Monday, July 4, 2011

A Summer of Cynicism?

How about a century? The Times has an interesting story on the DSK fiasco--how our reputation has suffered in Europe; how we humiliated an important man, etc. etc. And now we again totally rush to judgement on the woman accusing him (as some of those quoted pointed out, more or less). First, make fun of/convict w/o trial the supposed perp. Second, hear rumors of holes in the accuser's story and convict her w/o trial of making it all up. What difference does it make that she (perhaps) lied in trying to get asylum in the US? He has lied over a lifetime (apparently) about his womanizing. But apparently, for a lot of people, it's a relief to let him off--big fat continental white guy is fine, really, despite a few tiny peccadillos, especially in contest with small unimportant black woman. Oh and suddenly the Times notices that Europe views us as a dangerous country. Well, stop the presses. Here we are, turning the poor and disabled out on the streets rather than raising taxes on the rich--can't even raise our own debt limit, etc. and so on. And we sound dangerous. Well, yeah, I think so.