Seems very fashionable these days. It’s “brave,” you know. So long as, when you say the word “brave,” your definition is expansive enough to include conventional definitions as well as the emergently popular standard of self-referential acts of guerrilla performance art taken without the least whiff of attendent consequence.
A couple of weekends ago nothing else very interesting was happening, apart from a White House correspondent’s dinner, wherein comedian Steven Colbert, offered the opportunity to do that comedian thing and say something – anything – funny, turned it down in favor of pretty much being a prick. It being a slow week for news, the entire political blogosphere exploded, one side into paroxysms of sniggering, orgasmic approbation on the one hand because, you know: SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT, MAN! while the other side wondered, not for the first time, whether anyone actually thought this sort of thing was funny, whether this was truly the last nail in the coffin of civil public discourse, or if it really could be possible that there were further indignities yet to face.
This week Senator John McCain, a man whose bravery in the face of past hardship I admire greatly, while maintaining private reservations about his positions present and potential, gave a commencement speech at a leftish, liberal arts university in Greenwich Village, NY. He was invited there by the school’s president, fellow Vietnam veteran, former fellow senator and Medal of Honor winner Bob Kerrey.
But McCain, you know, is a wicked rethuglican, holding unrepentantly unpopular opinions, which combination makes him teh suck, and so in consequence the kids – along with some of their professors – behaved rather boorishly. Not least among those so disposed was an elected commencement speaker, one Jean Rohe, who apparently departed from her prepared script to beard the senator in front all those assembled. Speaking truth to power, like.
It really wasn’t his fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn’t my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation. Had he been speaking at something other than our graduation, or had he spoken about almost anything other than his life and his position on the Iraq War and Darfur it might have been OK. But what did he expect?
So: Nobody’s fault, really. What did he expect?
Oh, I don’t know. Manners to go along with all of that education, perhaps. Common courtesy would have been nice, the kind you’d give a dignified stranger of a certain age on the subway. Themselves being so very new to the wide world, on the very cusp of exiting the shelter of the academy’s ivied parapets, and stepping out into the the light for what’s very probably the first time. And himself being a veteran of a different but equally unpopular war, a former POW, and well: A US senator. And all.
The best news is that she’s now been offered a chance by the Huffington Post People to explain how she came to strike yet another brave blow against everything that’s not what she, personally, believes in. Get through it, if you can, but be forewarned – running at a trifle more than 1,800 words, a mind-numbing 127 of them are either “I,” “me,” “my” or derivative contractions and possessives. Which, the body of work being exceptionally rich, is probably not a record for the English language, but seems telling nonetheless. Especially for such a very well-educated pit viper.
Your humble scribe didn’t have the opportunity to attend classes at the “New School” in Greenwich Village – a university, truth be told, whose existence he had not heretofore intuited. But somewhere in sophomore lit – sophomore in high school, that is – he was taught that the surest way to cause a reader to skip ahead to the end was by the overuse of the first person pronoun and personal possessives. Because, odds are, and in spite of what momma told you? You’re probably not that interesting.
So, as I said, telling. As is the fact that neither Mr. Colbert, nor Ms. Rohe were dragged off their respective stages by jackbooted thugs from the Rovian Ministry of Information. Which, if the world actually worked as they appear to think it does, is downright strange, when you think about it.
Maybe it’s BECAUSE OF THE BRAVERY!
am I to assume from this that “The New School” doesn’t have an ROTC program, is loathe to accept Montgomery GI Bill $$$ and that Ms Rohe and none of the other “very well-educated” (but entirely stupid) vipes will not be enlisting in any branch of the military service any time soon?
she is just so full of herself… and from the catcalls and remarks if the students, there is no lack of the first person among te graduates, either. there is never any excuse for bad manners. let’s hope all the mummies and daddies are still proud…
McCain showed class by holding firm and finishing his remarks. I doubt I could have been that polite.
The entire sorry mess is just SO wrong, beginning with the commencement speech itself and ending with the eleven pages of largely-laudatory comments (as of Sunday morning) to her self-congratulatory piece at HuffPo. I did manage to work my way through her entire bit, but thankfully before I read your take on it, Lex. I’m glad I read them in the order I did. You managed to take some of that bad taste out of my mouth.
The hazards of speaking ‘truth’ to a less benign power:
Well-educated Viper: “Please, can’t we be friends? I can be very nuanced!”
Jihadi with butcher knife: “You’re a kufar.”
Viper: “But I hate Bush!!”
Jihadi: “So does the world, what makes you special?”
Viper: “But I’m one of the good Amerikkans!! I mocked McCain!!”
Jihadi: “There are no good Americans, kufar”
Viper: “But I’m important! I’m useful to you!!”
Jihadi: “That’s what the last whining infidel said”
Viper: “But people will listen to me!! I sold my soul for you!!”
Jihadi: “So now you’re a coward AND a traitor, eh kufar?”
Viper: “You can’t run the world without me!!” You need me!!!”
Jihadi: “Not any more kufar..”
Viper, pleading: “NO!! Please God Noooo!!!”
Jihadi: “You have outlived your usefulness”
Viper, shrieking: “We HAD A DEAL!! WE had a..” (screams, choking gurgle)
Jihadi(tosses severed head in bucket, wipes blade: “No, we didn’t.”
Lex,
But diversity is so important, don’t you know. We must accept and welcome all lifestyles and view points. It is absolutely critical that everyone have a voice and none be condemned for actions they have taken and decisions they have made. This is a free country and the right to free speech trumps everything.
(Did I get it right? That is the “elite, nuanced, ivy league” position is it not?)
Sandi
I think McCain knew exactly what he was doing. Going to the New School for a commencement speech? He had to know it was like Daniel entering the lions den. McCain’s audience was not in the chairs in that auditorum, it was out in the world of the TV camera. And he did well, and to his great credit, even though he knew there would be protests, he went anyway. That is more than the leader of his party would do, who only speaks to carefully stage managed audiences of captives or like minded people. McCain showed he’s made of better stuff, and is running for President 8 years too late. He deserved better than he got in 2000 and he will get better when the idealists are finally off the stage.
Kerrey did not “win” the medal of honor, he received it. No one “wins” it. It is not a game to win…the medal is given for service, unusual service. Those who hold the medal are “recipients”, not winners.
I guess I’m feeling more adventurous than usual lately, because I decided to go the DailyKos to see what was what. And I found this stunning statement in one of the comments: “…I appreciated the risk he took. It’s kind of like the first person who moved on that United flight….”
OK, comparing some comic/pundit wannabe to the brave souls on Flight 93 is…I’m at a loss for words on this one.
And “well-educated” does not automatically equal “courteous, well mannered or respectful”. It usually means (though I acknowledge not always) you’ve gone to a liberal school where you are encouraged to be rude, manipulative and incapable of seeing more than one opinion – your own. Where you are the star of your own platform and where it’s all about you, because no one else matters.
This is why like the on/off switch on TV and radio…
Earned then, history guy. Geez. Bet you’re a lot of fun at parties.
Skip, you are dead on, McCain went in there with his eyes open. CPT J, unfortunately, these people are shielded from such realities by their betters, (and circumstance). Miss Rohe et. al. are so impressed with themselves because someone told them they were smart, and financally enabled to buy that education that they drip with hubris and arrogance. The reality is that they have been educated beyond their intelligence and their state in life is accidental and not due to any great exertations by themselves. They were dealt a good hand of cards. McCain had a good hand too but he used it in the service of this country, and at a cost. Although I am not a big fan of Sen. MCCain’s position on a lot of things, like Lex, I honor his courage, sacrifice and service. In comparison, Rohe and the like are barking fleas.
CAPT Lex,
Good post, sir. I agree with you 100%.
“Maybe it?
CAPT Lex,
Good post, sir. I agree with you 100%.
“Maybe it’s BECAUSE OF THE BRAVERY!”
Like the bravery of the medic in the FOB, who goes on the next mission to the local Iraqi school in Kirkuk and spends 6 hours examining children for disease and telling their mothers and teachers how to treat their childrens’ diseases. Then he goes back to the FOB and holds impromptu sick call for his buddies who have bad sores on their backsides and blisters on their feet. Most days like this for a YEAR. Like that kind of bravery?
Like the Second Class Petty Officer who grabs a fire extinguisher and runs towards the flames as they leap out of the electrical breaker enclosure with the cover blown off and mangled across the passageway, thick black smoke pouring out of the enclosure. Then he drops the expended extinguisher, runs back to help his shipmate flake out the fire hose, and picks up the nozzle to advance on the fire as his shipmate charges the hose with water, the smoke so thick he can’t breathe unless he is 2 ft off the deck. Like that kind of bravery?
Like the bravery of a young aviation maintenance tech who works all alone at night fixing radar and communications equipment. He knows he has a schedule to meet, and the gear has to be fixed right and in the plane in operational order in the morning by 0600 for preflight checks. But no one is watching him to make sure he is doing it right. He’s 22 years old and he has fixed things like this before. He’d rather be at a ball game, party or home asleep, but he knows sometime tomorrow, an Air Force officer is going to key his mike and need that radio to work to save his life or just accomplish his mission. That officer is going to need that radar to work or he won’t find his way back to base. It would be easy to slack off because no one is watching. But he doesn’t, because it is his duty and people are depending on him. Like that kind of bravery?
Like the bravery of the young 20 year old Marine who wakes up every late afternoon, 7 days a week, receives his pre mission brief, gets behind the wheel of the third HUMVEE in the convoy, and drives for 6 hours in al Anbar province in the dark avoiding hidden IEDS 99 times out of a hundred, and bringing home three other shipmates and himself to their debrief and their bunks, in 100 degree heat, only to do it over again 12 hours later. Every day for seven months. That kind of bravery?
Like the bravery of SGT Rafael Peralta, who lost his father, fiance’s mother and fiance’ in the two years before he found himself in Fallujah, in a stack of Marines clearing houses. He volunteers to help his weapons platoon, although he is not assigned to them, to clear houses. He is first in the stack, and when his shipmates signal ready, he opens the door and receives automatic weapons fire in his face and body, falling back into the room. Three jihadis shoot at him and his shipmates, finally throwing a grenade into the room with several Marines and SGT Peralta. SGT Peralta, already mortally wounded, reaches out to grab the grenade, pulls it to his chest, and smothers the blast with his body. The Marines with him are only minimally wounded and continue the fight. Like that kind of bravery?
Because I just want to know what Bravery looks like. New School graduates, Stephen Colbert, or Rafael Peralta?
Press on, SGT. The Gates of Heaven are guarded by Men like you.
Subsunk
Ms. Rohe does not speak for me, or indeed, many of my so-called fellow ” pit vipers” at the New School. Bad form, Ms. Rohe. In even poorer taste were the hecklers.I am an entering 28 year old Senior at the New School. I have found my classes to be forums of civil debate, and the school to be tolerant of different viewpoints. I shared many of my classes with retired professionals. I have seen among my classmates a reverence and a deference for people who possess life experience and acquired wisdom. Perhaps because I belong to Ms. Rohe’s sister school which is primarily for those 24 and older. I feel that she and the deplorable hecklers from the audience do not fit my definiton of the way truly well-educated people behave.
Late to this one but maybe someone will see this link as Ms. Coulter hits the nail on the head. Righteous venom:
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15144&o=ANN001
Priceless excerpt to those inclined not to read the whole thing:
“Maybe in her heart of hearts, Rohe does think Bush is an imbecile, McCain a lout, and the war is wrong. Maybe she would think so even if she had ever met someone who holds a different opinion.
But then she should just admit: “I know, I know. I’m an utterly conventional brown-noser, the very definition of going-with-the-flow, middle-of-the pack, finger-to-the-wind follower, who doesn’t have the candlepower to resist conforming to the beliefs of everyone around me — but that’s what I think.”
B2