Wednesday, May 06, 2009

USA-Where is the outrage Alisa Wilson has?‏

This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. of Beverly Hills, CA in response to the Wall Street Journal article titled "Where's The Outrage? Really" ("If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention”) by Arthur Brooks that appeared July 31, 2008. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746010408198765.html)

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Really, I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening for who am I?
I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement.

I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates.

I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.

The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change.

Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America, is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair.

Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?

When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we could not afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.

I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.

I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my child to private school, that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company, or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish". WHY? This is America, our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.

I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee. Tennessee, last I checked, is still part of the United States. If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.

In the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication of The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, Aisha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.

I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do.

An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a madman no less, we continue to do.

Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the Jews—one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?

As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a Bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle policy in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment: I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit.

But when and where does the lunacy stop? Ahamadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong, good from evil... So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.

So, America, although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it.

I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.

Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills, California

There are a lot more out there who think just like Alisa Wilson, the only difference she put her thoughts in an e-mail that will reach thousands

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Think you are outraged? Imagine the same set of circumstances only without a college education. I am the one keeping the lights on, the water running and the garbage emptied. I am the one cleaning and feeding your elderly parents in the nursing home, because you are too busy. I am the one who wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam for an amount up to and including my life, to defend my country, in who's eyes I am a non-entity. Here too lies the outrage.

Anonymous said...

I would like to start with the notion that is good this middle-class, well educated woman had the opportunity to speak her mind unrestrained and without fear of reprisal. America is a country of immigrants; all of whom at one time or another were the minority interests. It is a country where people can come and go. No papers, no identification, no tattoos, no anything "proving one's right" to be an anywhere. Through history one cluture or another has been the dominant force. It is those cultures which have been best able to assimilate and accommodate new cultures that have survived and considers herself alone. I worry what a majority of these people would force on the rest of us. Today, it is everyone must speak English or get out! Tomorrow it could be if you don't have yellow hair and blue eyes, you're worthless and should be a slave or worse still, exterminated! No, warts and all, I'll gladly stand by the America that now allows me to speak another language or seven of them if I so desire. America has rarely shirked the opportunity to stand in front and lead by example. Why would she start now? Because this woman is afraid of being overrun? Because this woman is afraid of becoming inconsequential? She needs to leave that ivory tower and her perfect world where everyone acts and believes as she does and recognize there are over 6 billion people on this planet. God forbid the day the rest of them start to believe the English speaking is useless. What then? More war? More death? Or perhaps the thought is that the US can simply close its doors and windows and exist without anyone else. Hopefully that's not her plan. We have all seen what turning a blind eye and closed mind results in. No, my middle class, well educated female friend. Instead, count your blessings that your in America and not wearing a burqa by prescription or having your genitals removed by law.

Anonymous said...

WHAT?? Alisa NEVER said that people should not be allowed to speak another language. She was simply saying that English is our natural language yet we are being forced to accomodate those who are here illegally, probably not paying taxes and cannot speak our language. Yes, the USA is a country of immigrants.... immigrants who came here, learned English, and worked hard to become productive members of society. Why should I have to choose whether or not I want to "hear my options in English" when calling almost any customer service center in the USA? When running a business why should I be forced to post United States federally mandated employment posters in Spanish if I have an employee who speaks Spanish?? I don't think anyone has a problem with immigration... but if it is your choice to come to the United States, shouldn't you learn the language? If I moved to Brazil I would feel it necessary to learn Portugese...