{"id":1627,"date":"2011-01-11T17:36:14","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T00:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2011-02-07T06:20:24","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T13:20:24","slug":"i-would-like-to-say-this-was-over-the-top-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/i-would-like-to-say-this-was-over-the-top-but\/","title":{"rendered":"I Would Like to Say This Was Over the Top, But…"},"content":{"rendered":"

…I live in AZ and my Mother taught me I shouldn’t lie.<\/p>\n

The UK’s Guardian weighs in on AZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

I am quite happy to concede that both political sides have engaged in hyperbole and insanely over-the-top rhetoric, but a wonderful little girl on my son’s little league team died this weekend as a result of an unhinged young man<\/a> getting riled up. I don’t much care if he was driven mad by a particular party or a particular bit of news. I don’t much think it matters whether it was all in his head or not. I do<\/strong><\/em> think it’s time to tone the talk down—regardless of his motivation<\/em>—because the important thing, to me, is that SO MANY of us have had enough of the loud crazy<\/em>. This horrific incident is OUR excuse to say, “Done! Enough!”<\/p>\n

\n

I would love to see (or even help lead) a Mother-Brigade, because just like the “Everything I learned…Kindergarten” poster and book, really, we all should have learned this from our mothers:<\/p>\n

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know apologists on both sides are saying “it’s not our<\/em> fault. Everyone uses that loaded rhetorical language all the time–we target<\/em><\/strong> districts. We aim<\/em><\/strong> our resources, blah blah blah…”<\/p>\n

Fine.<\/p>\n

Whatever.<\/p>\n

That’s a bit different from hate-speech (or even just “hateful speech”). We’ve all heard plenty of hate speech, haven’t we? Both sides. All in the media. ALL on TV and Radio<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I ask you, when was the last time you met a NORMAL<\/em> person who spoke like them? Seriously? I have lots of friends on the right and the left—I have NEVER ONCE<\/em> heard anyone argue like those crazy people. Even on very emotional topics. Never. Not once. In fact, the only<\/em> time I’ve seen folks riled up is when they are quoting<\/em> the crazy TV and Radio people.<\/p>\n

So, mothers (and fathers—don’t want to leave you out!), can we all band together and start pushing a new agenda? I, humbly, propose a few items:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. turn off the crazy on TV where e’re it lives;<\/li>\n
  2. gently encourage friends and family to turn off the crazy on TV;<\/li>\n
  3. encourage everyone to do their own research rather than relying on the crazy TV and Radio people (yes, more than Wikipedia, get to some trusted sources—there are<\/em> trusted\/trustworthy sources out there that are still just reporting facts, ooh! Like the Congressional Record<\/a>! I just remembered that one…);<\/li>\n
  4. refuse to participate in heated discussions. Simply smile patiently and say, “when you’ve gotten it out of your system I’d LOVE to have a conversation with you, but I’m not willing to [accuse, point fingers, yell, say things I’d be embarrassed for my Mother to hear]…”;<\/li>\n
  5. Keep Marmee in our hearts (seriously, go listen to Little Women<\/a> again);<\/li>\n
  6. to paraphrase hosts Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle for an ironic moment, “when did TV and Radio Entertainment<\/em> become The News?” \u00a0 Pundits (as Douglas Adams was fond of telling us via Majikthise and Vroomfondel<\/a>) are like unto parasites riding on the backs of folks who actually do and think and create.<\/em> Not worth listening too—focus on the do-ers, the creators.<\/li>\n
  7. enjoy our family and friends instead of watching crazy TV and listening to crazy radio. Have people you care about over for a potluck (no one has the time to do more than that in our hectic lives, but a potluck is good for the soul (and the stomach if you have acquired good cooks as friends) and, like stone soup, is a good way to stretch a tight budget).<\/li>\n
  8. Hug your children and friends (and friend’s children) because, as we learned too well this week, you just never know.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Is there a similar Mother Brigade already out there? Let me know! Leave links in the comments! I live in a deep, dark hole called Arizona. I don’t know what’s going on out there in the real world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    …I live in AZ and my Mother taught me I shouldn’t lie. The UK’s Guardian weighs in on AZ. I am quite happy to concede that both political sides have engaged in hyperbole and insanely over-the-top rhetoric, but a wonderful little girl on my son’s little league team died this weekend as a result of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6,16],"tags":[231,230],"class_list":["post-1627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-fun","category-family","category-unavoidable-politics","tag-mom-brigade","tag-tragedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}