Peggy Noonan: listening to those whose views we loathe

Hear, Hear: Americans should not fear talking--and listening--to those whose views we loathe

Excerpt:

In 1960 the premier of the Soviet Union came and spoke in the United States. Nikita Khrushchev was our sworn enemy, and a vulgarian--sweaty faced, ill educated, dressed in a suit just off the racks from the Gulag Kresge's. I was a child, but I remember the impression he made. He took off his shoe and banged it, literally, on the soft beige wood of a desk at the U.N., as he fulminated. His nation had nuclear weapons. They were aimed at us.

The new Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, was there too. He was young and bearded and dressed in camouflage; he too, soon, would have missiles pointed at us. He not only went to the U.N. and spoke to the world, he refused to stay at the Waldorf and sweetly chose instead a hotel in Harlem to show his solidarity with America's oppressed. The Americans there seemed to get the joke, and welcomed him with laughter. They knew he was playing them. But then they'd been played before.

Khrushchev's trip and Castro's were all about propaganda, all about sticking it to Uncle Sam. And here's what happened: Nothing. Their presence hurt our country exactly zero percent. In fact it raised us high, reminding the world we are the confident nation that lets its foes speak uncensored. As an adult nation would.

Comments: Read in entirety for a humorous, but possibly apocryphal, anecdote about when Khrushchev's motorcade stalled on Third Avenue. One must not fear reading or hearing broadly!

The litter of roadside memorials

Private grief is better than litter of roadside memorials

Excerpt:

Roadside memorials are just another reminder of how self-centered Americans have become. It is a growing epidemic that individuals expect the rest of society to take note of their feelings as if they mattered in our lives. Not only are these people self-centered, they are presumptuous in assuming that the rest of us want to be involved so intimately in their lives.

Comment: I couldn't agree more!

Earlier article: Signs of mourning

Excerpt:

Nationwide, more roadside memorials mark the intersections and ditches where loved ones breathed their last. The increasing popularity of these memorials -- some of which are so creative that they qualify as folk art -- reflects a shift in the way Americans mourn, observers say. .... Such markers are common in Latino cultures, the Southwest and on Indian reservations. They're also ubiquitous in Eastern Europe ...

Michael Medved: Scene 1: Discredit religion; Scene 2: See Scene 1

Scene 1: Discredit religion; Scene 2: See Scene 1

Excerpt:

Just as freshly sprouted daffodils indicate the imminent arrival of spring, so the pop culture's yearly discovery (and exploitation) of Jesus Christ heralds the upcoming celebration of the Easter holiday. The entertainment industry in particular has developed a curious strategy of attempting to connect with America's massive, ardent Christian audience with pulpy projects that openly undercut key tenets of Christianity. These efforts range from blockbuster hits such as last year's The Da Vinci Code to scandalous and largely forgotten feature films such as The Passover Plot (1976) — which showed Jesus planning to fake his own death on the cross. The most recent effort at simultaneously insulting and intriguing the faith-based audience involved the shamelessly oversold documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which received its world premiere on the Discovery Channel last week.