Are we fools?

"Fool Me Once...."



                            Dec. 10, 1995



Are most of you reading this a fool? Do you believe

you are? Probably not. Even those of us not

'sophisticated' or 'knowledgeable' is not a fool.

Yet every day we are fed stories on the news and

statements by politicians that presume we are.



Let's start with politicians, our elected officials.

They step forward to serve the American people and

agree to do the important work all citizens depend on.

They must make the difficult, unpopular decisions that

often catch our wrath. And to counter our displeasure politicians take us into the world of 'spin', the word

they use (but not to us directly) to temper our anger.



Spin, called LIES outside Washington, is what we are

fed each day as politicians attempt to persuade us to

their way of thinking. Mindless answers to legitimate questions. Distortion of facts, never showing the entire picture as they sell their viewpoint. It is a style we

have become accustomed to. We demand more, but our

demands are meaningless. Our EMPLOYEES set the agenda

until we fire them, as we did to so many last November.



Now for the media, who are also at fault for the quality

of the news we receive. Too often it appears they forget THEIR main responsibility, objective reporting. But they

are paid for the number of people they deliver the news

to, not for the news they deliver. And no matter what

they say or write, they will be criticized as being bias.



So where are we? The politicians say the press is not

fair. And the press say the politicians are not forthright in explaining legislation to the public.



So we sit, we listen, we become disgusted with politicians

who seem to have personal agendas rather that fulfilling

their responsibilities. And get equally annoyed with the

industry that care more about 'market share' than the

service they provide.



And as a result of our disgust and annoyance we become dis-enfranchised. Many of us stop caring, become indifferent

and often stop voting.



But we have a choice. By recognizing the problem we get closer to a solution; if we use our outrage to our advantage. LISTEN to the news and use our wonderful

ability to reason, to understand, to use our own common sense. If it sounds like 'spin', it probably is. Don't

let OUR employees not fulfill their responsibilities.



And to those who remain indifferent, maybe you are fools after all.

                                Anthony J. Bruno