Letter To The Editor: I am white. I am male. I am also 68 and a Vietnam Era veteran. And I am angry.

[kpete]

Times have changed...so, quit complaining
To the Editor:

I am white. I am male. I am also 68 and a Vietnam Era veteran. And I am angry.

And I know many people my age who are also angry. They see gays and lesbians demanding the right to get married. They see a black man in the White House with a strange sounding name, changing our health care system and suggesting that we as a nation might have something to do with the sorry state of affairs in the world.

To my fellow seniors who are upset and alarmed at this, I have a message: Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Enough of your whining! The world is changing, and it's about time you got off your mental easy chair and did the same! Your stubborn resistance to change is maddening!

Upset about gay lifestyle? I am married more than 40 years ... to a woman ... and I do not in any way feel threatened by gays and lesbians who wish to be wed. Here's some advice – one senior to another – try minding your own business.

When I see you no longer eating pork or working on Sunday, then I'll take your Bible-based opposition to gay marriage seriously.

And while you are at it, stop complaining about this so-called “socialist” president as you sit in your easy chairs collecting both Medicare and Social Security. And don't swallow the hogwash about a Republican saving Medicare and a Democrat “robbing” it. Please, don't make seniors look senile by swallowing that lie. ( I'll deal with that lie in my next letter.)

You constantly lament how things have gotten worse. Yes, they have.

Ours was a noble generation that fought for Medicare, for equal rights for women and blacks, clean air and water and decent wages for all. Now too many of us fight for tax breaks for the wealthiest few and more power and money for corporations. How noble is that?


We admired and respected broadcasters like Walter Cronkite and Paul Harvey. Men of integrity. Now we are taken in by any right-wing blowhard with a microphone, the biggest being a four-times married, self-admitted drug abuser. Another so insane, even Fox News dropped him.

And, yes, there is a black man in the White House. It's a sign of the changing face of America. I fully understand for many this is an uncomfortable sign; your old world is gone. For most, what you feel is not bigotry; it's fear. Deep down fear.

Please! It's 2012. Stop fearing change! Embrace it! Welcome it as we did so many years ago because change is here and will continue with or without our help.

Charlie Lawrence
Johnston

http://www.cranstononline.com/stories/Times-have-changedso-quit-complaining,74487?category_id=52&town_id=3&sub_type=stories

[dionysus]

1. excellent

[zbdent]

2. I keep hearing whining teabaggers whose real "contribution to the dialog" is their whining

about how everybody else is making it so tough for them ...

[russspeakeasy]

69. + 1

[Georgia Peach]

3. Hey White Guys!

I'm glad to meet and share the planet with a fellow human being such as Mr. Lawrence. Check out another message to white guys.

[Vox Moi]

24. I'm a white guy and I'm real mellow ...

... my favorite fruit is fruit Jello.
Just had to say that.
I might also say that I like Bill's video a lot. Charlie Lawrence's letter too.
They both sound a little like Common Sense, updated for issues Paine could never have imagined.
Hope and Common Sense. Sounds good to me.

[xtraxritical]

39. I'm a wasp too, I think I'm a little older than Bill in my early '60s.

I feel just as stereotyped as any minority. There's lots of that here on DU. I suppose it's because there's so many effete white breads, like McConnell etc., in congress. I will say that over the course of my life I've voted for Humphrey, McGovern, Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama. President Obama is the only winner I've ever voted for. I avoided the draft and Vietnam like the plague, I don't think military service is patriotic or heroic. It's mostly just a way to go for the poor and disadvantaged. I was in the streets in Chicago during the convention in 1968. My grandparents lived in N.W. Washington D.C. in the 1950's when all the whites fled to the Maryland suburbs - they stayed. When we visited them when I was about 7 - 12 years old I saw Jim Crow in action. I did not really understand at the time but I saw it. I played and ran all over the neighborhood with black children, I visited their homes and they visited with me at my grandparents. My brother and his friend across the street went to Mississippi to register voters in the early sixties. I recently got together with my two best friends growing up, Bruce lives in Florida, Larry lives in Chicago. I was gratified to find that they're both Democrats and think that Republicans are fucking crazy. Please people give up on the stereotypes, they are untrue for any race or culture.

"Ours was a noble generation that fought for Medicare, for equal rights for women and blacks, clean air and water and decent wages for all."

[Le Taz Hot]

93. +1

" Please people give up on the stereotypes, they are untrue for any race or culture. "

This needs to be a separate thread.

[mindwalker_i]

28. I'm not white,

I'm chromatically challenged.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Melanin-deficient.

[smirkymonkey]

65. I so love this guy - too bad he's married.

I really wish more men were like him.

[DiverDave]

70. Uh, there are LOTS of

men just like him.
I'm one. And I know a bunch of em.

[smirkymonkey]

85. That's great to know! I was kind of losing hope there for a while!

Wish I could find someone like that! You have given me some hope!

[Buns_of_Fire]

88. THIS is a guy worth having a beer with!

[bemildred]

4. Me too, I sick of these shallow, ugly bigots making us look bad.

[Mponti]

5. How you feeling about....

Romney - a pro-Vietnam war draft dodger - as commander in chief of our troops?

PS thanks for writing this......i will forward to my senior friends

[xtraxritical]

42. Ryan/Romney a pair to draw to.

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 05:17 PM - Edit history (1)

Romney - worships a sex addicted polygamist con man, Joseph Smith, as a "Biblical" prophet.

Ryan - Says he's a "devout" Catholic but is enamored of and emulates a generally discredited atheist pseudo intellectual crackpot - Ayn Ryan. (Do you think their related?).

Vote for these idiots? Forgetaboutit. (edited to say I meant Ayn Rand. My stupid!)

[TahitiNut]

6. Paul Harvey ... a man of integrity??

[Brother Buzz]

9. Oh, Snap!

I believe we're on the same page.

[eggplant]

16. I was fine until I tripped over that line.

Paul Harvey was respectable? He was the Rush Limbaugh of his time.

[AnnieK401]

19. Maybe I'm wrong

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

I was pretty young during his time and almost never listened to him, but I believe he had more integrity than Limbaugh or Beck - he had to. He could still be considered as being a Journalist I believe, Rush, etc. are not. I don't think he displayed the kind of hate mongering that the RW of today does.

[bayareaboy]

34. Limbaggers was just a long winded gasbag ...

Who came out of top 40 radio in Sacramento. He could just as well be selling furniture for Cheap Charlies Bargain Basement as the king shit of the rePUGs.

The only thing I noticed was Paul Harvey, once in while acting like a Southern Baptist Minister.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

44. True, he did not display the same level of hate. But he was a RW reader, not "a Journalist."

[SomethingFishy]

35. I had to double take on that one too...

[MrMickeysMom]

49. Yeah, I caught that one, too TahitNut!

Oh well.... Page Two!

[chemp]

7. Makes me proud

To be a Rhode Islander!

Cranston, RI represent!

[Brother Buzz]

8. Paul Harvey?

Jeez Louise

[Siwsan]

13. Maybe the Paul Harvey mention is a verbal hook

Keep their attention by including the name someone THEY might admire, whether the writer did, or not. At least that's my interpretation.

[progressoid]

48. I agree.

And Harvey wasn't even in the same category as today's vitriolic gasbags.

[heaven05]

18. do

do you know of Paul Harvey? did you ever listen to him? I drove an 18 wheeler, listened to him at different times, day and night. He had integrity and was not like these modern day right wing MSM hacks POSING as real journalists.

[Brother Buzz]

22. Paul Harvey spun ONE right-wing meme into each and every story

I listened to him for decades and learned to listen for that right-wing spin in each broadcast. He was much subtler than the shock jocks we have today, but nevertheless, he was catapulting the propaganda just the same.

[heaven05]

26. well

one is better than the whole damn show: e.g. wallace, beck, limpnuts et al? no arguement on the one rightwing spin. I learned to ignore it.

[former9thward]

55. Yet you listened to him "for decades".

Strange.

[Brother Buzz]

58. Not strange, he was carried on our once great radio station, KGO

KGO was possibly the most balanced talk show radio station in the nation, albeit with a slight progressive leaning, especially in the evenings.Their 50,000 watt flame-thrower directional signal reached most of the west coast. Paul Harvey was broadcast two, three times a day plus that cool, "The rest of the story" thing.

One time KGO talk show host, Gill Gross, studied under Paul Harvey and wrote the Paul Harvey program (sans the political spin) when his was out sick. Gill Gross did what Paul Harvey should have done.

Cumulus Media purchased the station a canned all keen minds; it's been downhill ever since. We no longer listen to it.

[calimary]

67. Oh yes indeed, MANY of us are VERY familiar with paul harvey.

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I thought he was fairly harmless until the whole OJ calamity in 1994.

Then one afternoon he was on, and he focused on the 911 call Nicole Simpson had made when OJ was outside her house (after they'd split up), raging, bellowing, and banging on the door, trying to break the door down and get in at her. You could hear him in the background as she struggled to keep her composure while talking to the 911 operator. You could hear the fear and desperation in her voice. And she said a couple of four-letter words in her panic and terror.

So guess what paul harvey had to say about that?????????

He carried on, describing it, didn't play any excerpt or part of the 911 recording - that by then had become famous.

And his comment at the end of it was - "what a shame that such a beautiful young woman should use such foul language!"

WTF?????????????????????????????????????????????

MAN! I remember sitting there at a stoplight just gaping at my car radio!!!! I couldn't believe what I'd just heard!!!!!!

Then and there, I signed off of paul harvey for life. That's ALL he could come up with? What a shame that SHE used foul language???????

OMG!!!!! He was worth LESS-THAN-NOTHING to me after that, and ever since.

[heaven05]

76. I missed that one.

yeah, fubar for sure.

[calimary]

83. I remember staring, mouth agape, at my radio when I heard that.

Thank goodness I was stopped at a red light. I would have been frozen in my tracks for several seconds if the light had turned green. I don't even know who or what I might have accidentally driven into, if I'd been moving at that moment. I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EARS. But by God he said that. I was shocked, stunned, and utterly stupefied! I literally couldn't believe what I was hearing. That poor woman had been the victim of the most horrible, grisly slasher-murder in local history, and this was all paul harvey could say about her. This was all that grabbed his attention, or made an impression on him. That she said some swear words on the line to 911, when this violent, wife-beating beast was in a full-lather, top-of-his-lungs rage just a few steps away, about to break her door down?!??!!?!? And that's ALL he could say???????????

And that tape was chilling as hell, especially since we all knew how that story ended. You could HEAR him. You could hear his voice in the background, bellowing and raging, screaming obscenities at her at full volume, pounding on her door trying to break it open, and she's cowering in the corner, trying to call 911. And there was ol' paul harvey on the radio, moralizing in his holier-than-thou way about how dreadful it was that she uttered a couple of swear words.

I developed a seething hatred and revulsion for paul harvey on that day, and I've never gotten over it.

[ibegurpard]

20. Paul Harvey wasn't even close to the toxic windbags on today.

[Brother Buzz]

36. No doubt, Paul Harvey would have labeled them as lazy

To his credit, he was good at his craft. Sneaky, but good.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Their dear leader's wives could not be reached for comment

[wordpix]

30. haha, I love the graphic

[AnotherMcIntosh]

45. .

[Scuba]

11. K&R from another angry old white guy.

[CrispyQ]

12. Outstanding!

When I see you no longer eating pork or working on Sunday, then I'll take your Bible-based opposition to gay marriage seriously.

There's a great bumper sticker in there!

[surrealAmerican]

21. That's the one line I thought should have been left out.

Here's why: even if the person is a pious practitioner of their religion, they have no right to impose their dogma on those outside their religion. If their church refuses to marry same-sex couples, or recognize such marriages, that is their right. Imposing civil laws on the rest of us is not.

[CrispyQ]

64. The point to me was that

they are not really a practitioners of their religion when they cherry pick the Bible. Where is the bill outlawing the eating of pork & working on Sunday?

They never see their hypocrisy. Their humanity has been hijacked by their ideology.

[Berlin Expat]

94. A bill outlawing the eating of pork?

Jesus ate ham sandwiches every day, doncha' know? It's right there in the Bible!!

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?!

[AnnieK401]

14. Excellent Post

At 54 I am in the generation right behind you, and was starting to lose hope about those just ahead of me. I felt they were ready to throw those of us in our early - mid 50's under the bus. Anyway, thanks again for this, no one could have said it better.

[heaven05]

15. yes

A real one! "may you live long and prosper. I woulda been your back in '68'

[Honeycombe8]

17. Here here! nt

[Bohunk68]

95. Hear! Hear!

I'm in the same category as the OP and agree with everything but Paul Harvey. Good Day!

[skeewee08]

23. Awesome

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

25. Weird

Went to check comments at the source and there were zero. I made one, now there's one.

[mountain grammy]

27. wonderful letter, afraid I might plagiarize a little for a letter of my own

[wordpix]

29. I'm angry, too - mom with Alzheimer's going broke, no tax benefit for care giving, pay high tax for

the privilege of hiring aides. No Medicare benefits unless mom has a trip to the doc, which she doesn't need often b/c she's physically healthy.

Impossible to care-give a sick elderly person and work outside the home. This system totally sucks for Alz./dementia patients and their families, and beware, estimate is 1/2 people over 80 will get Alzheimer's.

[awoke_in_2003]

59. "no tax benefit for care giving"...

yet Romney can right off $70k for clothes for a dressage horse.

[Thinkingabout]

77. Wordpix, I will add Reagan cut research on dementia and look who needed it

I am sorry for your problems, my father also had Alzheimer's and it is hard on all the family. We pay for crops not to be planted and we do not take care of the elder.

[raccoon]

82. And no national health plan for the caregivers, unless they're over 65. nt

[avebury]

31. Well said! K&R

[gael]

32. I am pissed off

as well, as a 71 year old woman when I see and hear the tea baggers, and the bar-code congressmen, that serve to accomodate the rich, and I wonder, what the hell happened. Sacrifices made by our parents, in educating us, to secure management and professional lives, didnt translate knowledge of the labor movement and the shared sacrifice and strength of the unification of purpose to our own offspring who now in their 40's and 50's are running this country into the ground. The first generation of college educated, failed to carry the dignity of labor, craftmanship, and social responsibility to the next generation.

We used to have a sense of "fair play", and justice, but we dont have a congress or justice system that believes in accountability. We must quit tolerating corruption. Criminal activity is not defined by wealth, and yet those with wealth and power write checks and remain unscathed by loss of reputation or wealth.

We blew it.

[The Wizard]

37. The wealthy elites

own the propaganda outlets and use those outlets skillfully causing people to vote for those who will sell them the rope for their own hangings.
Republicans have no shame, and succeed by exploiting weak people's worst fears and lowest instincts.
They have their own propaganda network that broadcasts such blatant lies that they give the major broadcasters cover to spew a more subtle, and therefore, more effective propaganda.

[wordpix]

86. "we must quit tolerating corruption" - here, here but that means ending legalized campaign bribery

I'll give you $10 million or $100 million as Adelson plans to do, and you give me tax breaks and/or gov. contracts worth even more. And of course, Rmoney will be the Accomodater-in-Chief for this if he gets in.

[VPStoltz]

38. Thank you for your service - of moving the country FORWARD!

[RC]

40. Hey, that OP title resembles me!

I am white. I am male. I am also 68 and a Vietnam Era veteran. And I am angry.

Except, I am more scared, because of all the people that buy the Republican bullshit, hook line and sinker.

I'm not like these geezers

Taken at Santa-Cali-Gon in Independence, this morning.

Which begs the question; Where was the Democrats booth? I didn't see it.
This is where we fall down.

[progressoid]

50. I see they aren't encouraging a vote FOR Mitt.

Just vote against Obama.

[MrMickeysMom]

51. Great point!

Where are the Democrat's booth?

Please, wherever this goes... please someone follow up!

My Tee shirt slogan: OMG! GOP! WTF!!!

[mick063]

71. Me too!

Fifty five year old, white, veteran, middle class male.

I despise everything the Tea Party, Paul Ryan, Sean Hannity, Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, and Mitt Romney stands for.

They collectively are the single biggest threat to American prosperity (unless you are a 1%er).

[progressivebydesign]

41. any room for Charlie at the Convention? Another wonderful American!! n/t

[Historic NY]

43. Thanks Charlie...for speaking up...

in our youth we llistened to "The times they are a changing"...thanks for reminding us were still on the road worth traveling.

[Vietnameravet]

46. Paul Harvey

Yes, Paul Harvey was a conservative..but in those days Conservatives had integrity.. Paul Harvey even said he regretted his support of the Vietnam War..

So yes I would say Paul Harvey was a man of integrity..I disagreed with him but he was never a hateful bomb throwing liar..

[DirkGently]

47. Bang. Real Old White Men Unite.

[elbloggoZY27]

52. Thanks From A Vietnam Vet

Charlie,

Thanks. A am also a Vietnam Veteran. Spent a year in Hawaii and two years as a crew member on CVA 64 USS Constellation 1966-68.

I am aghast at the ugliness in Washington and the attacks on Medicare and Social Security and the Federal Workforce no matter where you work.

The GOP has only one Agenda and it adds up to one big ZERO plus they are stuck on the word NO.

So I send my greetings to all those on this Labor Day Holiday and hope you all have a really safe one. This Country did not get founded on the word NO.

Pass a jobs bill now and stop sending jobs to Foreign Countries.

[Cleita]

53. There are many seniors out there who do agree with this man.

Unfortunately, the TV and media outlets seem to always interview the Tea Baggers and makes them look representative of all seniors. They aren't and I would venture to say aren't even in the majority. We were the ones in our early twenties who were marching for civil rights, the end of wars and women's rights. We haven't gone away.

[bluestateboomer]

54. From another old white guy.... I agree!

This Viet Nam vet feels the same.

[luv_mykatz]

56. Kicking

Kicking, to further the discussion.

[drm604]

57. "For most, what you feel is not bigotry; it's fear."

No, it's bigotry. Fear is what drives bigotry. You can't separate the two and say that it's fear, not bigotry.

I'll echo what others have said about Paul Harvey. He was a right-wing blowhard. He certainly does not deserve mention in the same breath as Cronkite.

Even ignoring politics, Cronkite wipes the floor with the likes of Harvey. Cronkite was journalist. Harvey was an entertainer.

[Vietnameravet]

62. Maybe I am too young but..

but I dont remember Paul Harvey as accusing the other side of hating America, of wanting the President to fail, or so many of the other things you hear these days on right wing radio...if you can bear to listen.

I remember him as a conservative and as an entertainer but not as a hateful divisive bomb thrower..

That is my recollection.. but I was really a kid at the time..

[drm604]

63. I never said that he did any of those things.

Just that he was a right-wing blowhard and nowhere near being in the same league as Cronkite.

[nolabear]

60. Well done. K&R

[life long demo]

61. I loved reading this

Excellent. I went to the website and read the responses (3) which were also good. BTW a little help for an elderly white woman please. lol Where is Cranston?

[ErikJ]

66. Rhode Island

Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. With a population of 80,387 at the 2010 census, it is the third largest city in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston.[3] Cranston is a part of the Providence metropolitan area.

[progress2k12nbynd]

68. Why do people define themselves by their race?

This guy is a veteran but the first thing he defines himself by is the pigment of his skin?

[mick063]

72. Because the GOP has made it a "dog whistle" talking point.

The "We hate Obama" mantra has several underlying themes. One of them is black vs white.

As an old white man, it is my duty to counter the perception that we are all on board with the GOP.


I look forward to the day when race is not an issue. It isn't for me. I feel much better about our nation being led by our great President. One of the best in my lifetime but not given a chance from inauguration day because of constant GOP hurdles.

[DirkGently]

87. Well put.

[pampango]

73. "Please! It's 2012. Stop fearing change! Embrace it!" - Excellent! n/t

[Cha]

74. Thank you, Charlie Lawrence Johnston!

Thanks, kpete!

[Doctor_J]

75. I'm an old straight white guy who feels he's been dealt a good hand

the Hate Radio and Big Media fools give my demographic a bad name

[DeSwiss]

78. K&R!!!

- For the ''try minding your own business'' line alone!!!

[center][/center]

[tilsammans]

79. Keepin' it kicked!

Very well said.

[Angry Dragon]

80. Great letter

[lib2DaBone]

81. Diversions.: Problem-Reaction-Solution...

They WANT you to think that the problem with the economy is that some Senior Citizen who paid into the system for 40 years and is collecting a measly $500 bucks a month is getting more than her fair share..

Meanwhile.. Dick Cheney and his buddies are spending $40 BILLION per month in Afghanistan.

Gasoline in Afghainstan is $400 a gallon.. and guess who is paying for it?

Let that sink in .... $40 BILLION PER MONTH!!!

How many roads would this build? How many schools?


Paul Ryan wants to chop off Senior-Citizen legs to the bone.. and give the money to his fat-cat friends.

When-o When will people wake up? Not untill it's too late.

[daybranch]

84. change

Ain't it wonderful?

[Ladyteguesian]

89. Thank You for your letter and your service.

I would like to begin by saying thank you first of all for your service, and second for your letter. I would like to make a suggestion, that you either send copies of or email this letter to every MAJOR paper in the country. The word needs to get out to the "brainwashed" FOX and right wing radio groupies. They need a wake up call, and your letter is just the ticket. I actually stumbled quite by accident to this website, and yours was the first (and so far) only letter I have read, and even though I am a devout, free thinking, liberal democrat, you gave me a lot excellent talking points. This is only a suggestion, but I hope it's one you will consider.

Bonnie Gentry
(Ladyteguesian)

[nikto]

90. Great post, but...

I don't think I'd classify Paul Harvey as a man of principle.

Cronkite, yeah.

But he's on a whole other level from Harvey.

If Harvey is a "man of principle", it is only in the same sense that Ted Nugent is a "classic rocker".

If that is true, then Cronkite must equal Eric Clapton, at least.

[Tarheel_Dem]

91. Rec #280.

[penndragon69]

92. Thank you for your service and bravery.

Two things that are seriously lacking in the younger generations.