At the Ottawa Herald of Franklin County, Kansas, even the guys who work the newspaper printing press can write a column for the “op ed” section. And proving once again that small-town papers are like blogs without the quality control, pressman Gary Sillett contributed a terrific “community viewpoint” about the upcoming presidential election…. “To elect Barack Obama to the highest office in the land would be nothing less than spitting on the graves of the victims of 9/11,” Sillett wrote last week. You know you want to read the rest. It seems like everybody would enjoy a column in a community newspaper about how Barack Obama is a “Muslim fundamentalist” and how “The Democratic Party actually intends to put a Muslim fundamentalist in the White House.”…. “Some Web sites suggest Obama will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He refuses to wear an American flag lapel pin. He will not face the flag during the playing of the National Anthem nor will he sing it or even mouth the words.”
It’s times like this when I miss the DUMB@$$ AWARDS. I mean, shouldn’t this sort of world-class lunacy and ignorance be rewarded? Yes, there are few things more American than being given a forum from which to demonstrate what an intellectually and ethically challenged retard one truly is. Gary Sillett is but one unmedicated voice in the hinterland, but you can bet that there are many thousands who feel exactly the same way…they just don’t have access to a newspaper willing to spread such astonishing ignorance far and wide.
I don’t begrudge Sillett his views (even if he might be channelling Bill Kristol), or his employer’s willingness to provide a forum for an opinion piece completely devoid of decency, lucidity or reason. After all, intelligent and informed people need to be reminded now and again that the stupid shall always be among us…and they vote. Sadly, there’s no law that requires a voter to have at least a certain minimum IQ score or a functional grip on reality- never mind a modicum of simple human decency. You’d think that for an act as significant as voting, we could reasonably expect someone to be intelligent enough to make a decision based on facts and not on propaganda. Then again, this is America, home of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, where anyone with sufficient cash can spread whatever lies Fox News Channel a network will air…and they can count on reaching a receptive audience eager to be propagandized…’cuz it sure beats the Hell out of thinking.
How else could you explain eight years of George W. Bush?
