And what makes you qualified to? That is a question that has come to mind often over the last 6 years. In a large part it is directed at the Hollywood "Elite", but there are a number of others that definitely have earned the right to be queried in such a way.
I want to continue, "When was the last time you sat there at a restaurant with your family hoping that everyone would pay attention to the cost of their meal, because you were strapped tight, but still trying to treat them?" Or "When was the last time you had to sit there at the grocery store and count out every last penny on necessities cause there was too much month left at the end of the money, even though you had been real frugal with expenses that month?". Another, "When was the last time you were working full time and still ended up sitting there in humiliation in the food stamp pick up line cause you still couldn't make ends meet?" Finally, "When was the last time you deployed to sea for 6 months on a 300 foot steel tube leaving a wife 2 months pregnant at home caring for our 9 month old toddler?"
These questions are all motivated by the persons mentioned above determining that I am not capable or knowledgable enough to have my own social and political conscience. They are absolutely certain that I am either too stupid to make the right decisions, or don't have the capability to aquire the appropriate knowledge to do so. I am just another of those "dumb, unwashed, middle-class, sub-humans" that make up the majority of the population of the United States.
What these persons fail to realize is that this "dumb, unwashed,..." majority are actually in a better position to develop our own social and political conscience, and in a better position to form our own opinions than they are. The fact is, I carry a college degree, and continue on a daily basis to increase my knowledge of the world. I have gone from that person who doesn't know where the next meal for his family will go, to now, where my family is comfortable, if not well off. I have both lived in this country as a civilian and as a Military Serviceman.
I have read of a time, and my parents have told me of a time, when you could look across the social and economic spectrum and find persons willing to sacrifice of themselves for the good of our society. Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Elvis Presley, and even to my Grandfather. All of these served their country and put themselves on the line for freedom and peace in our world. These persons, and the others that fit these criteria are more than welcome to point me in the right direction socially and politically. They are qualified because they were willing to subjugate their own selfishness beneath the mantle of duty to country. This lack of selfishness is the key to being socially and politically informed and able to maintain their integrity.
In this day and time, I have yet to see even a smattering of our movie stars, music icons, or sports stars, put aside their desires and dreams, and figuratively "pick up a weapon and stand a post". Pat Tillman is the glaring exception. I have gone this route, Armand has gone this route, and my brother-in-law has gone this route. There are many in the civilian world now, that if the need was there, they would drop what they are doing and answer the call. In my opinion, all of you have earned the right to provide me some social and politcal guidance.
For those in the Hollywood "Elite" that feel that they have the right to be my social and political conscience, like Alec Baldwin, Kanye West, and the Dixie Chicks, you most definitely aren't qualified. And you that are not in the Hollywood "Elite" that think you have the right to tell me what to think, WRONG!
By the way, I do know that there are those in the "Elite" that don't run around trying to tell everyone else what to do and how to think. To them I say, thank you.
~Wayne
"All that is neccesary for the triumph of evil, is for a few good men to remain silent"
-Edmund Burke-
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