"The violent deaths of untold thousands of anonymous brown people disturbs me, but I have a televised sing and dance competition to watch."
"The role of ideologically-driven shadow groups dictating public policy does not bother me"
"That non-threatening colored person running for public office has a nice smile, but I will surely never vote for him."
"All of this talk of fraud and abuse of power makes me uncomfortable. I need more sexual predators to direct my hate and anger towards."
"Ever since 9/11 occurred roughly 1500 miles from my place of residence, the idea of people with different skin pigmentation makes me nervous."
"I believe the national politician when he says the easiest way to combat terrorism is by bombing poverty-stricken civilians in a far away place."
"Homosexuals and science belong in California and Massachusetts."
"The invisible outer space superhero of my monotheistic beliefs is the best."
"A life of willful ignorance of my government's indiscretions is the life for me."
"An extra-marital affair between two consenting adults is a more impeachable offense than falsifying intelligence to create a regional conflict."
"When it comes to rational and intelligent discourse, I look to the two screaming people on the national news program."
"I blame untold millions of foreigners for a stagnant economy and unemployment, rather than an underfunded education system and the mass exodus of multinational corporations from American soil, facilitated by mass funding of the political system."
"I don't care how much it makes sense for my family, I do not want universal health care."
"A long life of monotonous work has been quickly placated by the commercial with melodramatic music featuring fictional characters I've learned to experience my life through."
"Surely the only way to inform people weary of our global ambitions of our good intentions is by branding their religion as violent and backwards and trampling on their culture as much as possible."
"I am glad there is finally a fair and balanced media outlet that will pro-actively reinforce my judgments and stereotypes."
"The discomfort and cognitive dissonance I live with in this country is easily washed down with water mixed with high fructose corn syrup and genetically modified food."
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Comments (2)
I understand your general point about American apathy, but I think these condescending caricaturizations of the "average" American are unfair and contribute to the polarization of the country. Labeling middle America as simplistic and naive is in many ways as bad as the Right's portrayal of all liberals as troop-hating hippies.
Most of these "average" Americans are sincere, complex people, who happen to come from a different cultural viewpoint and hold beliefs you or I may not agree with. To portray them as somehow inferior simply reinforces the stereotype of the elitist, out of touch, East-coast, ivory-tower liberal, to paraphrase Stephen Colbert.
One of the reasons I'm drawn to Obama is because he seems genuinely concerned with representing and working with Americans from all walks of life (compared to Bush who governs only for the small segment of society that actively supports him). This doesn't necessarily mean changing policy simply to placate the masses, but it does mean engaging everyone as equals and attempting to understand their viewpoints, rather than talking down to them.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari | May 7, 2007 11:16 AM
Well, I think you're assuming that this is written about middle Americans. My intention was that this could be any American -- city dweller or suburban resident -- and more of a commentary on apathy then anything else.
Posted by alec | May 10, 2007 3:23 PM