I've been reading Kos daily for over 2 years now and have really enjoyed the community here. In all that time, though, I've never written a diary, as I really just enjoyed seeing everyone's takes on different things here. But today I finally feel like I have something I want to post.
Today, for some godawful reason I logged onto my MySpace account and saw that a friend from high school that I hadn't seen nor talked to in years had posted a "Letter from Jay Leno," about ungrateful Americans. Most of you have probably seen it before, as it's been making the rounds on email forwards since 2007, but this is the first time I had seen it:
Subject: AMEN JAY LENO!!!!
Body: Very interesting perspective by Jay Leno...I hope you will all read to the end. Jay Leno puts it into perspective and makes us think about the pathetic negativity.
That's right, Jay Leno!!
Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....
"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe.
It must be true, given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.
So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?
Could it be that 95.
4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?
Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?
Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?
Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?
I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.
Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all, and even send a helico pter t o take you to the hospital.
Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortun ate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.
Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.
This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.
How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.
Fact is we a re the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
I know, I know.
What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?
The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?
The Commander-In Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yo urself and see all the good things and be glad?
Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failin g to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.
Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.
They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.
So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds, it leads; and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allo w a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about "how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way"...Insane!
Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.
We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day or at least be thankful and appreciative.
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
Jay Leno
2007Please keep this in circulation. There are so many people that need to read this and grasp the truth of it all.
As I said before, I haven't spoken to the girl that posted this in years. But one of the weird things about me is that whenever I see someone say something that I know in my heart is wrong, I've never been able to just go about my own business. So, me being the crazy person that I am, I wrote this back to her:
Dear (Name Edited Out),
It's been a long time and I hope you're well. I don't really know why I'm doing this, but I randomly logged onto myspace, saw your message and felt the urge to respond. Again, I know it's weird but perhaps there are a few more things to consider about the current national climate than just what is in the letter you posted (which, by the way, was not written by Jay Leno http://www.snopes.com/... )
More important than the author of the letter, though, is the theory it posits: Americans are just whiners and the only reason they are unhappy is because the media never shows them happy stories.
While it's true that the media has a definite impact on the psyche of the average American, I think the polling reflects something much deeper than just people not seeing "kids selling lemonade on the corner."
Yes we do have electricity, or, those of us that have homes do. Of course, in the last 8 years, millions of more Americans have fallen under the poverty line, most recently hundreds of thousands losing their homes due to predatory lending, while the richest 1% of Americans have continued to accrue massive wealth. The divide between the rich and the poor has grown incredibly under the current president, as his economic policies have been catastrophic to the middle-class. The tax cuts mentioned below have for the most part benefitted only the wealthiest, while millions of Americans have a harder and harder time trying to make ends meet. Perhaps this is one cause of frustration.
Yes, we do have emergency care that may even take us via helicopter to the hospital should we require such service. Of course, when that helicopter takes my unconscious body to the hospital, we must hope that they take us to a hospital that is in network on our health insurance, otherwise we could be charged tens of thousands of dollars for something we had absolutely no choice in. That is, assuming, that we have health care at all, a luxury that millions of Americans are without. Perhaps this is yet another cause of frustration.
Yes, many of us do have clean and safe neighborhoods with police forces that are effective, courteous, and well-regarded. But there are also those left out in the cold, without such protection in safe neighborhoods. There are those still left homeless by a hurricane that happened nearly 3 years ago. They don't even have anything left for hypothetical burglars to steal. And here is yet another possible cause of frustration.
And there is also the war, a war that even government studies, such as the National Intelligence Estimate, have deemed as making America less safe. A war we are no closer to winning than we were 5 years ago, because we can't even define what victory means in the middle of a sectarian power struggle that has more to do with different religious factions vying for power than it has to do with our freedom. It has more to do with our control over a region that will define international relations for decades to come because of it's precious oil reserves, than it has to do with the safety of Americans. And then there are the troops serving in this war, who, as article mentions, are volunteers. They serve bravely and give everything they have because they love this country. Of course, they don't have to go to Iraq. But many of them do. And then they are forced to go back again and again and again because we have overstretched our military and must use stop-loss orders to keep enough boots on the ground. Should a soldier who has served in this war for multiple tours, only to be torn from his or her family yet again, be forced to choose between putting his life on the line one more time or dishonorable discharge from the military that he would otherwise die protecting? Perhaps these are yet more reasons for American frustration.
And finally, the President. A man who took us to that war in Iraq, despite the real threat existing and now growing in Afghanistan. A man whose economic policies have forced hundreds of thousands more Americans under the poverty line. A man whose inept leadership has left a festering wound in the form of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina that lasts to this day. A man who has sanctioned the torture of fellow human beings. A man who has sanctioned spying on the private lives of innocent Americans. Perhaps it is for these reasons that he has low approval ratings and Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
As Americans, could we be worse off? Of course. In that same light, however, I think we should also ask ourselves, "As Americans, could we do better?" And when you look at the hundreds of thousands left homeless, without healthcare; when you look at the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the 4000+ dead American soldiers; when you look at an American economy struggling behind those of the UK and EU and when you look at an America that is in trillions of dollars of debt; when you look at the fact that America is ranked 18th out of 24 nations in education and 37th in healthcare the answer can only be "Yes, We Can Do Better."
And I think that is the reason that the majority of Americans are unhappy with the leadership of the current president and with the direction of the country. With the election coming in mere months, I think these are important questions to ask ourselves. In light of the fact that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee running on much of the same agenda that our current president has been leading with and the fact that Barack Obama will most likely be the Democratic candidate running on a platform of change, we again need to ask ourselves if we can do better. Considering Obama's desire to get us out of Iraq, to create economic policy that helps millions of hard-working Americans, to right the ship that has gone wrong for too long, I think the answer is again, "Yes we can." We just have to make the right decision.
And now looking at the above, wow, it is long and I probably am a total nutjob for writing to a friend that I haven't seen in years about something like this. But I just felt the need to.
Again, I hope you are doing well, and I hope I didn't offend you by writing back with some political talk.
Best,
Damon
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