|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As we completed a several thousand-mile auto tour visiting family and friends along the way I noticed something. I noticed that for 99% our travel and the surroundings were peaceful. There were no demonstrations, no signs with various anti this and anti that. There was no political and social “pollution.” There were families traveling, beautiful farms and farm stands selling fresh everything as harvested and spectacular scenery along the way. The Pennsylvania Amish country was still active with horse and buggy traffic. There were Buggy dealerships and horse washing stations. Their farms were impeccable with both fields planted with crops and beautiful gardens around the houses.
Our travel was peaceful for the most part until … until you turned on the television in your hotel or bed and breakfast. Then there appeared to be nothing but misery in every nook and cranny of our nation. Demonstration, antisemitic activity, war, murders and rapes, ICE reports with demonstration including car burnings and property destruction. There were those highly educated college professors indoctrinating as opposed to teaching and stirring the education pot. Where there was negativity there was a media anxious and well prepared to share that 24/7. There were, in fact, two different worlds. One peaceful, productive, cooperative and creative and one with nothing but misery, concern and political hatred. It was the 1% getting all the attention and the 99% ignored. It was, in fact, the tail wagging the dog. The source of the 1% misery was not only exposed by the culprit, the media, but it appeared to promote it. The camaras on the streets to which individuals with this sick and destructive mentality gladly displayed their actions, against this or against that. The media spreading the “news” and in that effort, not just hoping for more misery, but encouraging it.
My advice to the populace is … go out and travel our nation’s highways and byways. See the sights for yourself. Immerse yourself in the beauty of this great nation. See the national parks and experience those parks with your kids. Visit the museums and soak up the history. Educate yourself and your family with the many positive aspects of these United States of America. Then, upon completion share those experiences with family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for and the media is not going to communicate that. What it does accomplish, for the most part, is spreading misery regarding the social and political issues. Stop with the anti this and anti that and stand for something positive. That little cartoon character, Jiminy Cricket, had it right so many years ago: “accentuate the positive.” Semper Fi.
Josh Jochem Porte
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to comment on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
I stand by my comment. Not everyone’s experience is like yours (unforunately) & many are feeling a lot of pain and anxiety now.
To all you positive people who commented on my positive effort read this and think about why we have what we have today.
YOU SEE, WE HAVE TODAY BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAD YESTERDAY.
Now I know my audience and therefor I will clarify it a bit.
WE HAVE WHOM WE HAVE TODAY BECAUSE OF WHOM WE HAD YESTERDAY.
Now I didn’t look to make this letter political, but it appears that my audience only knows one thing, politics. Politics that blame any and all on one personality, Trump.
I believe that the “R” wing in the U of R takes BCBS. Make an appointment.
Josh, I too have ridden or drove across the country seven times and I recommend highly that everyone should do it it at least once to see what you saw.
That said, yes everyone is generally pleasant and one wonders what the problem is.
Yet, get into the deeper conversations, and the rift in the undercurrent becomes clear. And now we have a president who dwells on negativity and divisiveness. The rot is from the top down.
Of course it doesn’t help when the president is constantly ranting what a hell-hole, decrepitate, immoral, rat-infested, and otherwise crappy place America is.
My guess is when he retires he moves to Jared and Ivana’s island.
Really? Just one percent of the populace is dissatisfied? I guess we’re in more trouble than I thought.
While I empathize with the perspective expressed in Josh Porte’s letter, there are literally millions of people in the US who are feeling the day-today impacts of the cruel & unusual actions of the current Federal adminstration and its enablers in Congress. These people are typically members of a marginalized community; Black/Brown, immigrants, and those whose professed gender is considered “illegal”. Until this scourge of the nation is ended and all people are granted the unalienable right to “Life, Lberty and the Pusuit of Happiness”, we are diminished as a nation.
On 9/11 the media learned that keeping everyone anxious and fearful was a way to keep them glued to television news. From then on every news source and political campaign has thrived on keeping the level of anxiety and drama high to attract and retain eyeballs. Trump is an expert at manipulating media this way and has exercised that skill. That said the issues present today are highly dangerous and deserving of attention. The Republican attack on democracy and the oligarch takeover of our American society and way of life is a dangerous threat deserving of our attention. If we don’t want to become the kind of country we used to hate we need action and that means raising awareness.
I forgot to tell you..I am an immigrant. Yup at age 12. Went to school, served a tour in these United States Marines, have a family, which included a daughter who served in the US Navy. The opportunity in these United States is real. We received nothing but opportunity. Our family assimilated in one generation and we are extremely appreciative to be here. It’s appears that those who have been here for generations are a bit out of tune with how the rest of the world lives. The freedoms they surely have, but complain unendingly until…until their man or woman is at the helm and then all is right with the world. Get a grip Stephen Gaudioso. Realize what you have and work positively within the system to make changes for the better. Hatred of an individual, a mindset if you will, aint gonna get the job done. I believe it extends beyond being a mature adult and a little “growing up” might be in order.