Subject: Stuck on Stupid (original email)


Ever wonder what the _expression "stuck on stupid" meant?
Well here is an example:

The grinning idiot clinging to Je$$e Jack$on is Cindy Sheehan... the sob sister protesting the war at Bush's ranch, who lost her son in the war, the same son she gave up in her divorce when he was 7 years old.
And by the way if you wonder why she has so much free time ... she is going through another divorce right now and guess what? She is giving up custody of another son.
As Forest Gump once wisely proclaimed, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Please DO pass this one along.
----------------- my response ------------------------------------------
There are a few inaccuracies in that email (as is true with most forwarded, politically-charged emails).

Cindy Sheehan has only been married once: to Patrick Sheehan, father of Casey. The two were high school sweethearts and raised Casey and their three younger children together. Neither has been married to anybody else. They have been married for 28 years.

And they are currently still married. But unfortunately, as is common when a couple's child dies, they are divorcing (the email was correct about one thing!). They've been separated since June, 2005, due to disagreements over Mrs. Sheehan's political activities. Patrick filed for divorce in August 2005, citing irreconcilable differences.

This is partly addressed on the urban legends-busting site, Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/sheehan.asp

Ms. Sheehan originally met the president with 17 other parents of dead soldiers at Fort Lewis outside of Seattle. He only said he was sorry for their loss. The meeting lasted about ten minutes. Mrs. Sheehan said that the president didn't know the names of the dead or of their parents. She later expressed her disappointment at the meeting's lack of substance and sincerity.

Later, she seemed to be particularly irked by Bush's statements that the sacrifices made by soldiers killed in Iraq were for a "noble cause."

Sheehan told reporters: "He said my son died in a noble cause, and I want to ask him what that noble cause is."

"Sob sister?" A mother endures one of the most horrible things possible (the death of a child) so she's a "sob sister?" Man, that's cold!

As a counselor, I always become interested when a public figure comes to be so widely despised. I try to figure out how it happens and why. Who generates the hatred? What is their agenda? It's especially interesting to me when that person is not powerful in the traditional sense, such as a politician or CEO. Normally, when a mother loses a child, we very much sympathize with her. We see her as a victim and generally want to offer comfort and condolences. So what happened here? Why is Ms. Sheehan so hated? What mechanism(s) came into play to generate these feelings? Why does she deserve it? I guess it's because she refused to grieve silently and dared to challenge the most powerful man in the world who, as "The Decider," made decisions that ultimately resulted in the death of her child.

Especially for a woman to challenge the top male authority figure, that seems particularly offensive to some. This issue was addressed in an interesting article recently. If you're ready to have your thinking challenged, here it is:
It's called "Why Natalee Holloway Is Lucky She Is Not Around to Make Accusations"http://www.newshounds.us/2006/04/20/why_natalee_holloway_is_lucky_she_is_not_around_to_make_accusations.php
The email also implies that Jesse Jackson is stupid. Since he and Cindy are protesting the actions of George Bush, I'm not sure conservatives would benefit from any comparisons of intelligence to him. They might want to try a different tactic. Just a suggestion.