Posted on 6/3/2006, 11:28:11 PM by wagglebee
Well, it's here. Right in the middle of us, and spreading. It's a fowl contagion and can be very dangerous. It's hard to prevent and even harder to cure. It's no respecter of persons; it can affect people of any age, economic background or culture. There's no vaccine, though there is something you can take to combat it – but I'll come to that later.
I'm not referring to the dreaded avian flu, the one we've been reading about that's transmitted from bird to bird, and possibly to some humans or other creatures. No, I'm talking about another affliction. This one is a mental, emotional and verbal malady that seems to incubate most often in the young – particularly those who have already exhibited tendencies toward rebellion, rejection of authority, resentments of various types, grievances, self-righteousness, self-importance, self-indulgence and (of course) impatience.
This fever is transmitted quickly among impressionable and poorly informed young people who generally are looking for quick "fixes" to problems and who have often not learned yet that valuable possessions – like freedom, for example – cost dearly. In a majority of cases, the newly affected ones have been given almost everything that's important to them with little or no expenditure of their own, and therefore they naturally assume that's to be expected all life through. Therefore, they haven't developed any kind of immunity to the Ditsy Chicks Bird Flu. In fact, they often welcome it!
Just in case you're not aware of this contagious ailment, let me describe the three main telltale symptoms. The first is usually an onset of anger and frustration, often disguised as humanitarianism, which is actually present in many cases. These emotions fester and swell, and lead to symptom No. 2 – spontaneous, regrettable but apparently uncontrollable verbal outbursts, similar to Tourette's syndrome. The victim intends to shock and offend, yet is sometimes quite surprised at the negative reaction of others. But the third symptom is invariably a setting in of rigid self-defensiveness, of hostility toward anyone with a differing point of view and a rampant, unreasoning passion to be proven right and even honored for the previous offenses!
Along with these symptoms, there's usually manifest a curious blindness to reality, a myopic focus on only one set of circumstances and exclusion of other vital and pertinent factors that make up the whole picture. And finally, in the terminal and usually irreversible stage of this flu, violence erupts in one of a variety of ways.
If the victim has always been prone to a spoiled, demanding and rebellious personality, he or she will become extremely obnoxious. If the victim has tended to be more quietly cunning, seditious and manipulative in nature, he or she may actually combine with others of similar tendency and incite revolution or even violence. If, conversely, the tendency has been toward fitting in with others and conforming to established norms, the last stage may consist of a constant naïve and slavish parroting of whatever the poor victim hears and sees in the behavior of the more rabid, raving ones.
Adults, even older ones, aren't by any means immune to this flu. Curiously, though some have matured in most ways, they can exhibit a surprising regressive resonance with youthful irresponsibility and rejection of authority. For vague reasons, there seems an especial susceptibility among people in media and entertainment. There's the widespread desperate wish that war and terrorism weren't happening, and a totally unrealistic notion that wishing can make it so. Incredibly, they discount things like the destruction of the World Trade Center as "one time" events and feel that if we "make nice" with our enemies, they won't attack us again. If, after years of a ridiculous "shell game," WMDs aren't discovered in a conspicuous place, these "wishers" declare they never existed, though a half-million corpses refute them.
And, most astoundingly, the weepers and wishers are so intent on discrediting our leadership, they seem oblivious to the glaring fact that there has not been a major catastrophe on our soil since 9-11! Clearly, somebody's been doing something right!
This contagion isn't new. Far from it.
It broke out in the colonies before and during our Revolutionary War. A surprising number of wealthy and influential people liked things the way they were and weren't just British sympathizers; they openly and loudly resisted our establishing our new republic. Even after we succeeded and our Constitution was drafted, many of those people opposed and criticized George Washington the whole time he was president.
John Adams was plagued by it. So was Thomas Jefferson. A serious outbreak of this type of flu resulted in the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Looking back, you can discover that every president who was in office during any of our wars or conflicts had to contend with loud, strident, unreasoning resistance from some of the very people he was trying to defend. And ironically, some of the worst afflicted by this ailment – those who were screaming for "peace," for "love, not war" – actually made assassination attempts on a number of our leaders!
Three pretty and talented young women, the Ditsy Chicks, contracted the malady and have exhibited all the early manifestations. But so have others – too many others. Egged on by close circles of friends in entertainment and the media, groups like Green Day and Pearl Jam have loudly asserted that they know more about our national crises than our elected and experienced leaders; and individual singers, whose studies rarely go further than watching Michael Moore movies, people like Eminem, "Pink," Kanye West and, sadly, even Bruce Springsteen, have assaulted the character and motives and abilities of our president.
That's what this flu leads to. Not content to employ the freedom to dissent and critique policies and administrative decisions, the afflicted ones do their utmost to assassinate their leader, if not physically, at least his reputation, his authority, his ability to lead – while we're at war with forces who intend to destroy our way of life!
And it apparently recognizes no borders. Neil Young, who composed and recorded a song soon after 9-11, "Let's Roll," exclaimed in his lyric, "You've got to turn on evil / When it's coming after you / You've gotta face it down / And when it tries to hide / You've gotta go in after it / And never be denied … Let's roll!" It was a call to aggressive action!
But then he caught the flu.
And now he's offered a new political screed, "Living with War," in which he repeatedly calls for the impeachment of the president, just like many rappers and rockers. Only, in his case, his seditious screeching is especially odious – because he's a Canadian citizen, not an American! He's lived in our country for 40 years, and thereby become very rich and famous and respected for his music; but he declares his allegiance to the Canadian flag, not our Stars and Stripes. And still he sings, "Let's impeach the president"! Did I mention this flu breeds irrationality?
There is no vaccine. But there is preventive inoculation if parents will care enough about their kids and the future of this country to employ it. It consists of equal parts of lessons in respecting legitimate authority; history lessons that impress the students with the drastic prices Americans have had to pay for our freedoms, in blood and tears and sacrifice; serious instruction in basic manners and civility, as well as citizenship; and early punishment for sass, rebellion and arrogance.
In the absence of prevention like this, an otherwise admirable young lady may wind up writing lines like these: "I'm not ready to make nice / It's too late to make it right / I probably wouldn't if I could / Cause I'm mad as hell / Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should."
This Ditsy Chick Bird Flu is a really nasty strain.
The left just doesn't care about anything but their hatred of Bush.
Pretty much the only mistake in an otherwise fine article.
L
He really nailed this one.
ping :)
You should read some of Pat Boone's other stuff. He gets a little wordy at times, but he nails it just about every time.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=patboone
He's just so spot on in his analysis of popular culture.
They never found Jimmy Hoffa or Amelia Earhart. According to liberal logic, they never existed either!
Pat Boone Ping.
I saw both of them last week in a restaurant, they were having dinner with Elvis!
Commie skanks.
Another great column from Boone. He sure says it the way it is.
>>>The left just doesn't care about anything but their hatred of Bush.>>>
Correction: "The left just doesn't care about anything but their hatred"
Most attempt to mask it in humanitarian efforts, or claims of love of their fellow man, but it ultimately always comes out.
The only thing the Dixie Chicks have gotten right is their critcism of Nashville, something which people who don't know country music won't understand. I don't know how the Dixie Chicks did it, but their album is the # 1 album on country charts.
But then again, I don't get bent out of shape about what musicians say or don't say. Me and Darryl Worley may be in agreement politically, but I think his music is absolute crap. By the same token, when it comes to politics, me and Willie Nelson are on completely different sides of the planet, but I still like his music. What pissed me off about the Dixie Chicks is not what they said, but where they said it, namely, in London. Willie Nelson says alot of off the wall things, but he never insults anything related to the country when he's overseas. But realistically, I don't think people take musicians seriously on political subjects anyway, except maybe Kinky Friedman, who's actually a political candidate.
Good shot a the hypocrite, Neil Young. Young is on whichever side makes him the most money. He was against the terrorists after 9-11 and now, as the "media" makes it appear that the terrorists have "won" this one, he decides to do the anti-America gig. Young is a real sunshine patriot. He needs to write a song called, "Whichever Way The Wind Blows."
Young needs to come to terms with the fact that his career peaked three decades ago.
You got that right.
Excellent. Bravo Pat Boone!
Boone Bump!
Thanks ... I'll check it out.
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