The Chronicles of Marna

In the past weeks, two dear friends whom I deeply respect have forwarded emails to me about Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate. These emails were full of superficial and misleading and inflammatory allegations. My friends are ordinarily very intelligent women, yet they swallowed this misinformation as if it were the gospel truth. Here’s a troubling question: What happens to our critical thinking ability when it comes to election politics? Does it go on inactive status?

When I got the first email, I was just tired enough and cranky enough to hit “reply all” and respond. We had just come off two solid weeks of non-stop character assasinations of Sarah Palin. As TV anchor Lou Dobbs succinctly stated, “…the nomination of Governor Sarah Palin stands as one of the most instructive moments in demonstrating the liberal bias in the national media.” Even more disturbing is the apparent gullibility of some citizens. Below in italics is my response to the email blast.

I’m disappointed you would forward an email that is so full of errors and half-truths.

This email is a shameful extension of the media’s behavior in the last couple of weeks and it offends me greatly. As a writer and researcher, I’d like Americans to insist on a higher caliber of in-depth information gathering, both in the national news and within our own email circles. For example, in this short excerpt from your email:

“She is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform,…” (She is NOT against sex education. She IS FOR abstinence-based sex education, an important distinction.)

She is against environmental protection…
(Not true. As a westerner, she is well versed in “stewardship of the land,” which is not synonymous with turning all our acreage into national parks.)

She is against freedom of speech As mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her…
(Can I please see your primary source material on this allegation?I believe it was actually a distortion of a hypothetical question she posed. By the way, I once asked my daughter’s first grade teacher to remove a book from her classroom because it contained a graphic and violent beheading scene. Does that make me anti-freedom of speech, too? What’s the context?)

…gun control (Can I see your primary source information? We do still have a Second Amendment to the constitution in place.)

…the separation of church and state (On what grounds is this allegation made? Is there a voting record to support this?)

…and polar bears.
(She wanted them taken off the endangered species list. A few years ago alligators were on the endangered species list. They came back in such numbers that they were taken OFF the list. Is this the situation with Polar Bears? I think we need more information before we label her anti-polar bear.)

…To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.
(Can we please compare and contrast Barack Obama’s “real” preparation??? 144 days in the Senate. Is there a double standard in place?)

The last accusation illustrates the sexism in the anti-Palin galleries. To be honest, I didn’t like it when Hillary Clinton was treated to the same smear campaign, so my outrage crosses party lines. I ended my email with a plea to insist on supporting facts before forming an opinion.

“As informed citizens,” I said, “we can do better.”

Marna Krajeski

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