...because some are letting you down.
If you read my blog on Ronald Reagan you will have noticed that I admired him, even as a Brit in Southern Africa. I don’t think I went overboard—it was a simple eulogy—and I praised the old warrior for his achievements.
I subscribe to the on-line editions of many newspapers, including the New York Times, so I felt my eulogy might find a place in that paper’s remembrance pages. I think there were 700 or so messages, at last count, but there may have been more. I logged on as usual yesterday morning and was surprised to find (in amongst the praise-singers like myself), a torrent of vitriolic, vulgar and quite bitter condemnations of the former President. I felt ashamed (I’m not American, remember), and somewhat slighted. I mean, where I grew up there were condolence books for the departed (this was long before the internet), and you paid your respects with dignity and with deference to the mourning family.
In fact, this is what I expected: A forum for those people who want to pay their respects. Don’t you expect that when you send in a short eulogy to a highly-regarded newspaper? Don’t you expect dignity or at the least, only some “soft” criticism in with your condolences?
What I found was virtually a chat room (albeit slower), with insults, condemnations and quite unsuitable, indecorous, Reagan bashing. Contributors commented (in reply), on the unseemly conduct of some (rightfully so), whilst others were awash with glee in their appreciation of the clever commentator’s skills at finding vulgar terms for Reagan’s presidency, his actor life and his wife. I read many comments with disgust and sadness. Apart from the lack of grammatical and spelling accuracy in many of these “remembrances”, I was dumbstruck by how people could be so naïve as to misunderstand the reason for the opportunity to remember.
I’m not familiar with your ways, but I know there are some very nice Americans around. I meet them every day. It could be, in thinking that this might be the American way (The Land of the free and all that) that I’m hitting at the wrong side of the railway line. Perhaps this is how the so-called trailer- trash of America make their feelings known? Perhaps there are many Americans who are anti-USA because they feel they’re not part of the “ Dream”? I need assurances here.
Have you, those of you who cannot respect dignity and patriotism, ever thought that one day you will say farewell to your own hero or heroine, your father and mother. Will you shed tears or will you curse and hope that they will die in hell. That’s close to what quite a few of the Reagan remembrance contributors felt.
I don’t want to get too carried away with this issue but I can tell you that when Nelson Mandela passes away, we South Africans will not be sending crass messages to newspaper columns condemning him or foul-mouthing him or rebuking him for his mistakes. We shall rejoice at his life and we shall thank God for that life. That’s how we do things over here. Will some of you say I’m sick or too subservient or perhaps cranky? There could be some clever remarks!
No-one’s perfect but we can sure as hell desist from overstepping the bounds of decency (by thinking we’re clever at making up profanities for any old reason).
(Footnote: I shall be sending a copy of this blog to the NY Times and I trust that they’ll keep a more cautious eye on the forums which injure their integrity).
***************************************************