My wife and I developed a terrible habit during the last presidential election. We spent countless hours watching the news channels — Fox News, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and on and on. If two people hesitated in the hall to discuss politics, or anything newsworthy or not, we eavesdropped to hear what we could hear.
I’m not saying that being informed is a bad thing, but you really can get too much of a good thing. For instance, I love ice cream. Ice cream, to me, is good. However, too much ice cream will make you fat, cause Type II Diabetes, and make your breath smell funny. Well, not funny, but bad.
By the end of a normal day of hearing how wonderful President Trump is on Fox News, and how terrible he is on CNN, MSNBC and on and on, not only do you not know what to believe, but you have spirals in your eyes. It’s almost like the old Archie Campbell skit on the old-time television show “Hee-Haw” (c’mon, it’s still seen in reruns weekly; you’ve seen it) in which Archie explains an event, to which Roy Clark responds, “Well, that’s bad,” and Archie responds, “No, that’s good,” and the banter continues until some logical moral of the story emerges.
Which brings me to my point. I still haven’t seen a logical moral to this political story yet. And, I suspect it will be sometime down the road before I do. The blame game has intensified so much that I have become dizzy following the bouncing ball from the left to the right in this political arena. Further, I’m confident the political players don’t even watch the news coverage. Surely they would see how ridiculous they appear, right? Right? Oh, please tell me I’m right.
And the offering of advice is plentiful, or at least when it’s convenient. The president is advised not to meet with Vladimir Putin, then criticized because he was too tough on him, or not tough enough, or seemed too friendly when he shook the Russian leader’s hand. C’mon! Those so eager to offer advice remind me of the kids in the old Wheaties commercial when neither of the two boys would try the cereal for themselves, but decided to give it to younger brother Mikey, because he hates everything. I don’t want to do it, but I will tell you how. That’s the pundit game.
As we sit and watch the disorganized chaos that is our political system day after day, hour after hour and fattening snack after fattening snack, this occurs to me: I should be on my fifth lap at the track, or mowing the lawn, or weeding the flower garden, instead of accelerating the numbing of my brain by watching the swamp in Washington get swampier. Not to sound empathetic, but while knowledge is a very good thing, my knowing what one of the talking heads is saying about today’s latest happening, or fake happenings as some would have me believe, will not make be a better person, or our country a kinder and gentler nation as George H.W. Bush worked toward.
Now, come, let us reason together. Either we can complain about what’s happening, or we can do something to change what’s happening. The latter is the course I shall take, and you are free to join me if you are brave enough and strong enough.
How do we make the change? Simple. Pick up the television clicker, and either switch to TV Land, or shut it off. Somebody stop me!
Herb Day is a longtime local radio personality and singer-musician. He can be heard Tuesday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon on 88.7 WOBO-FM, and can be reached at [email protected].
