Junto Boys

PEOPLE JUST AREN'T INFORMED

That's what I heard a guy say at the table next to ours at Steak and Ale Friday Night. We were out shopping for Christmas dinner and stopped by to let someone else cook. Next to us was the 25ish everypundit who was holding court next to a guy and a girl his age and a man that could have been a tagalong father. Our pundit was talking at a level that he obviously wanted others to hear. You see, Bush mislead the American people and now we're losing this war in Iraq. If more people were informed about this then Bush would surely be impeached. Nobody is watching CNN.

I said, "Trish, are you listening to that guy? This is why Bush's approval numbers hover around 20%."

Now I showed great restraint in not saying anything. Decorum means letting blowhards be blowhards and that's probably why so few people have confronted my bombastic public opinions. Speaking up won't change anyone's mind, but the urge to do so is still deep within me. The audacity of public confrontation is fun because you can feel the adrenaline the moment you decide to speak the first word. The mystery of what someone might say if confronted makes it all worth it.

In this case, he probably had a little speech prepared for a direct confrontation. But what might he have said if I commented, "I voted for Bush. But I thought the war would be over by now." He'd probably reiterate much of what he said prior. If I followed up by saying, "What's it like over there now?"

Would he fall into the trap of telling me how it is or would he say he doesn't know? If he presumed to tell me how it is, I could simply point out that he doesn't know anything but what some newsman told him. CNN, the same news organization that admitted that it failed to report the whole truth during Saddam's reign for fear of losing their credentials? Al Qaeda has openly admitted beating the Republicans in the 2006 election through their use of the media. E's recent post about Santorum sums it up. If we had the current casualty-focused media during World War II we would have been forced into a settled peace with Hitler instead of unconditional surrender.

But the real question is whether or not to speak up in these situations. The answer lies in the ratio between how much fun it is as the time and how many frowns it will produce from the wife the rest of the evening. Just that look in my eyes brought a begging Trish that I say nothing. After all, it is Christmas.