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Where Is The OutRage??
10/2/2008 7:15:28 PM
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This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills , CA . On July 31, 2008, the Wall Street Journal had an article titled, 'Where's The Outrage?'
Really.
I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this
middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is
here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but
no one is listening for who am I.
I'm not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement.
I'm not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates.
I'm not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.
The
outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how
to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change.
Why
am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of
America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no
right or wrong anymore, just what's fair. Is it fair that
millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could
afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending
institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be
made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment? When my
husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what
we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes
that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility
for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could
afford, not the house that we couldn't afford. The notion of personal
responsibility has all but died in our country.
I am outraged,
that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's
Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now
allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters
to those illegal immigrants.
I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That
the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt
it incumbent to send my child to private school; that every time I go
to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?"
That every time I call the bank, the phone company, or similar
business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish." WHY?
This is America , our common language is English and attempts to
promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to
marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.
I am
outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats
on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food
negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a
holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a
large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in
Tennessee . Tennessee , last I checked, is still part of the United
States . If Muslim's want to live and work here, they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history. In
the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely
delayed the publication of 'The Jewel of Medina', by Sherry Jones, a
book about the life of Mohammad's wife, A'isha, due to fear of
retribution and violence by Muslims.When
did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups
want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than
stand proudly on the principles that built this country.
I am
outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy,
yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to
do. An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street
Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with
Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a
madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass
and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran
's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the
Jews, one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?
As
if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the
Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to
put a bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar
balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in
San Francisco. I do my share for the environment - I recycle, I use
water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit.
But
when and where does the lunacy stop? Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel
off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal
immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from
wrong; good from evil. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags!
So,
America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this
one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless
to do anything about it. I don't even feel like my vote counts because
I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me. Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills , California
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