New York Blues Ring Hollow

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I wish to compliment Joe Berger, Michael Brick and Brian McDonald on an excellent piece of reporting ("A Blue City (Disconsolate, Even) Bewildered by a Red America," Nov 4).  I also wish to add my two cents' worth about the opinions expressed in the article.  But first, so that everyone would understand where I am coming from (i.e., that I don't have an ax to grind), I wish to state on record that I did not vote for either Bush or Kerry on Nov 2.  Nor did I vote for either Bush or Gore four years ago.  And yes, I am a frequent visitor to New York with many friends and even family who live there.

 

I am glad you referenced that old New Yorker cartoon depicting the U.S. as seen by an insular, myopic Manhattaner - with Los Angeles on the other side of the Hudson.  Your story and the Nov 2 election results paraphrased the Saul Steinberg cartoon in words and numbers.  Insular, myopic New York residents pride themselves on being cosmopolitan and broad-minded, according to your article.  Adding arrogance to ignorance, the losers now want to lecture the winners (rest of the country) on their way of life.

 

"If the heartland feels so alienated from us," you quote one New Yorker as saying, "then... we need to bring our way of life... on a trip around the country." 

 

Did it ever occur to New Yorkers that they should listen before talking?  That the reverse may be more appropriate?  That perhaps the Heartland's way of life may be worth considering in New York and LA?

 

The election results made that point in spades.  A sea of red between the two blue coasts was not necessarily a vote for Bush; it was a vote AGAINST the way of life the coastal "liberals" have been pushing.  Exit polls have shown, and the NYT has reported on it, that the most important issue on the mind of voters was "moral values," not Iraq or taxes.

"Surveys of voters leaving the polls found that a majority believed the national economy was not so good, that tax cuts had done nothing to help it and that the war in Iraq had jeopardized national security," the NYT wrote in another story today. "But fully one-fifth of voters said they cared most about 'moral values' - as many as cared about terrorism and the economy - and 8 in 10 of them chose Mr. Bush."

Evidently, it was "Sex in the City," gay marriage, rampant immigration, high crime rates, etc. that sunk Kerry's electoral boat.  But rather than engage in that kind of introspective soul-searching that may heal the disappointing loss, and help learn from it, some New Yorkers prefer paranoia:

 

"Everybody seems to hate us these days," said Zito Joseph, a 63-year-old retired psychiatrist.

 

Really?  And that from a psychiatrist!?  Someone get him a shrink, please!  That's classic paranoia of sore losers.  And even if true, it's not just "these days." 

 

I remember attending an IBM business meeting in Atlanta in 1976, for example, in which some 50 or so IBM employees were asked to introduce themselves.  When a New Yorker's turn came up, he got up and said self-deprecatingly: "My name is so and so, and I am from the Shity."  He didn't have to explain which "Shity."  Nor why he chose that epithet for his home town.

 

"None of the people who are likely to be hit by a terrorist attack voted for Bush," your paranoid psychiatrist continued. "But the heartland people seemed to be saying, 'We're not affected by it if there would be another terrorist attack.' "

 

And what about Oklahoma City?  Besides, did it ever occur to this psychiatrist that, had we not allowed rampant immigration from third world countries - one of the issues that's been bothering Heartland Americans - the would-be terrorists would have had a much harder time getting into the U.S., and attacking the WTC or the Pentagon?

 

We are truly sorry, dear New York Shity dwellers, that you're feeling so lonely and isolated after this election.  But did you ever think that maybe you've brought this upon yourselves - by acting superior, as if you were better than the rest of us?  So if you care to venture out and traverse the 3,000 miles of Red America between the two blue coasts, you may find the country welcoming you with open arms.  As long as you come to listen and learn, rather than to lecture and preach.

 

Regards,

 

Bob Djurdjevic

Phoenix, Arizona

 

TiM Ed.: The reason I put the word "liberals" in quotes above is because these so-called "liberals" are among the most closed-minded people on the face of this Earth.  Under the guise of "liberalism," they are trying to force willy-nilly their beliefs and their way of life onto other Americans. That's nothing new (see this writer's Washington Times columns "Dancing 'Round the Golden Calf'," Aug 1997, and "The Nothing Philosophy," Dec 1996).

 

--

 

November 4, 2004

A Blue City (Disconsolate, Even) Bewildered by a Red America

By JOSEPH BERGER

triking a characteristic New York pose near Lincoln Center yesterday, Beverly Camhe clutched three morning newspapers to her chest while balancing a large latte and talked about how disconsolate she was to realize that not only had her candidate, John Kerry, lost but that she and her city were so out of step with the rest of the country.

[snip]

Michael Brick and Brian McDonald contributed reporting for this article.