The Nation.

The Scum Also Rises

truthdig

By Robert Scheer

May 9, 2007

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  • It is all well and good to continue to point out the moral defects of types like Wolfowitz, who indeed seem able to manipulate the levers of power with impunity and a clear lack of conscience. But the fact that Tenet gets $4M or Wolfowitz clears $400K after the fact of their misdeeds has become known says much more about the society itself than the corrupt individuals who rise to its top. If scum floats to the top, it only does so in a context that generates scum. Our society is one that rewards notoriety as well as accomplishment, scandal as much as bravery. News has become entertainment. In other words, we are now living in a culture in which visibility before the public, for whatever reason, is enough to confer riches or power, and there are more and more people who have realized that and are willing to take advantage of it. That people like Bush, Cheney and Wolfowitz can arrogate so much power in so little a time says to me that they are simply the sorts of people who have cashed in on the fundamental character defect of our nation: The vast majority of people would now rather be entertained by events than rise to do something to stop them. The good news, I suppose, is that the cost of the damage done by this complacency is now also rising to the surface. Perhaps we can be thankful that the Mayberry Machiavellis were so incompetent in their selfishness and arrogance: Their actions have helped uncover a deep cultural lassitude, while they have in fact failed to acquire the full dimension of the power they sought.

    Bruce McClelland

    Gordonsville, VA

    05/09/2007 @ 11:58am


  • Rober Scheer and Kurt Vonnegut have described these morally bankrupt people well. And I realize that the comparison has been made too many times, but did not Hitler and his goons did the same? Did they not know that they were causing death and destruction as well? Unfortunately, unlike those, there is no judgment of the crimes of people such as Wolfowitz. I bet he will back as Dean of SAIS at Johns Hopkins! Which raises the question of the roles of the institutions, which support these people (e.g., Tenet and Feith at Georgetown University). Who will hold them responsible for their role in nurturing the PPs?

    M. Siddique

    Chevy Chase, MD

    05/09/2007 @ 11:38am


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