"We Gave Him a Chance" Tom Dentton Letter to the Editor

We Gave Him a Chance

Those familiar with the history of the 1960s will recognize an anthem from that era, the refrain from John Lennon’s song, “Give Peace a Chance" (1969).

All we are saying
Is Give peace a chance


That anthem has been revised in 2017 by “soft” supporters of the Trump administration:

All we are saying
Is Give him a chance . . .


“I’ve got health insurance through my job, but I’ve got COPD and they’ve been laying off lately. What would happen to me if I’m next?”
Let’s give him a chance


“My daughter had a super teacher for her physics class. He’s a foreign graduate student, studying in the U.S. What’s going to happen to him? She’s really upset.”
Let’s give him a chance


“Too much whining about the bad press he’s getting. He’s supposed to be the tough guy. C’mon, every President gets criticized and lampooned. They stay quiet about it. Not him. Thank God we’ve got a free press.”
Let’s give him a chance


“Sure, we need to destroy ISIS, but isn’t this Muslim ban going to give the bastards just what they need—more recruits for a holy war?”
Let’s give him a chance


“I have to admit that he makes me nervous. The way he yells and threatens foreign leaders, never mind regular Americans that get on his wrong side. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.’ Does he think he’s a king instead of a president?”
Let’s give him a chance


“What? He’s threatening Iran and China, and kicking our allies in the teeth? Is he going to have us in a war within a month?!!”
Let’s give him a chance


Music shifts to another sound: The actor, Slim Pickens, whooping it up, riding an h-bomb like a cowboy as it drops on Russia to trigger Armageddon. (Dr. Strangelove, film, 1:27, 1964 )
We gave him . . . . . a chance

Publishing History

NP Times 2/16
Oracle 2/13
Saugerties Times 2/19

"Word of the Year" Tom Denton Letter to the Editor

WORD OF THE YEAR

The American Dialect Society annually gives an award for the “Word of the Year.” In 2016 members chose “dumpster fire, ” a term familiar in political rhetoric. I propose a likely leading contender for the 2017 award: “’craven’: completely lacking in courage, cowardly, as in ‘a craven abdication of his moral duty’” (Oxford Dictionaries online). It is a harsh sounding word that calls to mind the raven, which picks at dead things and suggests a journey with no turning back . . . nevermore.


In the current American landscape some pretend that tweets are a vehicle for policy making In the current American landscape some pretend that tweets are a vehicle for policy making. They praise a President who makes a “presidential “ speech when “I feel like it. “ Republican politicians who called candidate Trump a “cancer” or who refused to endorse him now serve in his administration. GOP officials who would have screamed “treason! “ if aides of the Democratic candidate had been consulting with Russian officials now scoff at calls for an independent investigation. A chilling revelation is dawning on the American public. It is not new, but the chaos of the past year has illuminated it in a way that should haunt us all. The principles of many of our public officials are servants to the temptations of power. Power, we now see, is the end; profiles in courage are quietly filed away as the victors celebrate. Do words matter? Are any principles inviolate? Can we trust that what we believe to be our essential rights will not fall to the stampede of winning? What if you are on the wrong side next time? There’s a word that, in the end, might brand us all, a word that might also be a contender in 2017: “loser.”


PJ 3/7.