Stand Up and be Counted 101 ....

I have a friend - or, in this case, I PROUDLY have a friend - who I'll call Michael for the purpose of this writing (mostly because that's his name), and he just did something that is one of those things that I look at and say, "Man - I wish I'd done that!"

Now we all get crazy e-mails from time to time. In fact, for a few people I am the "crazy e-mail vetter" who delights in analyzing the content of an e-mail and pointing out the inevitable inconsistencies, etc. I have long held the opinion that all e-mails containing the phrase "the truth the mainstream media won't tell you" or "any real American understands" are all written by the same person somewhere in a log cabin in Idaho.

Of course the majority of these e-mails over the past couple of years have featured unreserved incredulity about some aspect of President Obama that any right thinking American would revolt over if they could only get the truth (which is held captive by the Democrat lackeys that pass today as mainstream journalists). Or worse ... and it's the "or worse" e-mails that I'm talking about today.

My friend Michael got an "or worse" e-mail from a family member who was a repeat offender in the e-mail forwarding department, and he felt enough was enough - and with keyboard blazing and God Bless America blaring from his I-tunes, he stood up and set the record straight with this guy.

The part he wrote that I want to share is as follows: In this country there is a fine and honored tradition (indeed our right) of expressing an opposition view of political ideas. My expectation is that opposition should be thoughtful and well reasoned. It should be supported in fact or some responsible interpretation thereof. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard and avoid malicious rumor, lies, and innuendo. Such tactics ... are not reflective of the standards of opposition taught me by my father and my grandfather, or what I would expect of my children.

He further wrote describing why he choose to send his response using "Reply All" the following explanation: " ... I don't want anyone you included in the address line to think that I, in any way, agree or align with such nonsense."

Cue the applause, drop the confetti from the ceiling, and hand that man the Man of the Year plaque he so richly deserves. That he is now the target of a vitriolic campaign of responses from those offended by his insistence on truth and accuracy is regrettable, but he will rise above that, too. He's a real American in my book, and whatever they dish out, he can take.

In today's politics, what passes for "truth" in the world of talk radio and on the Internet is essentially any group of words or thoughts that align with someone's preconceived emotions. Every single day, in order to build an audience and stay employed, a talk radio host has to make you feel like you need to be listening to their show, so they sensationalize and yell "the sky is falling", and have to convince their listeners that they can't get the real story anywhere else (or the listener might just go there instead). To streamline that process, they have learned the value of playing on their listeners preconceived notions and emotions. Russ Limbaugh can (and does) say whatever he wants to, and all the heads listening to him will nod in agreement as long as the end of the story is anti-Obama.

One e-mail will call President Obama a Communist, the next one a Nazi, and the next one a closet Muslim extremist secretly hellbent on the destruction of America as we know and love it, and they will all get blindly forwarded a million times because for a dedicated few it fits emotionally to link Obama to something bad. Anything bad. And the more outrageously bad it is, the better, apparently.

So what's the answer? What? You read this blog for answers?? That's a crazy thought ... but in my opinion, like so many things in our lives today, the only possible answer lies in individual responsibility. Be like Mike. Check things out and when they aren't right, stand up and say so. Require more from our friends and require more from ourselves. We are correct to require more from our government, but the requirement scenario goes both ways. The political discourse in this country cannot dissolve into Rainman like communications ... "Obama bad ... bad man". Political discussions need to rise a little higher and not be just an exercise in complaining and negatively branding based on perception rather than fact.

So hooray for Mike and people like him that stand up and be counted. He's my hero, and I am proud, for this and for many other reasons, to call him my friend.