A year or so ago someone asked me to name five things society tolerates that I just didn’t “get”. My conundrum was how to choose just five, when there are things like the Tea Party, Jerry Steinbeck, Survivor (anything), WWF, Kim Kardashian, or the French. I thought I’d give it another try.
1. Professional radio and television personalities who mispronounce the words in their copy. And the ad writers and directors and clients who let them get by with it.
Examples:
It is JEW EL REE not JEW LER EE
It is LAWN DREH MAT not LAWN DREE MAT
It is ASKED not AAKST
2. Opponents to the Common Core Initiative, designed to address the issues of college age children being taught what I learned in grade school, are quoted as saying “there is too much material to teach in a year and it takes the joy out of learning”. Perhaps we should return to the educational standards geared to the least capable student, with no challenge for the more capable, and the results graded on a curve
3. Comedians and movies whose scripts consist of curse words, strong sexual content, anal openings, and the stuff that comes out of all those spaces. Trash that influences our society and our kids. We can’t stop it, but we can stop plunking our money down for it
4. Let’s add Just Bad Films and TV Shows that waste our time. Writers who can’t write, actors who are getting by on T&A, wooden characters, overused plotlines, reality TV because we can’t come up with anything new, or BLOOD, GORE, FAKE MONSTERS and CG (cause CG make it really great
5. Lastly, the non-voting public. We get terribly excited when less than half of all registered voters choose who will run our country, and less than 15% in local elections.
Elected leaders make choices for you. Same-sex partnerships, abortion, right-to-die, cloning, stem cell research, war, education, space exploration, the ozone layer, rain forests, medical marijuana, reporters being jailed for protecting sources, gun control, alternate energy and food sources, animal testing, roads and transportation, police and fire protection, censorship, school lunches, energy costs, caring for the indigent, health benefits, insurance reform, retirement funding, taxes, and whether a young Muslim girl can wear a scarf on her head at school. They will choose – without your input – at least two justices for a lifelong commitment on the Supreme Court, a group that determines the highest standards of law in the land.
Local primaries are coming up next week in a lot of municipalities. Everything you need to know about voter registration, your candidate’s positions, and the time and place to cast your ballot is on your computer. You’re here anyway. Look it up.
By the way, when the Iraqi people first got a chance to vote, they waited in line, at the polls, for up to eight hours under constant threat of death. Just imagine it.