It’s too easy to hate
The letters to the editor unday ran the gamut from xenophobia to, er, xenophobia. It is indeed Coca-Cola’s folly to imply that singing the praises of our wonderful republic in a different language is anything but an insult of the highest order. Not since the Whiskey Rebellion has a jugged, er, bottled beverage caused such a hubbub with the denizens of this community. It is an anathema for one to salute the land they immigrated to in one’s own tongue in a venue as important as a soft drink ad. This mirrors the controversy vis-à-vis Mr. Pibb’s commemorative Che Guevera cans, or the ill-fated RC Cola Khrushchev bobblehead promotion in 1959.
While these examples may be fake, the dust up with Coke isn’t, sad to say. Nor is, again according to Observer-Reporter letter writers, the possibility that seniors have to pay for contraception and other sins that would not happen during an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show.” The mind reels at what sort of utopian concept these letter-writers and taxpayers would prefer. I pay the very same taxes. I don’t complain about my money going to Bingo games, or a fourth medical opinion on that annoying bunion. My money also goes to that needed mammogram, food stamps for the poor, and education for every child. An education, I would hope, that teaches harmony and inclusion for this and future generations.
Hate is easy. Smart is hard.
William Chappo
Washington