There's obviously some confusion in our day to day when it comes to an oft heard, long ago coined bromide in our midst.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Truth is, after a reasonable amount of thought, I find myself still not entirely sure where, exactly, the whole thing hits a snag.
I have, though, narrowed it down to two of the six words involved.
Entitled.
Opinion.
Summary of my assessment momentarily.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is one of the more long term Trump loyalists on a list of Trump loyalists who, for the most part, have proven themselves, time after time, to be way more about transience and way less about long term.
And, not to wander too far off the path of my point this early in the process, but it occurs that the more deeply dug in amongst the BFF brigade tend to be those infused with estrogen.
And I only point out that the fan club membership boasts more she's than he's, not out of cheap shot-ing sexist rhetoric, but out of a remarkable slab of life ironic.
This kind of womanly devotion to a guy who could very easily make a post-White House career out of being a poster boy for every thing on the planet that diminishes, dismisses and denigrates women has to rank as one of, if not number one of, the list of things in life that irrefutably fall into the category of "what the fuck?"
My super secret, Spidey-sense of it all is that there's some tragicomic strain of battered woman syndrome in play here. The more used and abused, the more the effort to be worthy of not being used and abused. Again, that's, admittedly, just conjecture.
Because, damn it, Jim, I'm a satirical commentator not a doctor of emotional issues as they relate to the male/female psychology.
Meanwhile, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Who I notice, not for nothin', since her recent departure from the White House Press Room podium and her recent arrival wearing that combination kissy face/Imhotep facial expression toward the red lighted camera with the Fox News logo on the side, has become, for public consumption, simply Sarah Sanders.
Again, Spidey-sense telling me that some Rhodes Scholar in the Fox News think tank pointed out that while the whole three name thing might have done wonders for Louisa May Alcott, Billie Jean King and Mary Tyler Moore, it didn't exactly pay off big time for Tammy Faye Baker, Nicole Brown Simpson or, of course, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
And let's not underestimate the blatant booing and hissing inspired by John Wilkes Booth, John Wayne Gacy and history's favorite patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald.
So, put a pin in Huckabee and, now, here's cogent comment and insightful interjection by one of the great minds of the 21st Century.....Sarah Sanders.
And her observation re' the current crop of announced candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"I'm pretty sure they don't even like America."
This is the part where we circle back to the observation that I made at the beginning of today's commentary.
There's obviously some confusion in our day to day when it comes to an oft heard, long ago coined bromide in our midst.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
And, as you'll recall, I shared that I've weeded that down to just two words that seem to be where people get all entangled.
Entitled.
Opinion.
Our good friend, Mr. Dictionary, defines "entitled" as "believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment".
There's a key phrase there that is worthy of special attention.
"Believing oneself to be inherently deserving"
Not "being inherently deserving".
But the real fun begins when we weigh in with Mr. D's def of "opinion".
"...a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge...."
So, let's put all the pieces together and see what the puzzle reveals.
"Entitled to your opinion".
"Believing yourself to be inherently deserving of special treatment regarding your view or judgement about something....say it with me...not necessarily based on fact or knowledge."
For the folks in the cheap seats who prefer their explanations a little less complex and a lot more cut and dried, try this on.
This whole "you're entitled to your opinion" business is like that whole "right to bear arms" business.
You're free to participate, but there's a certain level of common sense expected of you when you do.
And therein, dear Brutus, lies both the rub and the fault.
Too many people take the expression "you're entitled to your opinion" and run with it like strapping on the AR-15 and defiantly, but proudly, getting in line at the local Chick-Fil-A.
And, at the risk of stretching the metaphor just one iota too far, those too many people need to be made aware, often and bluntly, that just as they're expected to not shoot their big bad bullet banger simply because they can if'n they's a want to, they're expected to not shoot their mouth off...for no other reason than they can.
If and when they's a want to.
The more insightful amongst us could, by now, be laying down a question that, on the face of it, might seem fair and applicable.
Isn't that "shooting their mouth off" thing exactly what I'm doing here with this commentary?
A not entirely unreasonable question.
Let me think about it for a second.
Okay.
No.
A lot of thought and not just a little effort, on my part, is being put into taking specific aim at what I'm confident many would see as a legitimate, even important, issue.
Irresponsibility.
And while one may, or may not, and is unequivocally free to, agree, or disagree, with what I'm offering here, I'm also confident that no reasonable case could be made that what I'm saying here, and the way in which I'm saying it, could be classified, under any interpretation, as....stupid.
While strapping on ol' AR just to wait patiently for the tasty grilled chicken salad?
Cue Forrest. Forrest Gump.
Stupid is as stupid does, sir.
Or ma'am.
And for a, theoretically, well educated woman (the verdict, clearly, is still out on Ouachita Baptist University) to appear on internationally broadcast television and mince no words in offering that a dozen or so Americans who, regardless of political philosophy, represent a broad cross section of race, gender, public service, commitment and, yes, Virginia, red, white and blue patriotism "don't even like America" is, at best, a very poorly articulated attempt to pander to viewers who think "lock her up" is one of them there things carved on the marble of the Capitol Rotunda.....and, is at worst...in a word...stupid.
But just like the big gun bozo who doesn't think it through, only to find that real damage has been done when "ready, fire! aim" goes south, Sarah Huckabee Sanders ain't a thinkin' it through, neither.
Or even, most likely, not considering the damage that her display of dumb is doing.
Allow me.
A lot of us "Democrats who just don't like America" are, believe it or not, still listening to a lot of what "the opposition" has to say. And not, as might be suspected, because we are constantly laying in wait, hoping for yet another opportunity to pounce, pointing out their lack of vision, their lack of ability, their lack of common sense.
Their lack of simple, elementary school level grammatical efficiency,
Donald.
We're listening because we really do believe, at the core of it all, that the solutions to the genuine challenges, even the problems, that face us all, all of us who, as JFK nailed it so long ago, "inhabit the same planet, breathe the same air, cherish our children's future" lie somewhere in the middle between your way, my way and/or the highway.
And that only a fool closes their ears and their eyes to the possibility that the "other guys" might have things to say and paths to follow that might help us all get where we all need to go.
Even when the other guys are sycophant sillies like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
But when it comes to listening to, let alone buying into, what the other guys have to say, here's another fun catch phrase.
Credibility is key.
And even if, for example, I've been following Sarah's suggestions and insights for a while, it's almost comic, and tragic at the same time, as to how close she gets to getting me to start paying serious attention......
Cue Frank and Nancy.
Then she has to go and spoil it all / by saying something......
...stupid.
One last cue. This one going out to the former Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
That State Farm Insurance fishing guy.
Ahhp. You nearly had us.
But, Sarah....oh, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah......
You stumbled into an all too common pitfall.
While pulling off quite a feat of firearms skill.
You seriously confused the meaning of being "entitled to your opinion".
And you shot your mouth off just cause ya's a wanted to......
....only to shoot yourself in the foot.
