In Your Face
Are you tired of living through a daily/weekly media diet of shock and awe? Do you feel like you're living within the pages of The National Enquirer? Have you found yourself questioning, is anything private anymore, or, do they really think we're that stupid? This "in your face" agenda and mentality being practiced by certain members of our society, and all too gleefully supported with alacrity by the national media, is starting to wear very thin, at least with me.
Think about it. Election year 2012, the economy is tanking again, unemployment has remained above 8%, housing remains stagnant, gasoline prices have doubled in some areas, so what's left but the culture wars. The first shot fired across the bow is courtesy of a nymphomaniac appearing before a Congressional committee, whining about how we should pay for her contraception because she can't say no. Then this hooey is turned into a "war on women" because the vote totals aren't adding up in the right direction. The only war on women is the one being waged by re-election campaigns who think women are idiots who can't see their votes are trying to be bought by false memes and promises.
Next, we've had to sit through Elizabeth Warren with her now debunked Cherokee heritage story replete with high cheekbones. There has been no apology forthcoming from her, or the genealogical society nor Harvard for supporting and perpetrating this bunkum. All involved refuse to release any records. Instead, we're treated to a Boston version of the "war on women" with the villain this time, Scott Brown.
Mitt the preppie, wannabe frat boy hazing story was on the daily diet for a few days in line with the gay issue theme du jour, before the Post had to print a clarification from one of the rememberers, and the family issued a strong statement to cease and desist. So the entire effect was nothing other than a show me a teenager, or a parent of one, who didn't have at least one 'crawl under a rock' moment during those formative years.
And now, on our way to full circle we're treated to more photos of pregnant celebs and socialites posing in their birthday suits, with the requisite gushing of how beautiful they look. The Time cover story featuring a mom breast-feeding her three year old, is another example of, do we really need to see this? What are the odds the child will someday be attaching that photo to his college application or resume.
Last but not least, the granddaddy of them all, the gay marriage issue. Just when we've finally gotten over those Benetton ads from years past that brought us yokels kicking and screaming into the 21st century, our own personal foibles have once again been brought to light with the help of our Vice President, who warp-speeded up the enabling of our President's evolution, as he is pronounced, the first "gay President." Somehow, if I were him, I don't think I'd want that phrase written on my tombstone.
There appears to be a pattern lurking underneath these culture wars, and now a new bombardment is opening on the class warfare front with the Obama re-election campaign's "Steel" video. The fact that all these issues are in our faces, 24/7, shouldn't be lost on us, nor do I believe they are. These are carefully planned assaults using the divide and conquer strategy, because that's the only way the President and his re-election team believe they can build a winning coalition.
However, that strategy is starting to backfire. Each day, more Americans are catching on, with various polls indicating collectively we've had enough, and we won't be bought. We are not prudes, we are not bigots, we are not stupid. November 6, we'll deliver a voter coalition. It will be our version of 'in your face'. Others call it ... landslide.