Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue
J. D. Pendry
I have a short administrative matter that requires your help. Truth or Fiction emailed me 2 years ago in September 2006. From what I can see, the website is similar in nature to Snopes. They wanted to know if I actually wrote this article. Last week, they emailed me again and asked the same question only this time the article they sent identified me as a Marine and someone had added cartoons to it among other edits. I searched their site and didn’t find mention of it anywhere so I do not know the purpose of their emails. I will be grateful if you will take the opportunity to correct the article with the senders and point them towards the original if an edited version of it turns up in your mail box – again. - JD
Does it concern you that all three of the major television network news anchors accompanied a presidential candidate on an international tour? I do not recall them doing that for any of the numerous trips that the other candidate has made.
I have always been a follower of news as it is broadcast and provided to us in print. I consider it necessary, personally, to be informed about what is happening. The difference is that nowadays I do not see how I can believe anything that these allegedly objective journalists read to us from their Teleprompters or print for our consumption in their papers. Factual information providing appears non-existent. Instead of being good news men or women they seem more inclined to promote a position, ideal or movement of some sort. They no longer provide a service that Americans need. I am not sure if they ever did.
For many years, when I was fortunate to be home, NBC’s John Chancellor and then Tom Brokaw evening newscast was a nightly ritual for me. When CNN came along, I became somewhat of a news addict having it available whenever I wanted to turn it on. If for some reason I was home in the morning, I watched the Today Show. CBS’s 60 Minutes was required Sunday evening viewing. The radio preset most often selected in my pick-up truck was NPR. I trusted that people who billed themselves as providing objective information for the masses were doing just that.
One of my character flaws is that I believe people are inherently honest so the first time around I accept what they tell me as truthful and that they are who they portend. And, you see, that is the problem with most Americans. We believe, or at least we once did, that the people who deliver the news to us are actually delivering the news- all of it good, bad and ugly. That has changed for me. It was not an epiphany. It was a gradual changed and they caused it.
Do you like movies? I do. I rarely watch serial programming on television anymore, but I do watch some movies. My wife and I will occasionally visit a Saturday morning matinee. Along with a bazillion others, we saw the new Batman movie this week. Heath Ledger stole the show as the Joker. Too bad that he will not be around for the honors that his performance will garner. I only mention the movie and Leger’s performance because it caused me to think that what we are watching in our country now is well performed movie script and the starring role is filled by a very good and well coached actor. He also has all of the big named critics, Gibson, Couric and Williams, pulling for him to get the ultimate prize - the Oscar of politics.
There is a point in time when things stop being what they are billed as being. For eight years we have been told by these major networks what a miserable job George Bush has done. They have said the same about Iraq. Most Americans listen to these three amigos and their other network programming and believe what they hear. It is after all the news and Americans have an expectation that the news it gets is truthful, objective and equally reported from all sides of the issues. When it is not, then it is no longer news. It is propaganda.
Our movie is like one of those political movies of the Michael Moore genre. It is made in reverse of reality. There script writers draw a conclusion then report only a version of the facts that supports their conclusion. The conclusion is that our country needs a rock star savior, new politics, change….
The title of the movie is Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue. It is due out in January 2009.
Copyright 2008 J D Pendry All Rights Reserved Terms of Use