I was reminded recently when reading The Dispatch, of that scene
from the great movie classic
”
Gone With the Wind
”
where the first wave of carpetbaggers come into Atlanta at the
end of the War Between the States.
I was reminded recently when reading The Dispatch, of that scene from the great movie classic “Gone With the Wind” where the first wave of carpetbaggers come into Atlanta at the end of the War Between the States. They’re all slickered-up in fancy clothes bringing a message that, of course, really had nothing to do with their real purpose. That same scene seems to fit appropriately in Gilroy these pre-election days.
Let me illustrate.
Webster’s Dictionary defines “carpetbagger” as follows:
1. A Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War for political or
financial advantage.
2. An outsider, especially a politician, who presumptuously seeks a position or success in a new locality.
It seems rather ironic to me that one particular letter writer to The Dispatch appears to fit both of these descriptions fairly well. Now I’ll admit that I’m stretching my application of the word defined by Webster to apply locally for sake of illustration: the “South” in this case is Gilroy, and the “Northerner” comes from Morgan Hill.
My case in point is demonstrated by the letter to The Dispatch written by John Reese of Morgan Hill, appearing in the Opinion section on Sept. 18. Now Mr. Reese certainly has a right to say what he wants to say in accordance with his First Amendment right of free speech. However, for someone who does not live in Gilroy, Mr. Reese certainly appears to have some kind of a vested interest in good ol’ “southern” Gilroy. In fact a review of his letters to The Dispatch since February reveal that his interest in Gilroy appears to be greater than his interest in his own hometown of Morgan Hill. Now, what could spur-on such an interest? Pride? Patriotism? Nope, the answer appears to be Wal-Mart.
Now why doesn’t Mr. Reese simply state the fact that he is a union operative, and that he has a vested interest in pushing and promoting union interests in Wal-Mart? That would certainly explain why this “Northerner” has come to Gilroy. But I’m afraid that for all of Mr. Reese’s obsession with Wal-Mart, it sadly shows that’s he’s really a victim of Dingle-Norwood Syndrome. And his most recent letter seems to aptly demonstrate Dingle-Norwood’s advanced stages.
Remember back a few years when Vice President Gore challenged Governor Bush about Dingle-Norwood Syndrome? Bush like many Americans was unaware of this horrible illness. Some say as many as 42 percent of all Americans suffer from Dingle-Norwood to some degree. No one is sure how this debilitating disease is spread but it does seem to be widespread in America’s institutions that Mr. Reese identifies as “liberals, Democrats, progressives, unionists, and environmentalists.” As the disease progresses the symptoms will subtlety change. Sufferers will accuse those who disagree with them of being “extremists,” “intolerant,” “homophobic,” “conspiracists,” and even “racists.” At this point of progression, the symptoms also include paranoia, aggression and delusions.
I’m afraid Mr. Reese’s own words of Sept. 18 demonstrate just how he’s been affected by Dingle-Norwood. Consider how he uses the following terms to identify his local Gilroy enemies as: “right-wing propagandists,” “right-wing extremists,” “right-wing ideologues,” and “aggressive right-wingers”. Why in his letter to The Dispatch of Feb. 24, he even calls one of them “extremely ignorant.” That verbiage certainly seems to fit one of the Dingle-Norwood symptoms. Mr. Reese then talks about the “narrow partisan purposes” of the right-wing extremists, but seems to forget all of the narrow partisan agendas that define the Democratic Party today.
Mr. Reese’s delusion is further amplified by his own convenient forgetfulness of how his own crusade against Wal-Mart follows his own words that “There is nothing patriotic about perverting the natural love of community into suspicion, bitterness, and hostility.” Now if Mr. Reese’s letters on Wal-Mart have not created in the Gilroy community “suspicion, bitterness, and hostility,” then I don’t know what would.
Mr. Reese’s compares former senator Joseph McCarthy to a master of smear tactics. I only wish he could really be “open-minded” as liberals claim they are, and read Ann Coulter’s book “Treason” before passing judgment on McCarthy. At least he’d have some facts to argue with before arriving at preconceived conclusions. And finally, Mr. Reese’s comment that the modern mini-McCarthys “are always eager to form a mob, to trample anyone who resists their immediate partisan and/or monetary objectives” is self-deceiving. That’s a sure sign of Dingle-Norwood. Mr. Reese is totally forgetting that his very own words are a precise description of modern-day liberalism.
Is there hope for Mr. Reese? Maybe. The Dingle-Norwood Syndrome Foundation believes that with sufficient federal funding a cure can be found. So for the liberals, Democrats, progressives, unionists, and environmentalists, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
