Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Are We Angry or Lazy?

St. Paul Pioneer Press reader Luke Soiseth summed up a lot of what I'm feeling in a letter to the editor (scroll through about two-thirds of the other letters on that page to find it, or read it below) in today's paper:

I read the letters to the paper and, worse yet, the online comments after news stories and become more and more dismayed that, while a few earnest people seem to want to push the country forward, most others are gleefully busy holding back the earnest and then laughing at and berating them as they fail.

It's like we're on this great ship (The America), with a powerful mission (truth, peace, justice for all), but half of the crew (anyone who is — or even feels they might be — out of power) is forever turning into zombie pirates trying to destroy the captain, the mission, the rest of the crew and any ideas put forth to improve conditions on the ship.

Judging by what I read, it really must be some great catharsis to say how stupid other people are — whether you're a powerful talk radio or television host or some goon growling into your computer monitor at midnight.

But I think we're less angry than we are lazy. Answers, programs, ideas, plans, bills, dreams — all take time and effort and intelligence and patience. Saying that other guy is an idiot (or goon), takes none of that. See how easy that was?

Luke Soiseth, St. Paul

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