W.R. Marshall -- You being appalled doesn't stop them from being appalling

YOU BEING APPALLED DOESN'T STOP THEM FROM BEING APPALLING

by Dr. W.R. Marshall, Ph.D
February 10, 2008
NewsWithViews.com

There was a time�maybe I don�t remember it, but there had to have been�when being appalled meant something. And not just to the appaller, but to the appallie. I�m not talking about some 19th Century literary bohemians spitting in the eye of fancy French folk. I don�t mean those post-war beatniks banging on their bongos and trying to get a rise out of the man in the gray flannel suit. And forget about those free-lovin�, inhalin� hippies with their bell bottom jeans and their psychedelic art, turning their tie dyed backs on the �Establishment.� All of them were actively trying to appall someone. They behaved in ways that invited consternation, they were trying to shock. When they got the desired response, everyone felt better, the world was balanced.

History is rife with folks marching to the beat of a different drummer. But the out-of-step were always on the fringe, and when polite society� or even impolite society, you have to admit what the Romans did the Christians was just plain rude� turned up their collective noses at those out of the mainstream, everyone knew who was appalling and who was being appalled.

But things have gotten completely out of whack lately. It�s been coming for some time, but it seems our tolerance�or indifference�to the kind of dismay that used end with some hussy wearing a big red �A� on her blouse, has reached a point where we�ll tolerate pretty much anything.

We gather round the television like semi-evolved primates around a fire afraid of the dark, waiting breathlessly for the next word on marginally-talented-bimbos who have been hospitalized or imprisoned for their own good. (And for ours, as we get some rest from their antics.)

When all reasonable people should be done with these jailed hotel inheriting high school drop-outs and talentless former Mouseketeers, a feed frenzy starts that would shame any self-respecting shark, and leads me to believe being appalled is terribly out of fashion.

Take the latest episode in the Britney Spears saga. In the midst of her collapse, giant pussbag and self-important, half-wit Dr. Phil, (who is to Psychology what Tom Cruise is to the Catholic Church) tried to bust into her room so he could fill an hour of his crappy syndicated TV show with her suffering. A show which is generally full of painfully unaware people who somehow think whining on a crappy syndicated TV show to a fake doctor will cure them of their stupidity.

It�s shocking.

Why do we put up with this stuff? Back in the old west, the Dr. Phil Traveling Medicine Show would be run out town, after he was tarred and feathered. Now, people buy a diet book from this guy�who doesn�t look like he ever met a donut he didn�t like.

I think this is George Bush�s fault. (This isn�t partisan politics, it�s an unfortunate fact of daily life.) All you right wing hatemongers out there still go on endlessly about Clinton and the infamous blue dress. Rightfully so, it was appalling behavior. Now you may all be prudes and repressed, but you certainly had every right to be appalled.

Yet, somehow, with the most appalling president in the history of our nation sitting in the White House, we just shake our heads and sigh. Hell, it took Newt Gingrich (who was doing exactly what Clinton was doing at the time Clinton was doing it) a New York minute (that�s supposed to be really short) to bring impeachment to the floor. (Stop with the, �it wasn�t the sex, it was the lying� chorus. Of course it was the was the sex, it�s always the sex.)

We have a bunch of truly horrible people running the country right now. They have lied us into to one war, tried to lie us into another, as well as all kinds of other criminal behavior� and all we do is ignore it. In spite of Gingrich leaving a blueprint for how to get rid of guy doing appalling things, the current Congress took impeachment off the table on day one, which makes you wonder what they�re up to�and we thought the Republican run Congress was bad.

Why aren�t we all converging on the Capital with torches and pitchforks?

Ten years ago we were outraged at sex, today we�re only a little miffed at wholesale invasion�how did we get here?

I�m sure I�d be appalled to find out�

WR Marshall is a syndicated columnist and novelist. His column, 'A Dull Ache'(tm) is read in over one hundred markets around the world. He also has a PhD, which he's still paying for-in more ways than one...