Wednesday, February 6th

By Lorry J. Alcott

A feisty old man attending the Q&A session at the launch of John Strausbaugh's "SISSY NATION" this evening, had a word or three for the audience that packed the presentation space at Border's Books on Park Avenue. The event, covered by C-Span, went smoothly for the most part, with lots of laughs and a lively audience. Instead of reading from his book, Strausbaugh read aloud a letter he'd written to the presidential candidates in which he encouraged them to be "standup" about their actual beliefs and intentions rather than feeding voters whatever drivel they think we want to hear. Although he sent the letters along with copies of his book to each candidate he expressed doubt that his message would actually reach any of them personally. After his talk, participants were eager to grab a mic and launch into exacting questions about the magnitude of Sissitude in our Great Nation. A small elderly gentleman in the back however, took offense when the audience seemed uniformly pleased with Strausbaugh's straight-up answers. He insisted on having the last word. Taking the heavy mic in hand for the second time in half an hour, he angrily mumbled something to the effect that the room was filled with sissies of the worst kind because they were not arguing against Strausbaugh's thesis and they were all, like sheep, thoughtlessly purchasing copies of his book.

Strausbaugh answered that the fellow had "a good point," emphasizing that the book is based on the idea that, by virtue of being American, we have all learned to be sissies and that we had better wake up to this fact and start thinking for ourselves. The audience, as one, nodded their agreement, which sent the little man into addled fury. The finer points of his tetchy remonstrations were lost to anyone sitting farther than a few seats from him. One young woman, who was seated directly in front of the diminutive heckler, and who had kindly accommodated him by sinking deep down into her seat so that the camera might get a clear shot of him, took offence at his jabber against Struasbaugh. She sat back up in her chair and the two exchanged venomous remarks. Just as the fuming oldtimer holding the mic was beginning to look like he might use it as a weapon, the manager of Border's books, who had stolen up behind him, caught his hand and twisted the metal object from his grasp. It was later suggested that that the heckler and his adversary might well have been the only "non-sissies" in the group.

See it all for yourself on C-Span: Sunday, February 10th at 12 Noon.

POLITICS
Sissy Nation: How America Became a Culture of Wimps & Stoopits
Author: John Strausbaugh