http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4946250/site/newsweek/
Values for Sale
What do Americans care most about? Not what's truly important, opines
our columnist
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Gersh Kuntzman
Newsweek
Updated: 3:25 p.m. ET May 10, 2004
May 10 - By now, you've been repulsed by the disgusting, offensive
pictures. Repeated viewing has seared these images into your appalled
consciousness. And worse, America's core values have been put on display
for the entire world, fueling yet again the notion that our
self-professed integrity is a sham.
I'm talking, of course, about the horrifying images released this week
of major league baseball bases covered with advertising for "Spider Man
2" (what, you thought I was talking about Abu Ghraib? Don't worry, I'll
get there).
The reaction to Major League Baseball's "Spider Man 2" promo plan was,
predictably, outrage. For an entire news cycle, it seemed as if there
was no other story in the country. Everyone from former baseball
commissioner Fay Vincent to former relevant person Ralph Nader rose in
such anger that the plan was scrapped. The pristine bases would be
preserved for another day. The purity of the game was safe for the time
being.
And the "Spider Man" base story was gone as quickly as it arrived. But I
would submit to you that the "Spider Man" story is not an isolated
incident. It is, in fact, the latest "New Coke" moment in our national
culture.
New Coke moment? The reference, of course, is to the Coca-Cola company's
attempt in 1985 to introduce a new formula for its world-renowned
carbonated corn syrup beverage. Instantly, fans of the original recipe
rallied, and after months of protests and letter-writing campaigns, Coke
was forced to not only restore "Coke Classic" to its honored place on
the supermarket shelf, but, eventually, to scrap "New Coke" altogether.
The lesson of that "New Coke" moment was not that a grassroots movement
could topple a world power. No, for me, the lesson was that the only
indecency that could spur Americans to action was an attack on a
beverage. If Coca-Cola had announced that 15,000 babies in Rwanda had
died during the field testing of the New Coke formula, the resulting
outrage might have consisted of a letter from Amnesty International and
an editorial in the New York Times. But take away our soda pop? Le
deluge!
How much have we really changed? Last week's "Spider Man" incident is
this generation's "New Coke"--a cause celebre that allows us to feel
good about ourselves. But while we were patting ourselves on the back
for being on the "right" side of baseball's crass commercialism, we've
allowed ourselves to ignore everything else. Sure, we could see through
baseball's attempt to sell its own purity for a few million bucks, but
this isn't just about baseball, it's about America. Lately, it's become
clear that America's central value is that our values are not that
central. They can be discarded, replaced, re-written or sold based on
circumstance. In fact, virtually all of our so-called American values
are under attack by...Americans:
We shut down an Iraqi newspaper because it opposed our occupation too
vehemently. Freedom of the press exists so long as the press writes nice
things about America.
We say we believe in artistic freedom, but we don't even flinch when we
hear that Disney has decided not to distribute Michael Moore's new film
that is critical of President Bush. (The incident exposed anew the myth
of "liberal Hollywood"; Disney is one of the biggest entertainment
companies--and one of the most conservative).
We have discarded protections guaranteed under the Geneva Convention to
some of our prisoners being held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
Protecting prisoners' rights is only an American value when the
prisoners are Americans.
We conveniently forget that an American is innocent until proven guilty.
It's been illustrative to watch conservatives pillory Brandon Mayfield,
that Oregon lawyer who was arrested last week after Spanish authorities
claimed that a fingerprint had been found on a bag linked to the March
train bombings in Madrid. Not only was Mayfield arrested on flimsy
evidence, but the right-wing smear campaign was swift. His wife, after
all, is a Muslim! And he once represented a terror suspect in an
unrelated child custody case! He has a beard! And he prays to Allah, not
Jesus! Forget "innocent until proven guilty." Isn't it also an American
value that American citizens should not be arrested and held
indefinitely without being charged?
Which brings us, alas, to the pictures of grinning American soldiers
abusing Iraqi detainees at Saddam Hussein's notorious gulag, Abu Ghraib.
In the aftermath, President Bush said the abuse was "not the America I
know" and that most Americans were appalled at the pictures. I think the
president should get out more. Appalled? Not if you read the commentary
written by some of the president's supporters.
Yes, of course, there is widespread agreement that the scandal was
un-American. And then wait for the "but"--as in "...but no one
apologizes when Americans are abused" or "...but what happened at Abu
Ghraib wasn't really so bad" or "...but the media is making a mountain
out of a molehill."
"But let's not lose our heads over it..." wrote syndicated columnist
David Limbaugh. "I'm not so anxious to apologize to the 'victims'
themselves, who would probably have enjoyed eating our intestines for
lunch well before the incident...This is war. Let's quit pretending it's
some kind of pristine chess match."
"What a few coalition troops did...was certainly not torture," wrote
Gordon Bishop on the conservative Web site EtherZone.
"Abu Ghraib [is] not the worst atrocities committed in war," wrote
Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. "Indeed, they pale in
comparison with what Arab insurgents have done..."
"When it comes to pure chutzpah, the reaction in the Arab world is
second to none," wrote the conservative Washington Times in an
editorial. "Arab governments and institutions routinely looked the other
way when Saddam Hussein murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over
several decades and said nothing...Now they're indignant over the
allegations of mistreatment of Iraqis by American soldiers."
Yes, millions of Americans were appalled by the Abu Ghraib images, but
millions of Americans were not. My father the conservative, for example,
didn't even bother to offer lip service to how appalling the pictures
were, launching into his "but." "Let's put this in perspective. It
doesn't even compare to what the Arabs do to us, like destroying the
World Trade Center, hanging four bodies off that bridge," he said. (Note
to Air America: See? You really need to hire me and him for that
father-son radio show, if only so your listeners can get a weekly primer
in how the enemy thinks!).
That's the state of our so-called "American values" during this current
"New Coke" moment. We can summon up anger about "Spider Man 2" ads, but
we can't seem to get that upset about Abu Ghraib (Major League Baseball
withdrew its plan, but we can't even get a resignation from the
Secretary of Defense!).
Above all, the backlash to Abu Ghraib shows that we have sold out our
most important value: The notion that we live by higher standards.
Loathe as I am to favorably quote a presidential candidate--because all
they ever say is platitudes like "Yes, America can!" and "I'm going to
create jobs"--John Kerry said it best this week: "America wasn't put
here to dominate the world. We have a higher calling: to lead it."
We're not supposed to be the country that says, "Sure, we did some bad
things, but not as bad as what they do to us." They aren't occupying us
and telling us to accept their values. We're occupying them and telling
them to accept our values.
And the worst thing is, we don't even have any values--except, perhaps,
the inalienable right to drink our favorite soda.
Gersh Kuntzman is Brooklyn Bureau Chief of the New York Post. His
website is http://www.gersh.tv
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
Stoney
"Designated Rascal and Rapscallion
and
SCAMPERMEISTER!"
When in doubt, SCAMPER about!
When things are fair, SCAMPER everywhere!
When things are rough, can't SCAMPER enough!
/end humour alert
alt.atheism military veteran #11
{so much for the 'no atheists in foxholes' rubbish}
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