I get email forwards from my (politically and religiously conservative) family. I recently received one that kinda made me smile because it just didn’t seem very well thought out. One of the big issues in the coming election is “change” – i.e. people want a change in political leadership. By in large, Obama is seen as the candidate for change. The problem is that Republicans don’t like that. Republicans don’t want to move away from the George W Bush way of doing things. So, this email forward attacks the very idea that “change is good”. Also, I should add that this wasn’t written by Jay Leno (email forwards have a ridiculous tendency of just making stuff up). I also have to wonder: is the essay any more persuasive or notable if it’s credited to “Jay Leno” rather than “Joe Schmoe”?
Subject: Pathetic Negativity
Hope you will all read to the end. Jay Leno puts it into perspective and makes us think about the pathetic negativity. That’s right, Jay Leno wrote this!!
Jay Leno wrote this; it’s the Jay Leno we don’t often see….
“The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3rds of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.
So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ”What we are so unhappy about?” Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?
Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.
Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.
This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.
Okay. All of those would be good points if George Bush’s administration was personally responsible for bringing those things to America. But, they didn’t. All of those things were true before G.W. was elected. Wanting a change in political leadership is based on how things have changed for the better or worse under Bush, not on the question “are things good or not” relative to the rest of the World. I also couldn’t help thinking that you could repeat nearly that entire section verbatim in the year 2000. Would Republicans conclude, then, that “we should continue the Democrat’s control of the White House”?
Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen.
Read: you’re an ungrateful, spoiled brat if you want Obama to be president or think G.W.Bush is a bad president.
No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are.
Ha. Quite the opposite – many people like Americans, but hate the US government.
The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
Yeah, they hate us because we complain about the state of the nation. I’m sure the world would just *love* it if Americans could elect G.W. to a third term.
I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?
Ungrateful Americans – don’t you know he was looking for answers in the “My Pet Goat”.
The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?
He’s the leader of an all-volunteer army, and therefore he should get the credit for the work they’re doing.
Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn’t take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it…… are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the “Media” told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.
It’s all the media’s fault. The media doesn’t properly glorify the great leader, therefore it’s biased and evil.
Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn’t have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ”general” discharge, an ”other than honorable” discharge or, worst case scenario, a ”dishonorable” discharge after a few days in the brig.
And you should credit all their hard work and sacrifice to the President!
So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by “justifying” them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O. J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn’t kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way…… Insane!
If you hear anything bad about our glorious leader – blame the media. I especially like how “they” (the “media”) conspired as a *group* to publish O.J.’s book. I’m quite sure they consulted the high-priest of media control and his thousands of underlings – who control everything we see, hear, and read – and he, in complete dictatorial control, approved O.J.’s book for the masses.
Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country.
Ignore the media – and make-up the news stories you want to believe. Hmmm – today, George Bush saved children from a blazing fire. That’s my news story of the day.
There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.”
Thank God? I think he meant to write thank George W. Bush for all his hard work fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. I heard he took several bullets and single-handedly rescued dozens of POWs. You’d have to be crazy for wanting a non-Republican president!
“With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, “Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”
Jay Leno
Please keep this in circulation. There are so many people that need to read this and grasp the truth of it all.
Jay Leno should sue. I don’t think he’s terribly funny, but still….funnier than that.
I think it’s funny that it never crosses the mind of these people why a TV celebrity would tell people to turn off their TV. I also love how they will parrot anything a celebrity on the right such as Rush Limbaugh says, or even things alleged to have been said, such as this email, yet complain that people like the Dixie Chicks and Streisand (or whomever) should just STFU and be entertainers.
Sigh.
I try to have respect for my political “opponents” but honestly, things like this and Ben Stein’s movie, and all the other fake news makes it really hard to do.
This is an urban legend.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hitnail.asp
From a Ron Paul fan:
I don’t buy a word of this from Jay Leno. As a counter-point:
Can we walk into a grocery store and find any food we want? Perhaps, but with gasoline so expensive the price to transport it is ballooning, and the buck gets passed onto you and I. Plus, farmers get subsidies to grow corn for fuel not food, but the benefits aren’t apparent at the pump, so where’s the benefit?
Drive coast-to-coast without papers, sure, I’ll give you that. Until the REALID is mandated on all drivers licenses and a simple scan reveals your continuous where-abouts to “the man”, and in real-time too!
Perhaps you are one of the 70% of Americans who own a home, let’s just hope you weren’t suckered in with a sub-prime adjustable rate mortgage that the Federal Reserve and your friendly neighborhood Multi-National Corporate Banks seemed to think were such a blessing. Otherwise you may be living with mom and dad, again. Or maybe they will live with you? Or maybe all of y’all will be living with Granny and Gramps, on their social security (which is dwindling….).
It’s a good thing that with the 30% of my pay check I generously give to myself and fellow country men, when I have that helicopter pick me up after an accident it takes me to a hospital that charges me nothing due to my Universal Health-care. Wait nope, the USA has the pretty much the highest medical prices on the planet. (Note: I get free medical access for being in the military, and I don’t support universal health care, but the point above is still a valid one)
As for the president’s stupifying-ly low ratings, let’s analyze. War is a bummer. And we are stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan were insurgents are gaining more and more recruits. Why? Well imagine if Habib (vice “Dub-ya”) came patrolling through our streets everyday with random search-and-inspects on citizens of the USA, we’d most likely not be happy. Then, let’s roll out the fact that his administration has authorized and accepted warrantless wiretaps on tens-of-thousands of citizens’ phones, to fight “terror”. Yeah, and great job on “tax cuts to bring an economy out of recession”, phew, I am glad that is nowhere near correct. This administration has caused our nations deficit and debit to skyrocket, has allowed the government to borrow more money than
ever before and as a consequence the bucks I get are worth less and less every week.
Absolutely, soldiers, sailors (myself included) and airmen volunteered…. to defend the USA and the Constitution, not “defend freedom and democracy around the world”. To be sure, many probably enlisted/commissioned to promote democracy around the world, but that isn’t the vast majority. Also, multitudes of soldiers, sailors and airmen have been “volunTOLD” that their “contracts” will be extended, so it’s not that draft, but just one step closer and all the more insidious.
This is just a handful of the things that have a lot (but not all) Americans upset. I agree with Jay that a good majority of Americans are spoiled. But all this coming from a man who has mansions, a veritable FLEET of hod rods, sportsters, exotics, vintage and classic automobiles. A man who has a warehouse dedicated to these cars. A man who gets paid MILLIONS for very little “work” a day. I doubt that Mr. Leno represents the good, hard-working citizens of this great country. He even proves it by assuming that because people are “spoiled” and “ungrateful brats” that our complaints are unfounded. To the contrary,they are based in reality.
There are those of us in this world who aren’t going to be chastised because we see what is happening. I know I for one am not going to let a Tinseltown big shot make me feel that my family’s needs, my neighbor’s desires and our country’s concerns are results of negatism on TV. If you ask me TV isn’t being harsh enough, nor using enough scrutiny on our REPRESENTATIVE government.
BeauZC