Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Clumns
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Biography: Aaron Hanania
      • Steve Metsch
      • Steve Neuhaus
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics
    • Two Guys on Politics
    • Hanania on Tiktok
  • News Wire
  • Toggle search form
  • Police Blotter
    Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run accident
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities Events
  • Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge
    Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt breaking news
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule Chicago
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN Blogger
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Threatening FEMA Employees and Law Enforcement Officers Crime
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago Bridgeview
  • OFPD Trustee DJ Jeffers, COmmissioner Mohammed Jaber, Events and Safety Coordinator Betsy Dine and McDonalds Manager Doug Kwiatkowski join about 100 kids who participated at the Frozen with a Firefighter event Wednesday, July 9, 2025
    Frozen with an Orland Firefighter at McDonald’s Events
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Chicago dad’s court victory brought kidnapped daughter home Dads' Rights
  • Congresswoman Robin Kelly official photo
    Leading members of State’s Gun Violence Prevention Community endorse Robin Kelly for U.S. Senate elections
  • IAM Union Logo
    IAM Union Members at Arrow Gear Ratify Strong Contract After 9 Weeks on Strike Business
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Seven Individuals Charged in Drug and Firearm Investigation Centered on South Side of Chicago Chicago
  • Donna Miller
    Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller Launches Congressional Campaign Chicago
  • Mohammed Jaber
    Mohammed Jaber takes Oath of Office for Orland Fire Commission Fire
  • The Orland Fire District responded at 6:51 pm to reports of  smoke coming out of the eves of a four unit townhome in the 10500 block of Illinois Court in the Eagle Ridge subdivision on Saturday August 10th, 2024. 
    Orland Fire District reports several 4th of July fires but no injuries accident
Ray Hanania in 1955 on Chicago's Southeast Side. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

Opinion writing: “If you want a friend, get a dog”

Posted on July 5, 2021October 8, 2021 By Ray Hanania
SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  

Opinion writing: “If you want a friend, get a dog”

I am grateful for the readership that I get in my opinion writing, and I appreciate those who support me and enjoy the column and recognize the importance of the angry haters, too. If I wanted a friend, I would go out and get a dog — I did. But what I want is a society where we hear all views and the public. makes up its own mind. I think the public is smart enough to cull every opinion and news report and decide for themselves what the truth is. I just add my 45 years of experience covering Chicagoland and world politics to the mix.

By Ray Hanania

Carol at the office emails me to tell me when readers say they love my column. The nicest thing about her is she doesn’t tell me when people complain.

I know being a columnist isn’t the most popular thing to be these days, especially as I watch a bunch of wags bail from their ivory perches at the Chicago Tribune or pontificate endlessly from the narrow interest perches of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Most had a great ride, pontificating with holier-than-thou attitudes, dissing on the same issues that could be dissed about them.

We’re all just human.

Ray Hanania in 1955 on Chicago's Southeast Side. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania in 1955 on Chicago’s Southeast Side. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

But I think of how lucky I am to be able to share my opinions with readers.

One of my old editors in the 1970s, H. Marlin Landwehr, reminded often me that the more hate mail I get, the more I was needed. If you want to be loved, editors would say, get a dog!

Remember back when we used to get mail in the mail box with a postage stamp on it? Those were the good old days when the Post Office mail delivery people really worked their buns off. It’s a different story today.

Mail barely makes it to our home. The mail is slow and unreliable, part of a bureaucracy that can’t be fixed. Our mail runs one to two weeks late. Just ask anyone who still has a mailbox.

I wasn’t one of the privileged journalists who got a job because their parent worked at a big city newspaper. I wrote letters every week to the local paper in the 1970s complaining about media bias.

Yes, back then, the media was very biased, although not as biased as they are today. Back then, I was complaining about the one-sided coverage of the Palestinians by columnist Alex Seith, who ran for Congress several times. Although I often skewered Seith in my ten-page long, hand-written letters that I delivered to Landwehr, it was never personal. I agreed with some of his politics and I disagreed with some, too.

That’s something we don’t tolerate today in our “all or nothing” world. People don’t want all the views any more. It’s 100 percent or nothing. And that’s why we always send up with nothing. I always thought that was an Arab World trait, but now realize the US today isn’t any better than the Arab World.

Landwehr got tired of re-typing my letters to run in the newspaper. Back then newspapers prided themselves on running other views points or opposing views. But in Landwehr’s case, he called me and offered me a job, maybe thinking it would save him the hassle of retying my rantings, or maybe to shut me up.

It didn’t.

I went on to compile a long list of politicians who hated me and the column I wrote, “The Political Grapevine.” Amazingly, I ended up continuing as a writer and as a political consultant, with one foot on each side of the phony line other “journalists” claim exists. It doesn’t. Most journalists (that’s different from being an opinion columnist) today are more political than the politicians they slam.

Don’t worry about those journalists who lost their jobs. They are all making bank with pensions and corporate buyouts. A few of them will survive, like my friend John Kass, who launched his own website online. He’s unpopular with the purveyors of moral hypocrisy and political correctness.

I remember Kass, when none of the City Hall press corps would talk with him when Harold Washington was mayor. But as community journalist, I would often let him use my City Hall desk and phone to chase his stories down. Old, faded memories.

You can blame most of the other retiring journalists, and the ones who retired before them, for contributing to the sad fate of Chicago, where most of the media is focused at the expense of the suburbs. They gave us Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s most incompetent and racist mayor, next only to Rahm Emanuel.

What’s the difference between Lightfoot’s racial views and those of her predecessors? Their views are just on opposite sides, mirror images of the same race politics.

Anyway, I thank all of you, those few who love me, and the legions who dislike me, including activists in the dysfunctional Arab American community. What a sad lot they are incapable of overcoming their anger and rage.

Anger empowers me as a writer. My mission is clear: Tell you what I think, knowing you hear enough of the “other side.”

I believe the public should hear ALL SIDES of an issue. I respect all of you and know you are all smart enough to come to your own conclusions. You don’t need the media to tell you what to think from their manipulated, one-sided writings.

I’m not going to tell you what to think, only give you my thoughts on what I think is right, what I think is hypocritical and what I think needs to change.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and political columnist. This column was originally published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at rghanania@gmail.com.)

 

Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

* indicates required field. 

 

Select Email Format


newswire info
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run - July 12, 2025
  • Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities - July 12, 2025
  • Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt - July 12, 2025
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  
 
 
 
           
Blogger, Chicago, Commentary, Cook County, Editors Pick, Government, Opinion, Politics, rayhanania, Suburban Chicagoland Tags:Chicago City Hall, City Hall, columns, John Kass, Journalism, news industry, news media bias, news reporting, newspapers, opinion columns, politics, Ray Hanania, writing

Post navigation

Previous Post: React from anti-crime aldermen on special City Council meeting
Next Post: Dearborn flooding, UAE deal focus of Arab Radio show Wed July 7

Related Posts

  • Police Blotter
    DuPage-Kane Task Force Yields Drug Arrest, Seizure of Cocaine and Fentanyl Crime
  • Pat Tomasulo "Man of the People" Logo, WGN TV Saturday nights at 10 pm
    Tomasulo’s Man of the People offers refreshing chuckles in mad, mad, mad, mad world. Blogger
  • Lynn Zeder High School District 230 school president
    High School District 230’s President Lynn Zeder should resign from the board Blogger
  • Democratic endorsed candidate Marie Newman at rally Sept. 4, 2020 hosted by the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and American Palestine Club. Photo courtesy of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce
    Newman pushes amendments to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act breaking news
  • Chicago Wolves forward David Gust (left) and Cole Smith (right) after Gust scores May 1. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Wolves
    Defensemen drive Chicago Wolves to another victory Chicago
  • Author Ray Hanania with the love of his life, a bottle of soda pop
    My ongoing love affair with soda pop Baby Boomers

More Related Articles

Murder suspect Brian Cruz. Photo courtesy of the Lyons Police Department Suspect in Lyons killing arrested, bond court at 26th California tomorrow morning breaking news
Lori Lightfoot speaking at Police Accountability Task Force hearing in 2016. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Lightfoot, Pritzker and holier-than-thou political hypocrites Blogger
DVR-based Security camera systems need to be replaced Blogger
Typewriter. Photo by Andrew Seaman courtesy of unsplash District 230 students receive journalism awards Cook County
SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview Moraine Valley to host alumni night at Chicago Fire game Education
Donating to the future News
Subscribe to Ray Hanania's column graphic

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN
    July 12, 2025
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Chicago parents and other community leaders must work together to make sure this summer isn’t deadly for our children
    July 3, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    How Technology Changed the Cook County Treasurer’s Office
    June 27, 2025
  • Attorneys Jeffery Leving Arthur Kallow
    Honoring Fathers: A Father’s Day Reflection
    June 13, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Understanding Cook County Property Taxes: A Guide for Homeowners
    June 13, 2025
  • 06-04-25 Two Guys on Politics Background Zoom LOGO with images
    Two Guys on Politics Podcast on Elon Musk, Trump’s Parade, LA Riots, and Middle East ban
    June 12, 2025
  • NEWS
  • Police Blotter
    Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run
    July 12, 2025
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities
    July 12, 2025
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • SPORTS
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule
    July 12, 2025
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago
    July 12, 2025
  • NEWS RELEASES
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities
    July 12, 2025
  • Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge
    Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt
    July 12, 2025
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO RAY HANANIA'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS


Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Categories

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme