The Alligator

Rudolph Giuliani the 9/11 Mayor of New York City toed that party line that Republicans are better managers of war and defense than Democrats. For the moment let’s not talk about the fact that the 9/11 WTC attacks happened during a Republican administration in a state with a Republican governor in a city with a Republican mayor. Let’s forget, for the moment, that according to former CIA chief George Tenet that then Republican National Security Advisor- Condoleezza Rice dismissed his warnings about an imminent terrorist threat to this country. Let’s forget, at the moment, that Mr. Giuliani a Republican (did I mention that before?) did not move the New York City Crisis Command Center from the World Trade Center after the first terrorist attack on the WTC in 1993 (it was suggested that the command center be placed in Brooklyn – a suggestion ignored by Giuliani – and where it currently resides post 9/11).

Let’s look at war management. The last time a Republican ran a war was the Spanish American War during the McKinley administration- a war that was by in large the making of yellow journalism and William Randolph Hearst. Remember- the Hearst quote to one of his reporters- “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.”? Yes the war lasted only 110 days and brought the USA to the nationhood of world powers, but was it really a necessary war? Sound familiar- well that part about being necessary. War management is another story.

But I digress. Let’s look at wars during the 20th century. Yes the Kennedy and Johnson administration governed over a bad war with their sending troops and escalating the troop level in Viet Nam, but they sure as heck weren’t what I would call doves! What about Korea. Not a good idea- but Truman presided.

And what about those other two pesky conflicts in the 20th century— World Wars I and II. Has anyone forgotten about Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (and later Truman)- THEY WERE DEMOCRATS folks!

While I don’t personally support all the conflicts that have involved Democrats (Korea and Viet Nam come to mind), the idea that Republicans have a better handle on defending our country is ABSOLUTELY absurd.

 Excuse me- I didn’t include the first Desert Storm presided over by President Bush the elder who incidentally refused - rightfully so- to go into Baghdad and remove Sadaam and that decisive victory we had in Grenada thanks to Republican President Reagan.  Oh boy that was a war that was both necessary and showed off our military might over a mighty regime!  Grenada certainly showed how important Republicans are to defending this country.

I guess you might consider folks to be weak on defense if they believe in diplomacy- a skill that the Bush administration lacks.

Get with it Rudy! Why don’t you put a dress on and let Donald Trump nuzzle your breast—- that was the best moment of your life!  Oh yeah- and don’t forget- this administration has done a bang up job— we are less safe than we were before 9/11/01 thanks to Mr. Bush and his Iraqi debacle.  We forgot about Afghanistan, we have destabilized the Middle East even more and we have given the jihadists a cause they can sell to young men as well as a safe haven where they can train them.  

Yup - those Republicans have done a great job.  I guess Rudy believes in staying the course!   That’s been real successful, hasn’t it?   

Don Imus’s recent outrageous remarks about the women’s basketball team from Rutgers’s University is just the latest chapter in outrage remarks made by public figures and getting play “ad infinitum” on the media. I have to admit to being even more outraged that some news shows (including “The Today Show”) actually played the clip of the remarks rather than just referring to them. Isn’t that just sensationalizing and capitalizing on those remarks and actually a cynical play on racism?

I am purposely using the term hate speech here because it isn’t just racism that is the problem lately, it is sexism, it is homophobia, it is anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic.

Let’s be clear that I am sickened by the tirades (they are not just off-handed remarks) from the likes of  Mr. Imus, the so-called comedian- former “Seinfeld” star- Michael Richards, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington, super-star Mel Gibson, and basketball star Tim Hardaway.

The list goes on. Do the media help create a dialogue to discuss these remarks that are indicative of a larger societal ill or do they use these remarks for their salacious ratings bonanza? This morning “The Today Show’ devoted most of it’s first hour on the issue- more than it ever devotes to a post mortem of “The State of the Union Address” the day after that annual important speech by the President of the United States. Maybe the producers and co-anchors,Ms. Viera and Mr. Lauer, envisioned a debate about the issues but instead it became the usual accusatory, vilifying talking heads yelling over one another and not listening - the swamp where these “conversations” inevitably devolve.

But I have to admit to being equally outraged by the hypocrisy and double standard emanating from the mouths of self righteous men like the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Mind you- I admire much of the work of both of these men, but it isn’t that long ago that they were race baiting and making remarks equally offensive.

Let’s look at Al Sharpton. He was the defining figure in the Crown Heights Riot that occurred after a car accident involving the motorcade for the Lubavitcher Rebbe killed a young boy named Gavin Cato. A riot was sparked after a private Hasidic ambulance came to the scene and, on the orders of a police officer, removed the Hasidic driver from the scene. Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela were picked up soon after by a city ambulance. Caribbean-American and African-American residents of the neighborhood then rioted for four consecutive days fueled by rumors (in part driven by Sharpton) that the private ambulance had refused to treat Cato. Sharpton became the de-facto representative for the Cato family. During the funeral he referred to “diamond merchants” considered a code word for Hasidic Jews for shedding “the blood of innocent babies” leading marchers shouting “No Justice No Peace”. Sharpton did not start the riots but his rhetoric was seen as inflammatory and unhelpful in easing the tension between the black and Jewish communities. A visiting rabbinical student from Australia by the name of Yankel Rosenbaum, 29 years old, was killed during the rioting by a mob shouting “Kill the Jew”. Mr. Sharpton’s remarks AND actions were not only inflamatory- but incendiary.

What about Jesse Jackson? Jackson has been criticized for some of the remarks he has made about Jews and Jewish issues: that Nixon was less attentive to poverty in the U.S. because “four out of five of Nixon’s top advisors are German Jews and their priorities are on Europe and Asia”; that he was “sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust”; that there are “very few Jewish reporters that have the capacity to be objective about Arab affairs”; In addition Rev. Jackson had referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown” in January 1984 during a conversation with Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman.

Just because Reverends Sharpton and Jackson made anti-Semitic remarks does not mean that they cannot be offended by Mr. Imus’s remarks- they should be. But they should not be sitting in godlike judgment over Mr. Imus with such righteous indignation. That is just hypocrisy. It seems that prejudice lurks in their hearts as well. On “The Today Show”, Ms. Viera asked Reverend Jackson to balance the Imus issue with his own “Hymietown” comment. He changed the subject. If Reverend Jackson was truly concerned about a real dialogue on hate and prejudice he would have addressed this issue and admitted that the issue of prejudice is endemic to the fabric of this country and we should address this larger issue.

Oddly enough the one glaring omission in all of the accusations and mea culpas going on due to the Imus fracas is the horribly sexist context of Mr. Imus’s remarks. Everyone has picked up on the racism but the misogyny that oozed from these remarks has been virtually ignored! It saddens me, but doesn’t surprise me that the misogyny is not being addressed.

Let’s be honest. Hate is part of the fabric of this country and sadly the world. People should be held accountable for their speech, but speech comes from something deep within that we are not addressing when we simply wag fingers with sanctimonious judgment at offensive speech. Beyond the unconstitutionality of it- banning hateful speech or being required to use the absurd “N word” as opposed to “nigger” when reporting an incident where the real word was used, is like putting a band aid on a severed aorta. Our society- the whole world, for that matter- needs to have a dialogue about why our hearts go there- not why our mouths go there.

If we could figure why our hearts hold these feelings and were able to fix that- we wouldn’t have civil strife or war and I don’t see those being eradicated anytime in my life time or any lifetime in the future. So much of our prejudice comes from our hardwired distrust of the unknown- those that aren’t part of our tribe, or our pack- ”the other”.  That’s from our reptilian brain’s need to survive and be on guard when anything that isn’t part of our experience comes into our lives. But we are more than our reptilian brains- we have a brain that is capable of comprehending that attempting to understand the unknown and acceptance of the “other” is more likely to achieve survival than the distrust associated with our more animal instincts.

But we won’t get to that level of discussion as long as we vilify each other for our remarks rather than talk about WHY we all have hearts that make our mouths capable of saying such heinous things.

Easter- the time of re-birth of the “Savior” and Passover- the time where Moses delivered his people from bondage have a common thread- a rebellion against the status quo  by those most down trodden and the faith that God protects the least among us.  In one story a presumptive King of Egypt gives up his crown to lead his fellow Israelites out of human bondage- he must become a slave himself in order to be a true leader.  In the second story- a mere son of a carpenter born in a barn stall, through his compassion for humanity, becomes the essence of a sacrifice and in doing so is venerated as a King of Kings.   These are stories of men who are venerated, not because they feel that they know God better than the rest or that they are better than other men.  Conversely their stories tell us that as a man understands his insignificance, his humility and that he alone does not hold the answers, this is  in fact when he becomes the most noble of men and has the closest relationship with nature (or God if you prefer). 

What is the lesson here?  It is one that goes back to the beginning of time- to the revelation of the great Greek tragic flaw.  Hubris- that state of being where man believes that he has more power than the gods- is the oldest story of human kind.  It is the story of the serpent in the Garden at the time of Creation and it is the story of every Greek heroic and Roman myth where mankind loses his perspective of his place in the world. 

We lose our prospective in a myriad of ways.  The most callous is the belief that our way- is the right way.  If God exists- would it only be a select few vainglorious men who would know the path to “Heaven”, “Salvation”, “Nirvana”?  Would it be so easy as to say- ”My way is right and anything else is wrong and that which is wrong is dangerous and therefore evil?”  It seems to me that this is hubris- arrogance of the first order.  One group knows the truth and all the others are heathens?  Who said “we” are right and “they” wrong?  Who said that the West is right and the Islamic East is wrong?  Who can know for sure that we are on God’s side and the other side is Evil.   

Can evil inspires action?  Yes- look at Hitler.  But does that mean that those opposing that brand of Evil are therefore on God’s side?  Let’s look at the Catholic Church during World War II.  Was the Catholic Church’s benign neglect of the Holocaust good or evil?  Is indifference good? Can evil inspire inaction?  Elie Weisel said that the opposite of faith is not heresy, but is indifference.  When a church paves a roadway for HIV on a continent besieged by the AIDS pandemic by its intransigence on dogmatic issues like birth control- that is worse than indifference- it is immorality. 

What about the fight in the Middle East.  I have often said that this mayhem is really nothing more than a big family brawl between the descendants of Abraham  -  and at its essence that is true.  The situation in the Middle East is rife with ethnic and tribal strife that is nearly as old as civilization itself.  There is Sunni and Shi’a hatred, there is Christian and Muslim hatred and there is Jewish and Muslim hatred.

From where does most of this hatred emenate?  From lack of understanding.  The fear of what is different leads to villifying that which is different by believing that “my way” is the right way and “their way” is wrong. If some validity exists in “their way” maybe “my way” isn’t the solice and complete comfort I seek in childish ignorance.   Isn’t this hubris?  We dare to say that we know what is the “right way” because we seek comfort in our myopic world view because it is safe.  Considering other points of view is immediately threatening- but in the long run much more rewarding.  Sadly we rarely get to the long run.

Unfortunately the current Bush administration has used neo-conservative hubris as the basis for its foreign policy.  We know what’s best for the Middle East and we need to plop down an “American-style” democracy there- because we know it will be beacon of hope that is needed in this dark and heathen world. 

It’s no wonder that our greatest ally in the Iraqi Folly has been Great Britain.  During the period of the Empire (which still haunts all of the United Kingdom’s world affairs much like the Tsarist despotism that haunts Russian leadership), Britain was an unapologetic progenitor of hubris.  Just think of the quaint old Raj notion in India of “man-bat” (The British Raj was the mother and the father of the Indian people- the protector).  And of course just look at the damage that was done when colonial European powers drew boundary lines in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.   They did a bang up job.

So this country plods along in its assumption that our way of life and our belief systsm is the best for all people regardless of their culture, their history and their experience.  We know what’s best for the rest of the world.  I’d ask us all to ponder one question before we decide to play god.  Isn’t the only super power in the world equivalent to a King and didn’t Moses revolt against the King of his time- the Pharaoh and didn’t Christ revel in the life of the common man - not the powerful?  

Are we the Pharaohs and Pharisee’s of the 21st century? 

Hubris is at play in more than just world politics.  It is at play in the stewardship of the world itself.  We have played God with the resources of the world to make a “better” life for ourselves- and in doing so we are on the brink of destroying it.  The apple we picked in the garden is getting rotten and we don’t seem to care- or at least many in power don’t seem to care.

Hubris is at play in the politics of fear in this country- where one can vilify gays and lesbians as evil and undeserving of equal rights.  Some religious leaders seem to feel that they know what meaning God has in the words of the Bible- all of which were penned by fallible men-   a book that teaches archaic laws for a desert nomadic tribe living thousands of years ago regarding the selling of one’s daughters into slavery, touching a pig’s skin or working on the Sabbath.  Why select two obscure passages about man lying down with man and not the passage about stoning a man who is working on the Sabbath? Who told Mr. Falwell or Mr. Robertson that they are the ones that know how to interpret these scriptures and that others- who do not weave hate into the teachings of the Bible- are wrong?  Mr. Falwell and Mr. Roberston are guilty of hubris and manipulation.

Is it God’s purpose to see an ancient church like the Anglican Communion split simply because the American Church embraces and loves homosexuals and dares to place them in places of leadership?  Or are the African conservatives (and the Americans that wish to join them) in the church guilty of hubris to “know” that His intention isn’t love but instead is condemnation?  Is that what we have learned?

The Greeks had it right- all ills of the world seem to spring from this one sin- the greatest of Greek tragic flaws.  Hubris in classical Greek ethical and thought is the overweening presumption suggesting impious disregard of the limits governing human action in an orderly universe. It is the sin to which the great and gifted are most susceptible, and in Greek mythology it is usually the hero’s tragic flaw.  Has their been any one “successful” in their worldly ambitions that did not ultimately succumb to hubris? 

In Ancient Greece hubris referred to actions taken in order to shame the victim, thereby making oneself seem superior. Have we learned anything from the Greeks, from Moses or from Christ? 

I never thought I would see the day where the most powerful African American woman on the planet and the worst President that the United States has ever seen would have something in common.  But “The Secret” seems to bond Ms. Winfrey and Mr. Bush, both of whom are, in their own and different ways, out of touch with real people. 

Let’s talk about “The Secret” first.   It is the newest self-help manifesto that is currently topping the bestsellter lists.  It espouses a “philosophy” that its website states is the great secret to the Universe.  According to the website- ”The Secret”  has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries… to reach humankind and is the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.  WOW!  The secret to the Universe-  I guess they interviewed God.   No need for universities to teach philosophy and science, no reason for theology either.  It took the skills of an Australian talk-show producer (Rhonda Byrne) to distill the complexities of these disciplines and give us the answers!

According to “The Secret”- One spring day towards the end of 2004, Rhonda Byrne discovered a secret - the secret laws and principles of the universe.   It goes on to say, “The Secret” transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it… Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein.  

What is this miracle- this enlightenment - that has alluded explanation by philosophy teachers throughout history but came to the great wisdom of a TV producer like Buddha sitting under a Bodhi tree?  It is visualization!  The GREAT revelation is that people only need to visualize something in order to get it.   You mean to tell me that Plato couldn’t have said this millennia ago and we could have put an end to academic and theological work on understanding human nature, the Universe and God?  Gee- I guess we can all be Buddha now - but of course millionaire Buddhas because a lot of the shameful marketing of this drivel is being hawked primarily as a way for people to achieve their financial dreams. 

Plato, Leonardo, Shakespeare. et. al. must be spinning in their graves at the idea that garbage philosophy like this has the effrontery to include their names.   I had visions of the great geniuses of human history sharing a bottle of Chardonnay while sitting in a Marin hot tub discussing their secret after a day of past life regression therapy!  How dare anyone misuse the complexities of true genius to market this shameful trash. 

Oprah has devoted two shows to ”The Secret “. Oprah writes this about “The Secret” on her Web site, “the energy you put into the world — both good and bad — is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day.”

In a scathing indictment of “The Secret” and Oprah’s involvement in an article on Salon.com, Peter Birkenhead writes-

“But what really makes “The Secret” more than a variation on an old theme is the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who lends the whole enterprise more prestige, and, because of that prestige, more venality, than any previous self-help scam. Oprah hasn’t just endorsed ‘The Secret’; she’s championed it, put herself at the apex of its pyramid, and helped create a symbiotic economy of New Age quacks that almost puts OPEC to shame. Why venality? Because, with survivors of Auschwitz still alive, Oprah writes this about ‘The Secret’ on her Web site, “the energy you put into the world — both good and bad — is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day. Venality, because Oprah, in the age of AIDS is advertising a book that says, that you cannot ‘catch’ anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought. Venality, because Oprah, from a studio within walking distance of Chicago’s notorious Cabrini Green Projects, pitches a book that says, “The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts.”

I guess you can take this to a more insidious level - as if there is a more insidious level- and say that the reason that chaos and mayhem are occurring in Iraq is because the Iraqi people aren’t visualizing peace, prosperity and a quaint Arabesque United States   I am “visualizing” a new theme park- Islamo Disney-  Mickey Mouse wearing a Bisht and a Ghutra and a new ride called “Pilgrimage to Mecca”. 

I wonder if Mr. Bush a devotee of ‘The Secret”?   He seems to think that if he visualizes success in Iraq int will happen.  Maybe the problem is that the Iraqi people haven’t been visualizing along with him!    Mr. Bush’s policy to deal with the Hurricane Katrina disaster was right out of “The Secret”.   He just visualized a “new” New Orleans.  The problem is  that none of the rest of us can see it. 

It seems that Mr. Bush relies on the same idiocy that Oprah is hawking.  He doesn’t develop strategies and policy to successfully implement anything, he just visualizes them.