I’m bothered.
I love listening to the talk and news shows — Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and so on. I often have these networks in the background as I write.
Politicians delight me, much as horror movies delight me, and good bowel movements delight me.
But all the politicians will say stuff such as this: “The American people want…” “The American people don’t want…” “The American people would like…” “The American people don’t like…” They drive me crazy!
Okay, the “American People” want gun control; but they don’t want gun control. They want abortion; but they don’t want abortion. They want Obama; but they don’t want Obama. They want entitlements; but they don’t want entitlements. They want big government; but they don’t want big government. The American people want to eat like pigs; but the American people want to be slim.
They want whatever the hell they want and simultaneously they don’t want what they wanted because they don’t want it even though they want it. There are no American people!
Obviously, all of the politicians are blowing smoke up your “you-know-what.” The American “people” don’t want this or that — I might want this and you might not want this. There is no universal agreement on almost everything. (Okay, okay, I am guessing the American people don’t want the flu – except maybe your weird Uncle Utrech.)
So why do we allow politicians, newscasters and citizens to have the gall to say “the American people” as if there really is an entity called The American People? And worse, that somehow in some fantastic way these ploppies actually speak for “the American people.”
When someone says “The American People” I want to hit them over the head with anything the American People can hand me that is available or not available!
[My latest book is Confessions of a Wayward Catholic.]