What is it about the all the rants and radiation that’s getting released these days? The reactor core of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan couldn’t be kept cool due to Tsunami-related damage and may cause a meltdown and the release of deadly radiation. The plant’s technology and backup systems may prove to be inadequate. Charlie Sheen’s firing from his television show, Two and a Half Men and subsequent rants displaying his hypomania, were the result of drug and alcohol abuse. Viewers can't stop digesting this freak show. New and old media are tailor made to deliver these events, but I can choose to watch out of concern or prurient interest till my own tolerance level is threatened.
From my cab on Sunday, I noticed a small table being set up by two young guys on a Sausalito street corner. They wanted to talk to people about Lyndon LaRouch, the wacho Presidential candidate and topnotch ranter. Attached to the table was a poster they doctored of Barak Obama with crossed eyes and a Hitler mustache. I got out and asked them, “What the fuck do you guys think you’re doing?” I vented. “I’m not fucking with anyone,” he answered. He wasn’t, I suppose, but I realized their toxic message got ‘under my skin’. This was their (hateful) way to have people think about the 25th amendment for Presidential impeachment . The Supreme Court recently affirmed anti-gay protesters the right to protest at a soldier’s funeral. Free speech no matter how virulent or how freakish, as in this case, is protected speech. I didn’t stop the LaRouche dude, but I regret allowing his message to get to me.
I have a choice whether or not to take in the spewing that's being displayed in the current culture. So for now, I’m turning off the tube and choosing not to react. While I’m heartbroken over the death and destruction from the earthquake and tsunami, this last performance by Charlie Sheen is of no consequence. These choices seem right and necessary for me now as the news and other messages in the media (and in the street) get more omnipresent. No meltdown for me.
Bill:
I'm glad you said something to those poor, deluded LaRouche supporters. Apparently he's been working college campuses for a while now to recruit young, freshfaced bigots. For a while they were in front of the post office by my house, and, much as I wanted to control myself, I confronted a young woman standing out in front. This is *my* neighborhood, right? I'm not interested in letting these assholes take a pass.
Apparently, LaRouche wanted to quarantine people with HIV: http://bit.ly/cXmGwM. This is what I asked her about. At first, she said, "don't believe everything you read," but then said "if Larouche's proposition had gone through, AIDS would be gone by now."
Horrible. Ugly. Sickening.
Thanks for the post, Bill.
Posted by: Wertzateria.wordpress.com | 04/26/2011 at 12:28 PM
Great comment, Michael. Did you hear about this confrontation: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/04/05/man-with-obama-sign-attacked-in-san-francisco/
Posted by: Bill Russell: Sketchbook Cabbie | 04/27/2011 at 08:22 AM
funny article you have here :)) very interesting to read :)
Posted by: writer jobs | 05/06/2011 at 07:33 AM