Originally Posted by mixedmedia

I'm trying to wrap my head around this and follow your line of reasoning - that which would lead a sane person to the kind of lunacy that we have witnessed over the airing of this speech and, I'm sorry, it just ain't happening.

I imagine myself, 4 years ago, say right after GWB's re-election when I was feeling pretty ornery and still 'licking my wounds,' so to speak, from the disappointment of the election.

I imagine that I received word that a speech would be aired by the president on the first day of school. Do I suppose that speech is about the rightness of the war? About the benefits of prayer in schools? About the moral implications of pre-marital sex? No, that would be insane. Of course I would assume that he is talking about SCHOOL. What the hell else would he be talking about?

Now the issue of the 'homework.'
If in coordination with this mystery speech which I would assume was about...SCHOOL...there was a request for the children to write an essay saying what they can do to 'help the president' I would, naturally, since I am assuming that the president is talking about SCHOOL, believe that they are to write something about improving their grades or tutoring other kids or helping their teachers by being better behaved, whatever. Of course, in my head, I would be thinking what I would like to do to help the president, but you know, that's just me.

I don't buy the argument that the way the information was released is the reason for the insanity. The only way to buy it, is to assume that what we are dealing with is a totally delusional epidemic of mass paranoia. It can't be explained by: they released the information in the wrong order. The entire premise of the reaction was irrational.