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Santorum and me: Oh, the things we'll do!
My pal, Rick Santorum
Much to my distress, I've been receiving "Dear Gerald" messages lately from Rick Santorum.
It's not his passing the political begging bowl in my direction that I mind, although I won't be putting my pittance in it. After all, on July 17 Pennsylvania's former U.S. Senator finished next to last in a list of presidential candidates in a New York Times article on campaign contributions. Nor am I annoyed by Santorum's almost touching conviction that he is a viable candidate for president.
No, what disturbs me his apparent belief that he and I are on a first-name basis. It's presumptuous of a kid like Santorum to address a man who is more than 30 years his senior as though we are somehow buddies. I don't know the man— have never even met him on a hand-shaking line— and if our paths were to cross I certainly wouldn't call him Rick.
I don't expect him to call me "Professor" or "Doctor," although both those labels are appropriate in my case. A simple "Mr. Weales" is all that I ask.
Santorum doesn't know me, and, if he should call me for any reason, he would almost certainly get my given name wrong. In my family, Gerald is pronounced with a hard G. Anyone who uses the conventional pronunciation, as though the name began with a J, clearly identifies himself as a person to whom I am a stranger— or, at least, an outsider.
Santorum's too-casual use of my name isn't the only indignity he does me in the messages he sends me. Consider his use of the first person plural, the "we" that allows him to put his metaphorical arms around me, embracing me as one of his band of brothers.
"We" are presumably working side by side in the cause of conservatism. "We" are doing all we can to kick President Obama out of the White House. "We" are outraged at the nasty things that Dan Savage and Bill Maher said about Rick on Maher's TV show.
Of course I regret that I missed their bad-mouthing of Santorum— I was watching a re-run of Pride and Prejudice that night— but the Senator's touchiness on the subject implies a delicacy that one wouldn't expect from a man who once equated homosexuality with bestiality.
I want to be released from Rick's smothering "we." It may be customary to assume that old folk are intrinsically conservative, just like Santorum. But anyone like me, who grew up in the New Deal 1930s, is more likely to lean left, as I certainly do.
I'm truly sorry, Rick. At my age, one's supply of close friends inevitably dwindles, so new chums are always welcome. Still, one must draw the line somewhere.♦
To read responses, click here and here.
It's not his passing the political begging bowl in my direction that I mind, although I won't be putting my pittance in it. After all, on July 17 Pennsylvania's former U.S. Senator finished next to last in a list of presidential candidates in a New York Times article on campaign contributions. Nor am I annoyed by Santorum's almost touching conviction that he is a viable candidate for president.
No, what disturbs me his apparent belief that he and I are on a first-name basis. It's presumptuous of a kid like Santorum to address a man who is more than 30 years his senior as though we are somehow buddies. I don't know the man— have never even met him on a hand-shaking line— and if our paths were to cross I certainly wouldn't call him Rick.
I don't expect him to call me "Professor" or "Doctor," although both those labels are appropriate in my case. A simple "Mr. Weales" is all that I ask.
Santorum doesn't know me, and, if he should call me for any reason, he would almost certainly get my given name wrong. In my family, Gerald is pronounced with a hard G. Anyone who uses the conventional pronunciation, as though the name began with a J, clearly identifies himself as a person to whom I am a stranger— or, at least, an outsider.
Santorum's too-casual use of my name isn't the only indignity he does me in the messages he sends me. Consider his use of the first person plural, the "we" that allows him to put his metaphorical arms around me, embracing me as one of his band of brothers.
"We" are presumably working side by side in the cause of conservatism. "We" are doing all we can to kick President Obama out of the White House. "We" are outraged at the nasty things that Dan Savage and Bill Maher said about Rick on Maher's TV show.
Of course I regret that I missed their bad-mouthing of Santorum— I was watching a re-run of Pride and Prejudice that night— but the Senator's touchiness on the subject implies a delicacy that one wouldn't expect from a man who once equated homosexuality with bestiality.
I want to be released from Rick's smothering "we." It may be customary to assume that old folk are intrinsically conservative, just like Santorum. But anyone like me, who grew up in the New Deal 1930s, is more likely to lean left, as I certainly do.
I'm truly sorry, Rick. At my age, one's supply of close friends inevitably dwindles, so new chums are always welcome. Still, one must draw the line somewhere.♦
To read responses, click here and here.
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