Upon hearing that Al Gore received $100 million from the $500 million sale of Current TV  to Al Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar — home to a huge U.S. military command — I had a knee-jerk reaction about the Arab network broadcasting anti-American propaganda.

Personally, for $100 million I would wear an Obama mask to the Republican National Convention, or a Biden mask to a Texas gun show.

Access to Current’s 40 million U.S. households (it was millions more before, in preemptive censorship, Time Warner Cable dropped Current) is why Al Jazeera paid so much for the low-rated network.

After much research, including watching Al Jazeera online, I hope providers don’t repeat the knee-jerk reactions of myself and Time Warner.I found the English version to be professional and objective, with in-depth stories from around the world.

Sure, we’d prefer the U.S. be portrayed as always being welcomed with open arms, but that’s not reality.

Providing multiple viewpoints through journalistic integrity epitomizes freedom of speech.

It will never happen, but it’s nice to fantasize about the world being more peaceful through people actually listening to each other with open minds.

Hopefully, open season on Al Jazeera America won’t be declared before people have actually watched after its spring debut.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Timothy Leary, turn on, tune in, then — if it’s a bad trip — drop out.

 Contact Wendel Sloan at: wendel.sloan@yahoo.com