Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
State of the Union Address. I’ll read Obama’s speech, but I won’t watch it or even listen to it. Instead of being a straightforward report on where we are as a nation, and where we should be and should go as a nation, it’s become agitprop, a spectacle tinged with pathos and bathos and an embarrassment to our country. And if that weren’t enough to put me off, I’ve never been able to abide Obama’s arrogant and condescendingly professorial delivery.
The Winter Olympics. Hollywood is known for shamelessness, but the most unrestrained tinsel town production appears dignified compared to the Olympics. There are still a few events — for example, speed skating and downhill skiing — where there’s a clear and objective measure of victory, but more and more there are glitzy productions such as figure skating where victory is determined by subjective methods, by the opinions of judges. That’s show biz, not sport. It’s a sad indictment of American culture that so many people drink beer and gorge on potato chips while watching this stuff instead of going skiing themselves or simply getting out in the sunshine and walking a few miles (which is what I do).