Somehow, somewhere SOMETHING gave birth to the myth that the far left of the political spectrum is the cool place. If you\u2019re in the middle or on the right, then you\u2019re either stupid or evil. It\u2019s a nonsensical, vapid myth, but the far left has preached it so long that many are as indoctrinated as Scientologists. They don\u2019t associate with or listen to non-lefties. If you\u2019re caught being reasonable, you\u2019ll be disconnected. And that\u2019s the true evil.<\/p>\n
Hollywood has long disconnected moderates and conservatives. Actors who dare hold views similar to most Americans hide them to blend in so that they can continue to work. It\u2019s a whopper-sized hypocrisy to profess to be open and giving and yet be closed to listening, sharing or considering other opinions. The rabid left exists in a hyperbaric echo-chamber. Thank God, I thought, that writers are stronger and freer than the actors imprisoned in their own make-believe world.<\/p>\n
At least, I believed that until recently. I saw General John Kelly\u2019s amazingly brave appearance at yesterday\u2019s press conference.\u00a0 A father whose career was sending other young people into harm\u2019s way, who saw too many of them return in caskets, watched his own son choose that path.\u00a0 Then he got the sad news he\u2019d had to deliver to other parents. Yet, he was courageous enough to speak about his experience to explain why a soldier\u2019s comfort, like a soldier\u2019s world, is very different from the lives and realities of those of us who have never served.\u00a0 I cried a little as I watched, and listened and I saw how much respect General Kelly has earned on so many levels.<\/p>\n
I logged onto Twitter (@quackingalone) and saw that #JohnKelly was trending.\u00a0 I wandered over and was shocked to see the rabid left there having a contest to see who could do the best job at denigrating a man brave enough to share his personal tragedy, and courageous enough to admit that he\u2019d had to personally lead other American heroes to their deaths. Who could watch and not be moved as he shared his own tragedy to explain a soldier\u2019s comfort to America?\u00a0 I posted this Tweet:\u00a0 \u201c#GeneralJohnKelly \u2013 today you proved that patriot doesn\u2019t mean pushover and that courage takes many forms. #JohnKelly\u201d<\/p>\n
Yesterday I logged onto my Twitter account to see that I\u2019d been unfollowed by a huge number of OTHER AUTHORS.\u00a0 So, I learned that I was, sadly, wrong. Like actors, those authors take the money of mainstream America, but they disconnect anyone who has another view, who sees another reality. These writers want you to enter the worlds they create, to fall in love or laugh or cry while their characters do \u2013 but they don\u2019t want mainstreamers to know that secretly, they\u2019re laughing at us and looking down at us. Luckily, it doesn\u2019t have to be secret any longer. Anyone can check out an author on Twitter BEFORE clicking the buy button.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a reader who is tired of being shown that you matter less and are less deserving of respect because you don\u2019t drink the left-handed Kool-Aid, then maybe you should vote with your wallet.\u00a0 Before you buy a book, log onto the writer\u2019s Twitter account and see who he or she follows. Does it include people with views similar to yours? A writer should be following a wide, expansive and diverse community of folks.\u00a0 It should include people across the political spectrum. The group should be defined by who is interesting, not by who is a rabid leftie. If you don\u2019t see people in that group who believe like you do, then you should reconsider that purchase.<\/p>\n
Those who believe that everyone is entitled to respect shouldn\u2019t tolerate disrespect and condescension from people we give our money to. Don\u2019t support anyone who wants to sell you something but would never listen to you or consider your thoughts.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t use the power of the purse to insist that freedom is as grounded in listening and sharing as it is in talking and pontificating, we\u2019ll lose it forever. Our soldiers, sailors and marines and especially our Gold Star families who\u2019ve paid the ultimate price deserve better. Freedom isn\u2019t free and respect is a two-way street.\u00a0 Check before you buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Somehow, somewhere SOMETHING gave birth to the myth that the far left of the political spectrum is the cool place. If you\u2019re in the middle or on the right, then you\u2019re either stupid or evil. It\u2019s a nonsensical, vapid myth, but the far left has preached it so long that many are as indoctrinated as ...continue reading \"Readers __ Check Before You Buy\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4580"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4585,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions\/4585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}