Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses…

Small towns are a great place to grow up. They are full of hard working people that tend to have a sense of community pride. I played sports during my school years, and even rode in the bed of a pick-up truck during the town 4th of July parade. We sang the National Anthem before all sporting events, and we recited the Pledge of Allegiance before school started. I don’t know if it’s still this way, but from what I can tell when I go back, not much has changed. I have since left the small town for the call of the big city. I didn’t go to school in the city, but talking to friends that have kids, it’s not exactly the same as a small town. This doesn’t mean the city is less patriotic; it means the city values things differently.

Big cities tend to be overflowing with cultural diversity that you can’t find in small towns. In the article “Obama Pulls A Palin, But Media Doesn’t Care”, by Tommy De Seno, the author points out that Sarah Palin suggested she likes small towns because they are more like “Real America”, and she attributes their patriotism to their character and not their race. The media and liberals were infuriated with the idea that Sarah Palin would claim small town America is more patriotic than the urban metropolis. De Seno suggests this is because liberals and the media believe small towns tend to be white America and lack racial diversity.

However, the same media and liberals were not so offended when President Obama made a racially laced comment for his argument on why Chicago is the greatest American city. When Obama proclaimed his preference for Chicago because of the diversity of its people, he made a point to identify race as the leading factor. Where was the uproar, the author argued? De Seno believes President Obama’s comments were obviously more about race than Sarah Palin’s comments, but no one was upset.

The problem with De Seno’s argument is the way he polarized the view of both comments; either they are about race or they are not. This extreme view seems on par coming from De Seno, given the fact that he is a lawyer that spends his time dissecting what others say in order to find hidden meaning. I find this polarization harsh as both comments are taken out of context by both the media and De Seno himself.

I agree with De Seno’s assertion that Sarah Palin’s comments are about the character of people in small town America and have nothing to do with race. However, I disagree with his opinion that Obama’s comments were solely based on race. Yes, it is correct that Obama commented on the racial diversity of the city of Chicago; however, the comments were meant to imply that it is the cultural diversity of the city that makes it great, and this is something that we as Americans believe in.

To avoid misinterpretation, liberals and the media should learn to truly listen to what someone says instead of picking out what they want to hear, and conservatives should listen to that childhood adage, “sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never harm me.”