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Veterinary Practice News Editorial Blog:
Friday, October 31, 2008
Red or Blue Doesn't Matter; I Can't Take Any More Ads!
By Marilyn Iturri
Editor of VeterinaryPracticeNews.com and Veterinary Practice News
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I have a bad case of Election Overload, and I don’t even live in one of the states being contested in the presidential election.
Folks in Ohio and Florida and Pennsylvania, among other states, are being subjected to even more TV and radio commercials. That's hard to believe. Here in California, a blue state if there ever was one, the presidential race isn’t in question so we are largely spared those dueling commercials.
But ads for state and local contests and state propositions are driving me nuts. It doesn’t matter who they're for or whether they’re for or against any given issue; they are shrill, obnoxious and omnipresent. As my dad used to say, No hay escapo – There’s no escape.
And as I write this, Election Day is still five days away.
One of the more contentious issues on the Golden State’s ballot is Proposition 2, an initiative that would amend the California Health and Safety Code to prohibit the confinement of chickens, veal calves and sows in a manner that doesn’t allow them to turn around, stand up, lie down and fully extend their limbs.
As Dr. Alice Villalobos reported in October, the issue has split the veterinary community. The California Veterinary Medical Assn. supports Prop. 2, but veterinarians who oppose it have formed the California Veterinary Assn., comprising veterinarians involved in the poultry industry and some research and teaching academicians.
Even Oprah Winfrey had to wade into the fray earlier this month with a show featuring Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle and some of the farmers who say the measure would adversely affect their livelihoods.
Right now it’s hard to watch television or listen to the radio without being bombarded with ads that make diametrically opposed claims. Often, messages for both sides of an issue spout rhetoric that approaches hyperbole and seems insincere, if not downright untruthful. It’s maddening.
So starting today, I’m taking a brief vacation from the broadcast media. I’ll dedicate some time to watching movies on DVD and “House” and “Law and Order” reruns on TiVo. I'll fast-forward through every commercial.
And on Tuesday morning before work, I’m heading to the polls. After all, despite the epidemic of Election Overload, I’m with Sir Winston Churchill, who said:
“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried.”
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Red or Blue Doesn't Matter; I Can't Take Any More Ads!
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