MY SURGERY & HEALTH
Thanks for all the cards and well-wishes here. I finally returned home yesterday [Tuesday]. I'm moving about OK, temporarily with the aid of a cane. Suffice to say I thought I knew what I was in for from an old injury in my youth. The surgeons found the injury in my knee to be more severe than first thought, and among the extra things they had to do was saw off some leg bone. Yikes!
I watched loads of TV while flat on my back. I found cable shows to be especially horrible, especially when presenting the "news." While the news on NBC, CBS, ABC, BBC, PBS, etc. is not as special in quality as was once the case compared to other outlets, the news as presented in these places far, far surpasses the dumbed-down news to serve a political and greedy purpose as does FOX, for example. FOX is an abomination. MSNBC, which I had never watched before, comes to presentation with a certain slant, but it is at least open about it and invites and challenges those who disagree to come forward.
What I like about MSNBC and some others, they do not fall into the dark hole of "presenting both sides." That makes the news bland and contrived. And there is a way to present the news as news and not a balanced scale of opinion mongers who make their living voicing inane political junk.
There have been added benefits to watching cable TV. Deutsche-Welle presents a fair approach to news from Germany. CNN has filled in some gaps left by the networks when they cut staff and lessened their international coverage. And it is amazing how the substitute international news reporters used by the networks almost exclusively are English reporters.
There is a certain historical backdrop to a portion of English news users. They understand quality. They prefer objectivity. They are not influenced by the many scandal sheets in England. News is still objective..
During the lowest points of World War II when the Germans were constantly bombarding the English cities, and morale was sinking, Prime Minister Churchill did something astounding. When there were attempts to cut support of the arts during this terrible crisis, Churchill said that now more than ever the English people needed good theatre, quality art, etc. With the English budget close to disasterous conditions, the arts were supported. Especially today, with the onslaught of greed and ignorance rampant in America, this could not happen here. The arts are cut first, education is the first to suffer from a lack of adequate funds, and those suffering most are offered the least. Meanwhile American millionaires and billionairs are growing in numbers at record rates. Have we no shame? Are we Americans so backward? Did much of civilization pass us by? Is altruism dead in the U.S.? Are we we really this crude?
This sort of basic civilized thought and action is revealed in the slobbering bigotry expressed by this new group of haters. Bigotry increasingly finds its way into right-wing attacks based on sex, religion, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc. It begins by labeling people as "the other." And from that point it only gets more sickeningly crude. If you are a human being, you should not accept or condone this.
I am embarrassed at too many of my American right-wing brothers and sisters. And if you are a left-winger and are that bigoted, please crawl in a hole and pass by this blog. I don't want any of you.
