Politics of fear are still with us The Salt Lake Tribune Updated:09/05/2009 12:14:21 AM MDT
So President Obama wants to talk to kids about education. The political right is horrified. It's not only a socialist plot, they say, it's illegal. Even worse, the president is trying to steal the children's minds in some scenario in which a live video of Obama's speech will turn the little ones into leftist automatons.
It's all about fear, and we as a nation seem to be drowning in it.
We are gripped by recession and a 9.7 percent unemployment rate, the cost of living and health care are soaring and our military is fighting two increasingly intractable wars.
Right or wrong, the Obama administration is responsible for doing what it can to ease our burdens and, it should be hoped, our minds.
But the opposition, which is anything but loyal, seems to have decided that scaring the socks off its followers is the best way to battle the president's "socialist" agenda.
I don't buy it. Not the fearmongering, and not the notion that Obama is conspiring to turn our republic into name-your-most-hated nation: Canada, Britain, France.
In the fair's fair department, the left is just as eager to go ape on the right -- just think of George W. Bush's eight years in the White House. [And when he gave a speech like this, many Democrats accused him of trying to make campaign hay out of it. - J]
Certainly fear has its uses. It makes us careful with our driving, parenting and spending. Fear of failure, which can be incapacitating, also can make us work harder at what we do in the home or on the job. It can make us take an honest look at ourselves and then do our best to do better.
But as for the education speech, the administration hasn't been completely forthcoming about its content, other than to say Obama "will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school."
We get a better notion from Damon Weaver, the precocious and fearless fifth-grader from Florida who interviewed Obama about his speech last month. Read, study math and science, go to college, the president said, and if you get a B, work on an A.
Also, Obama agreed to become Weaver's homeboy.
In Utah, a number of school districts along the Wasatch Front will allow parents to decide whether or not their children should watch the speech, which is to be made available for preview on Monday.
Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen didn't question the validity of Obama's speech, but did wonder about the timing -- the day before his joint address to Congress about health care reform.
That was a legitimate question, unlike Florida's state GOP boss' declaration that he was "appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
This fear business works both ways.
The Utah Democratic Party took an equally harsh line, calling the school districts' response to parental concerns a "reactionary position" to a "very small minority of right-wing extremists expressing paranoia" over Obama's speech.
For the record, I'm fully aware that people throughout the political and social spectrum believe the news business is all about fear -- just look at our coverage of crime, disasters, political fisticuffs and all the sordid goings on throughout the world.
I suppose most of us yearn for a reasoned, intelligent public conversation, but in this atmosphere, and at this difficult time, it sure doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon.
All I can think of is what we've lost, and what we'll lose in the days and years to come.
Incidentally - and it's not like I'm upset or anything! - it's a lot easier if you say non-private things through the LJ comments (even off-topic) than through PMs. PMs means I have to take extra steps to respond to you, comments doesn't.
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Here's another
Politics of fear are still with us
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:09/05/2009 12:14:21 AM MDT
So President Obama wants to talk to kids about education. The political right is horrified. It's not only a socialist plot, they say, it's illegal. Even worse, the president is trying to steal the children's minds in some scenario in which a live video of Obama's speech will turn the little ones into leftist automatons.
It's all about fear, and we as a nation seem to be drowning in it.
We are gripped by recession and a 9.7 percent unemployment rate, the cost of living and health care are soaring and our military is fighting two increasingly intractable wars.
Right or wrong, the Obama administration is responsible for doing what it can to ease our burdens and, it should be hoped, our minds.
But the opposition, which is anything but loyal, seems to have decided that scaring the socks off its followers is the best way to battle the president's "socialist" agenda.
I don't buy it. Not the fearmongering, and not the notion that Obama is conspiring to turn our republic into name-your-most-hated nation: Canada, Britain, France.
In the fair's fair department, the left is just as eager to go ape on the right -- just think of George W. Bush's eight years in the White House. [And when he gave a speech like this, many Democrats accused him of trying to make campaign hay out of it. - J]
Certainly fear has its uses. It makes us careful with our driving, parenting and spending. Fear of failure, which can be incapacitating, also can make us work harder at what we do in the home or on the job. It can make us take an honest look at ourselves and then do our best to do better.
But as for the education speech, the administration hasn't been completely forthcoming about its content, other than to say Obama "will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school."
We get a better notion from Damon Weaver, the precocious and fearless fifth-grader from Florida who interviewed Obama about his speech last month. Read, study math and science, go to college, the president said, and if you get a B, work on an A.
Also, Obama agreed to become Weaver's homeboy.
In Utah, a number of school districts along the Wasatch Front will allow parents to decide whether or not their children should watch the speech, which is to be made available for preview on Monday.
Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen didn't question the validity of Obama's speech, but did wonder about the timing -- the day before his joint address to Congress about health care reform.
That was a legitimate question, unlike Florida's state GOP boss' declaration that he was "appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
This fear business works both ways.
The Utah Democratic Party took an equally harsh line, calling the school districts' response to parental concerns a "reactionary position" to a "very small minority of right-wing extremists expressing paranoia" over Obama's speech.
For the record, I'm fully aware that people throughout the political and social spectrum believe the news business is all about fear -- just look at our coverage of crime, disasters, political fisticuffs and all the sordid goings on throughout the world.
I suppose most of us yearn for a reasoned, intelligent public conversation, but in this atmosphere, and at this difficult time, it sure doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon.
All I can think of is what we've lost, and what we'll lose in the days and years to come.
pegmcentee@sltrib.com
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