as we have differences.

I don't feel the same way about Bush -- elder or younger -- that you obviously do.

I do and have had strong reservations about Obama.

It seems as if, though, my 28 years of voting Democratic at every level of government elections is not enough for some people (you included.)

It seems as if I am accused of being stupid, racist, and self-serving because I don't think President Obama or any of his clan have any idea of how they're destroying the country.

I didn't believe that the media was leftist until recently. Oh, yeah, Fox is right-wing and there's the profitable side of talk radion that's right-wing, but increasingly I find that I am cut off from my Democratic beliefs.

The nut jobs have taken over the political debate and its governance.

You, for example, continually rave about anyone who gets out of line and protests against Obama or Pelosi's ideas -- no matter how wacky they are.

I am on the verge of abandoning my membership in the Democratic party.

It's agenda is not mine.

I am a centrist in most ways and there's no one, no party speaking up for what I believe.

You only add venom to the debate with your snooty remarks and lack of clear understanding of the issues involved. It seems that for you everything is black-or-white, right-or-wrong.

Pardon me, but I can't abide that type of provincialism.

You sir are a bigot.

Oh, you don't see it because your narrow definition of bigot is a white fellow depriving blacks of their rights.

You're fifty years out of touch.

And just so we're straight about my intellectual credits: I have TWO doctorates and even though many would consider me an "intellectual", I hate any form of elitism.

Still, to your way of thinking, I'm simply not smart enough to fully understand the issues because I don't see things the way you do.

Oh, yes, you do a lot of speech making and defining anyone who doesn't agree with your view as stupid and bigoted, but I challenge you to look in the mirror: there's the real bigot.

You have to get off your throne of arrogance and see that you do not "get it."

You fail to see that the ire being displayed at town hall meetings is not just the product of Republican or right-wing anti-intellectuals.

There's a lot of us even-tempered Democrats who are increasingly feeling no one is speaking for us.

Jim

Anonymous said...

Mike you wrote "We gave him eight years to try and destroy everything America stands for, and he almost managed to do it."

Boy, maybe Jim is right.

Maybe you just don't "get it."

Obama has done more to disrupt this country in less than a year than Bush did in eight years.

Take off the blinders, man.

Your unreasonable hatred has made you blind to reality.

I'm what used to be called a middle-of-the-road Democrat and just like Jim, I don't have a political home any more.

If it means crossing party lines and voting the current crop of politicians and the President out of office, I am starting to think that is our only hope.

You can't keep raving about people who don't share your leftist agenda and calling them stupid or pig ignorant.

I'm far from being stupid and I think you're teetering toward the abyss.

You selectively quote Jefferson and FDR: you're no more a fan of those two than you are a fan of Dubya.

You're far left of center. And the group that includes the President, his White House staff, and congressional leaders is far left of you.

That doesn't make you any less left, though.

They're fringe players. You're far left of center. And you're not THAT smart, either.

Nor are you nice.

You've become pale imitation of Howard Beale.

RANDY

1948nanA said...

i wonder if mike will delete this blog ?