life by candlelight

I was going to write about my overheard conversation from yesterday's blog but Greg just pointed out an editorial in today's Rocky Mountain News that just killed me.

Look it up in its entirety at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3379477,00.html

It is called "The Breaking Point" by Paul Campos. He writes about staring at a parked Ford Excursion in a shopping mall parking lot and how the sight of this vehicle slowly makes him mad. Here are a few excerpts:

"The most awe-inspiring feature of this particular Excursion is a plastic decal shaped like a yellow ribbon, which its owner has affixed to the back door. The ribbon is embossed with the message, "Support Our Troops." ...

To the owner of the Ford Excursion who implores us to Support Our Troops I say this: You, sir, (or madam) are a monumental jackass. At this moment, American troops are risking their lives to protect your inalienable right to live your life in an impenetrable fog of selfishness and stupidity.

If not for the need to service this grotesque monstrosity on which you squander your money and that of the taxpayers who subsidize your comfortably numb life, those troops you support would not be getting killed and maimed in a country I doubt you could find on a map.
I sometimes wonder if anything short of dynamite can shatter your complacent fantasy that the Iraq war is about bringing democracy to the Middle East.

The truth is that every Arab from Casablanca to Khartoum could be cutting his brother's throat, and yet this would remain a matter of indifference to our government, if not for the need to ensure that you will be able to fill your Excursion with cheap gasoline.

To expect others to sacrifice everything for you, while advertising by your own behavior that you will sacrifice exactly nothing for them, is the height of political and social immorality. And to do so while claiming your political views are an expression of "moral values" is an obscene joke.

Drive off, Ford Excursion. Head back to your gated community, to patiently await the Rapture, or the next Nordstrom's sale. You've driven me past the limits of pundit endurance, and I long to return to the world of thoughtful observation. "

Hear, hear Professor Campos! Maybe he read my blog a few weeks ago when I complained about those ubiquitous yellow ribbons and how they seem quite shallow and superficial. This article gave me a much-needed laugh. Har har.