Wednesday, December 25, 2002
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Wednesday, December 25, 2002 |
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Have a Lott of Merry Christmas By
BILLY MURPHY I am so happy and cheery and ready for Christmas. I feel like every kid in every Christmas poem. I feel like a nutcracker dipped in eggnog rolled in chestnuts. I am excited about Christmas this year from my stockinged head down to my mistletoe. But, wait. It seems a Grinch would steal all my holiday joy. Amidst all this cheer, a story with a heart two sizes too small is stealing Santa's thunder. I'm talking about Trent Lott. But, wait. Is it actually Trent Lott as the villain? Or the media's incessant over-coverage of the all-new Christmas Story? It's enough to make Matt Lauer get an ever-worse haircut. (Is he going to next, bleach, get a tongue ring and talk about growing up in 'da hood?). Sure, Lott committed a transgression in the grand Republican tradition such as Richard Nixon and Newt Gingrich, but does it have to be "All Trent, All the Time." The newspapers are working the angles. CNN is working the sound bites. Who would've known that the next big story with Strom Thurmond's name in it would NOT be about diapers for the elderly? Now, how can I have a Holly Jolly Christmas when Lott's actions have triggered the kind of media frenzy that even the Civil War couldn't muster? Just do away with him or don't, but do we have to watch every breath of every minute? I have no personal opinion on what should be done with him; this is why we have elected leaders in our country, to lend their unbiased, un-lobbied, unencumbered wisdom to such matters. We're all sure our leaders would never use such an event to advance their own agendas of partisan politics, right? Yeah, and Tony Soprano is going to be reading the story of Baby Jesus at the Vatican, come Christmas morning. When we all should be of good cheer and merriment, we are being pummeled with the hammer of divisiveness yet again. I think there are actually about 37 people left in our country who really want segregation, yet it is pictured as the "new" problem. I believe in the freedom for all to go where ever they please, whenever they choose, yet why has segregation been thrown out again as the desire of all whites and whites only? Last time I looked we didn't have our own network station (BET) or own cache of institutions (black colleges) nor our own all-white beauty pageants. It seems that the demographic set that Trent Lott falls into (white men) is the only group not practicing segregation. There is no N.O.M. like the N.O.W. Poor Santa, how can he compete with this? Sure, Trent made some stupid statements and he should be held accountable. But, does double stupidity make up for stupidity? This year I won't even be able to enjoy Grandpa exploding the Christmas tree in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," for fear Tom Brokaw will interrupt the broadcast with news about Trent Lott's inflammatory statements in his sixth grade yearbook. I will enjoy Christmas this year, though. Because I know how to turn it off. I know how to discern what is real and what is topic-driven, media-induced, prefabricated rubbish. You do, too. Have a very Merry Christmas this year and peace and goodwill on earth.
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