Present Imperfect

I Read! And Listen to Public Radio! And Watch Old Movies! | April 01, 2003

NPR interviewed Poet Laureate Billy Collins today about the importance of poetry in times of national strife (or something like that). Anyway, Collins said that it was "the vanity of every age" to consider itself unique. The funny thing about this is I was watching "To Sir, With Love" last night and Sidney Poitier says exactly the same thing to his class as he explains that the kids' '60s hairstyles are "200 years old" and that their fashions are "straight out of the '20s."

Now, I realize that this isn't much of a revelation, but when I hear two disparate sources (from two different ages, I might add) say the same thing in the space of 24 hours, the universe may be trying to tell me something.

In a string of recent incidents in which people have been derided for telling the truth (see Michael Moore's Academy Award acceptance speech), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett was fired from NBC for saying the following: "The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan."

Now, to be fair, Arnett did say this on Iraqi television, which may not have been the wisest idea. But NBC fired him not for revealing tactical information (Geraldo may have done this by drawing a map in the sand, but we all know he's an ass-raving moron), but because American citizens were emailing the network in droves to accuse Arnett of being unpatriotic...for telling the truth. By this line of reasoning, LYING is patriotic. In which case the Bush Administration is right to be waving all those flags.

Anyway, speaking of history repeating itself, now we are revisiting both the Vietnam and the McCarthy eras in my lifetime. Thanks, America! Here I thought I was missing out!