Letters from North America
by Peary Perry
I
may have to start
writing two columns a
week instead of my usual
one. There is just so
much to discuss. Here I
was situated to write
about the craziness
going on with our border
patrol agents and had
done some research on
several events when what
happened?
The world stopped
because of a death. I
mean literally stopped.
In case you’ve been
hibernating in a cave,
or in a coma, you may
ask what international
politician may have
passed on or what world
wide religious figure
died?
The answer would be,
none of these.
The correct answer is
Anna Nicole Smith died.
Who?
Well, to avoid any legal
issues here that might
arise if I were to
describe this
person, let me just
suggest that you use
your own computer to
research her. Then you
can make your own
assessment as to whether
her life and death is
worthy of world wide
media coverage over the
past couple of weeks.
We now have, at last
count, some five or six
men showing up to claim
they are the biological
father of her latest
child. Memorials and
services have sprung up
all over the country to
honor her. The media has
been in a feeding frenzy
over every detail of her
life and legal issues
surrounding her death.
This morning, two weeks
after her death, the
courts are still arguing
over who can have
custody of her body and
possession of her
daughter. Last night on
some talk show a video
was apparently played of
Ms. Smith painted as a
clown and talking
nonsense to a baby
carriage. The general
comments were that she
appeared to be drugged
and the byline of one of
the online columns makes
the statement that “She
loses any of the dignity
she had left”.
I’m sorry, but the word
‘dignity’ and Anna
Nicole Smith do not go
together in my mind.
Perhaps I’m out of touch
with what is happening
in the world of today.
If so, then please Lord,
let me stay that way.
We have become a nation
of voyeurs. We are more
concerned over the
gruesome details of some
entertainment
personality and her
sordid life than we are
over the events that
govern our very
destinies. How sad for
us as a nation.
There was news of a
recent survey last week
about the answers to
American history
questions posed to
college students. Not
high school, not
dropouts, but college
students. Over 50% of
them could not identify
where these lines
originated:
“We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that
all men are created
equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of
Happiness.—“
They did not know these
were from our
Declaration of
Independence. They
could, however, identify
a picture of Brittany
Spears and Paris Hilton.
How sad.
By the way, the
Declaration of
Independence lists only
3,090,000 web references
to it.
I ‘Googled’ Anna Nicole
Smith and came up with
56,700,000 references to
her. That’s 56 million.
I did the same for
George Bush, the current
President of the United
States and came up with
65,000,000 references.
Ms. Smith trails by only
8,300,000 references.
What does this say about
our national sense of
conscience?
Paris Hilton, another
darling of the media
logs in 42,200,000
references.
Abraham Lincoln (for
those of you who may
still be in college and
don’t know that he was
the 16TH PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES) has
an abysmal 3,560,000
references to him.
40,000,000 less than Ms.
Hilton. In my mind, and
I hope yours, I do
believe President
Lincoln was more
important to our country
than Ms. Smith or Ms.
Hilton, combined.
I tend to turn off the
television when some of
the late night comedy
shows do their ‘man on
the street’ interviews.
I keep saying to myself
that perhaps these
people have been paid to
act this stupid and
ignorant. It should be
disgraceful to all of us
that we have people
living in this great
country of ours who
cannot identify
photographs of the
leaders of our country,
but can instantly
identify some person who
recently sang a song on
“American Idol.”
What does this say to
the rest of the world
about our values and our
mindset?
Please explain to me how
people less fortunate
than those of us in this
country can look to us
for help and assistance,
when it appears the
majority of our citizens
are more interested in
finding out who is the
father of some
illegitimate child than
they are with the
President of the United
States?
I’m sorry, but I think
Thomas Jefferson (the
3rd PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES and father
of the Declaration of
Independence) would find
these current events
very distressing.
By the way, Jefferson is
30,000,000 references
behind Anna Nicole
Smith.
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