Ronald Reagan - An Apology By Silver Fox

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Let's not beat around the bush, www.catsandkittens; last week, some harsh words were said. I - in an unprecedented and regrettable lapse - allowed my integrity and even-handed, dispassionate analysis of Things As They Are to become compromised by personal opinion: there, I've said it. I admit fully that when recalling the events of the 1980s, my purity of recollection was compromised to such an extent that I spoke of a highly-regarded international figure in derisive, perhaps even insulting terms.

What makes my description of the former US president, Mr Ronald Reagan as a necrotic matinee idol even more regrettable of course, is that within days of the thisisUll.com uberwebfuhrers posting my uncharitable assessment, Mr Reagan cashed in his chips and took off for the Great Oval Office in the sky (where it is to be hoped that celestial interns clad in pristine and stainproof heavenly raiment dance attendance on such Presidential souls as crave that sort of thing).

More than likely coincidence, I'm sure, and yet..lacking in tangible, physical, attributes though it may be, the Internet is accorded all the status of a kind of reality. Thus the possibility exists that whatever is done or said in it (on it?) may well have consequences beyond the purely digital realm.

Could it perhaps be, that the sore-headed carping of a thwarted idealist banging away on an obscure, provincial website may have been the final straw in a back already straining beneath the weight of uninformed criticism?

Politicians are often misunderstood; their true aims and nobility of intent visible only with the benefit of hindsight, so it cannot be denied that there have been many commentators who have, over the years, spoken ill of Rockin' Ron - little realising the extent of his true vision.

Although it may have been hard for pinko liberal scum like myself to accept, it appears that there was method in his madness. While we whimpered and sulked like spoilt children refusing to take their medicine, Reagan held the spoon out regardless, doing what had to be done to cure the ailments of those troubled times. Like a firm but fair father, he did what had to be done. He fostered a social climate of fear, brutality, and moral hypocrisy; he supported the suppression of expression both in the USA and the world beyond; he established an economic ethos that rewarded predatory and remorseless greed while piling 84 distinct kinds of condemnation on the weak and sentimental.

All these things were instrumental in bringing about the prosperous, happy, and thoroughly decent world that we all enjoy today - we were just too busy hugging trees and bleating about human rights, Nicaragua, and all that shite to notice what was being done for the greater good.

To be honest - and perhaps a little more personal than some of you may be comfortable with - I personally feel that my adolescent loathing of Reagan was little more than the transference of the frustrations of a thwarted teenage libido. Had I had more sense, and taken a leaf from the book of the greatest political sage of our time, I too would have found myself a nice, conservative girl who looked like a hybrid of David Dickinson and a piranha rather than chasing after hippy chicks.

It may appear that this blatant volte-face is little more than crocodile tears; a guilty reflex action from someone who has spoken ill of the soon-to-be-dead, but I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. In all honesty, I can hardly see my little lay-by on the Information Superhighway being the kiss of death to those to whom it refers - after all; I mentioned Margaret Thatcher in the same piece, didn't I? And she's still with us.

That name again: MARGARET THATCHER. And, by the same token: That bloke with the floppy hair and nasal voice on the Basset's Allsorts ads..anyone who presents, features, makes, or watches A Question of Sport.. The Rev. Sung Yung Moon .. the people who persuaded John Woo to move to Hollywood .. TV soccer pundit, Bob Wilson .. Slobadon Milosevic .. singer/songwriters who credit their pets in the sleeve notes .. slave traders .. a cat I once had to listen to discoursing on the tragic life of Roy Orbison when I was stuck at Sheffield station with a hangover for nearly two hours..internet columnists..etc..etc.. Well, you never know, eh?

Ronald Reagan - An Apology By Silver Fox continued..    Here

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