SODA: The sour taste of Syrup

Interesting experience with intolerance today. So I was at a little outdoor festival (multi-activity/various sponsors 4-H etc) and there was a syrup-tasting contest. (Maple). (And other kinds). You were invited to taste the syrup (homemade) (various mothers, aunts etc) and make a Judgment. (Best one wins: Toyota Prius).

Well so there I was and I got to the front and tasted the syrup, made my vote, etc. (I liked a boysenberry kind the best - most others NOT SWEET ENOUGH for my taste.) So far so good. Then a girl (25-28) (Amber-Cromby Fitch t-shirt/ Henna tattooes/ skinny etc) comes up to me with a little tape recorder and wants to interview me for the local town paper. (I asked her if she was a Stringer but she said no. I'm not sure what she was. I would still like to meet a Stringer one day). She said there would be a little blurb about the festival and syrup contest in tomorrow's paper (distribution - about 3000) and my headshot would appear next to my quote. Sounded good to me, I'm game, I said. (I can be pretty cooperative)

She asked me (recording now) How was I enjoying the syrup contest today and which one did I think was the best?, and here's what I said. I'll have to parah phrase (from memory) pending publication of the article tomorrow (if my quote makes it in - fingers cross). I said something like this:

"It's a wonderful day and I think the Syrup Contest is a great way to bring the community together. Really, all the syrups were great, but I'd have to say that Mrs. W____'s 'Boysenberry Surprise' was the best. Obviously this syrup was not enough to take my mind off of George Bush's evil Mendaciousness, or the just overall wrongness of the Iraq War, but it certainly came closer than all the others."

So far so good. Something like that, anyway. Par for the course relly.

But here's the part that shocked me relly (Jaw dropped to ground, completely). At that point she turned off the tape recorder and wanted to know "what was I talking about". What do you mean,? I said. Is this still America (or not?). She said (something like) "Uh, ok but if you don't mind I'll probably only use the syrup part of your quote" (something nonsense about newspaper inches being limited bla bla bla). I said how can she Squish my Dissent like this Why is she trying to Muzzle? (something like that). She said "Well look, you can't expect me to print all that extraneous stuff, it's just irrelevant to the story. I actuelly agree about Iraq and all but why did you even bring it up anyway, it has nothing to do with the syrup!"

(Why did I even bring it up anyway????????)

Well I don't have to tell you I was just about steaming my top off here. I mean, the nerve! Now, ordinarily in times past, before I found the wonderful world of ``blogs'' where fantastic ideas and arguments are shared, I would not of had an answer for this fascist.

But as it happens, because of my exposure to ``blogs'', I was able to Pause, think for a moment, and then patiently explain, that,,, I believe that it is very important to have a national conversation about the massive dishonesty of the president of the United States and the administration he leads. Nevertheless, one cannot say: "Don't you see, the president is a liar!" week after week or else people will think you are a crank. Paul Krugman in particular experiences this problem. Others among us only have limited opportunities to appear on the broadcast media, and do not get to choose the appointed topics for discussion. In either case, it is convenient to take this syrup contest either as a jumping-off point for Bush's Mendaciousness or as a pretext to make Iraq War wrongness quotes or what have you. One's access to the media stream is limited, and topic-selection is not entirely under one's control. When one does gain such access, however, one would be foolish not to attempt to steer the conversation to what one regards as the crucial issues of the day. The fact that an uninformed reader may come away thinking that Mrs. W___'s Boysenberry Surprise syrup has something to do with Bush or the Iraq War is regrettable. I hope that few people who did not already believes this have been caused to believe it by her wonderfully sweet, yet mysteriously pungent syrup. The fact that an uninformed citizen may leave a Bush speech believing that the (wrong) Iraq war was right, is an outrage. Given the opportunity to shift the conversation from Topic A to Topic B, I would be remiss not to do so.

Well. As you can imagine that just about (nearly) stopped her in her tracks. There were some awkward words after that (some unprintable, here) but Soon enough she walked away.

Just another example about how the corporate owned mainstream "so" called "liberal" "media" simply CANNOT tolerate a little Dissent. Here. In America.