Here and There

A few weeks ago, I toyed with the idea of writing an entry on a regular schedule (what was I thinking?). From this seed of an idea, I soon stumbled upon an obvious name for the column: O-blog-atory. Needless to say, said column has yet to materialize. I figure getting readers first is a better idea.

On to why I really wanted to write today. As a potential likely future amateur novice journalist, I appreciate the idea of fairness. I espouse the notion of objectivity (realizing all the while that there is no such thing). I believe in transparency, accuracy, and, as much as possible, a lack of bias in my own reporting.

Then I find stuff like this. Once again, a crackpot right-wing (I’m gonna go ahead and say) pseudo-Christian nutjob has called for a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime. In this case, it’s arguable that there’s even a crime to be punished.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, who leads a country with the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, is an open critic of George W. Bush and U.S. foreign policy under Bush’s tutelage. Whether you agree with him, Chavez is only exercising one of this country’s most precious of rights: freedom of speech. Freedom to criticize. Freedom to openly question the government or our fellow citizens. The problem, according to douche bags like Robertson, is that Chavez speaks his free mind through a fairly large bullhorn, seated atop a well of black gold.

Robertson’s call to kill Chavez isn’t isolated, either. A few months ago, on the same program on which he issued his most recent fatwa, he prayed to his bearded guy in the sky for another vacancy on the Supreme Court (this was after O’Connor announced her retirement). A nice, fluffy Christian prayer for death.

If I were as “biblical” as Robertson, I’d simply call for his murder. But I’m not so medieval as the Dear Leader of the 700 Club. No, instead, I can only rub my little pet rock, burn some charcoal in the barbecue, dance on one leg while juggling three bottles of tequila, and hope that no one is taking that guy seriously.

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