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WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?
This letter was sent to the Wall Street
Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills , CA . in response to
the Wall Street Journal article titled "Where's The Outrage?" that appeared July
31,2008.
Really. I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged,
well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no
representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening for who am I?
I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement.
I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to
promote political candidates.
I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to
the public.
The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those
who feel similarly in order to effect change..
Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a
state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's
fair.
Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could
afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off
foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor
judgment?
When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could
afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to
have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the
house that we could afford, not the house that we could not afford. The notion of personal
responsibility has all but died in our country.
I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi
Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun
with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.
I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That the Los
Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my
child to private school, that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to
continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company
, or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish". WHY?
This is America, our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or
multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in
English.
I am outraged at our country's weakness
in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's
Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead
of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at
the Tyson's plant in Tennessee. Tennessee, last I checked, is still part of the United
States. If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by
our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.
In
the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication
of The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, Aisha
due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by
fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations
cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.
I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do. An excellent article, also
published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and
why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a
madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to
detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran 's nuclear program? Would we rather
wait for another Holocaust for the Jews - one which they would be unlikely to survive?
When does it end?
As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so
afraid of global warming that they want to put a Bag tax on grocery bags in California; to
eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San
Francisco. I do my share for the environment: I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed
an energy efficient air conditioning unit. But when and where does the lunacy stop?
Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by
illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong,
good from evil.. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.
So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged,
well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it. I don't even
feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.
Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills , California
There are a lot more out there who think just
like Alisa Wilson, the only difference, she put her thoughts in an email that will reach
thousands. I would like to keep this going and see how big it gets.
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