rancherwriterpoet

Freedom of Expression

Let me state for the record, I am a Facebook person. I read most of the posts and view the pictures of my various friends. I post my blog on Facebook so those of you who are interested can view my words of “wisdom”. I do not intend to offend anyone and should that happen I apologize. I merely represent my viewpoint on various and sundry subjects.

Yet, today, I am stepping into an arena where I have never gone. I must admit, that simply writing this will probably separate my readers into two different zones. I hope that you will see the purpose of this blog.  I will not make it a habit regarding the political spectrum. However, this aroused my disdain.

I saw a cartoon analogy on Facebook, comparing a republican woman casting her vote as one who is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. It was very funny, that is, until I read a caption also describing her like a Jew voting for Adolph Hitler. How absurd is that? And not funny at all. I usually see these political cartoons for what they are. Humorous!  That statement was not humorous.

It is surprising to me the liberal ideology that I see on Facebook nowadays and yet, it should not surprise me, seeing as this country is divided almost 50-50 along a liberal and conservative “line in the sand”.  I do think the liberals on Facebook outnumber the conservatives, however.

I normally do not respond to these mostly in-accuracies (in my opinion) but that comparison was disgusting and it offended me. I have Jewish friends and I am quite sure if they saw that comparison they  would be equally offended.  

 

Where did the civility of a presidential campaign go? As a child I sold newspapers on the street for 5 cents a copy and from that sale, I received 2 cents. Some days I would make as much as $1.50, other days as little as 40 cents.  Of course, this depended on what was newsworthy that day.    

I can recall two different newsworthy days from my newspaper career. The first I recall was actually the 2^nd event, yet it also brought memories of a presidential nature. In 1952, General Eisenhower was the Republican candidate and Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic candidate. As a young boy of 13, the General was my choice and the day he won the election, was a day I sold well over 200 newspapers. I liked him even more. However, I certainly remember my father voting for Mr. Stevenson, for after all, my father was a Democrat. My celebration was somewhat subdued around the house. But at the same time, I think he was proud of me for taking a position on a candidate.

 

The other event, also of a presidential nature, was the assassination attempt of President Truman. November 1950, two Puerto Ricans attempted to assassinate him. I think on that day I sold over a three hundred papers. The presses were rolling out editions as fast as they could.  And the reason for the unusually number of editions sold? It was our president. Not everyone agreed with his politics, yet most everyone agreed it was an attempt on our system of government. And the nation was appalled. We obviously saw this again in 1963 with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The population came together.  

These two events provoked differences in our presidential campaigns of yesteryear. Obviously, I could not vote, but I do remember people supporting their candidate. I do not recall the tirades that we see today. I can tell you that the nation was not so closely divided in those days. It was political of course, and I remember Eisenhower winning the 1952 election by a landslide. Were Eisenhower and Truman good presidents? It depends on whom you ask. As it does with each one we elect to the highest office in the land.  

At my age today, I have a limited number of presidential elections remaining. I would hope we could regain the civility of yesteryear. I can hope can’t I? 

I will continue to support my political persuasions, as I am sure you will as well. We may disagree with whoever is our president, but we have a constitutional right to exercise our freedom of expression, even a freedom to compare apples with oranges or …!

That is how it should be.

 

Have a good day.