One of our listeners, DJ, called up the other day to point out that America, land of the free, is also the land of the complainer. And this week it definitely showed. From the missed opportunities of summer, to Obama's school speech, and then to the health care debate, Americans are making themselves heard, loud and clear. We're asking: "Hey America! Want some cheese with that whine?" We'll take a listen to what got everyone's goat from the past few days, and maybe some reasons to look on the bright side.
President Obama Seeks to Narrow 'War on Terror,' A Closer Look at the IRS Inquiry, Boy Scouts to Allow Gay Members
The DSM and Mental Health in America
Lessons From a Female Union Electrician
Defining Normal After a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia, The Mayor of Oklahoma City, A New Kind of Commencement Speech
Diplomatic Damage Caused by Drone Strikes, In Defense of the DSM-5, Bob Woodruff's Advice for New Grads
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [2]
There's a difference between complaining and whining. I see complaints as something to be taken seriously, an expression of true dissatisfaction, a need for change. Whining I tend to view as self-pitying selfishness. I'm more inclined to agree that this is the country of whiners. We whine just about everything... our job sucks, our kids are disrespectful, my spouse is driving me up the wall... yada, yada, yada. Even today's music is about whining. It seems to me that "having everything" doesn't necessarily equate happiness. Many of us are so numb to the fact that we have so much here.
America, land of the free, home of the complainers! ROFL!
The audacity! Really, folks, American may have, could have possible been the home of the free at one time, however, that is a thing of the past, the distant past, one that came out on 9/11/2001 and one that has forever been lost. If you don't want to believe me, then take a little stroll down the George H. Bush Airport in Houston and delight in the mind-numbing rhetoric being spewed by the loudspeaker system warning all that if they make any jokes or ridicule homeland security, they will be immediately arrested. Yeah, freedom! Ha ha!
As for the complainer part, sheep tend to see dissent as complaints. I'd love to see one history book written about someone who wasn't a "complainer" and who willingly and sheepeshly acquaissed to the system in place.
Really, The Take Away, why don't you take your show on Comedy Central? Your gig may be more appreciated in the genre where it belongs.
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