Empathize Wide Shut

Last night the local news ran a jackleg report on a therapist who established a practice to rehabilitate convicted sex offenders…and, almost immediately, I envisioned a handful of utterly indignant viewers cursing this man to hell for “emboldening the rapists” or “comforting the enemy.” As I watched, I witnessed a beautiful act of withheld judgment. That’s not to say that convicted sex offenders deserve your stockpiles of pity, but you don’t always know shit about the crime. This therapist understood that these people who underwent the correctional process now bear the indelible stigma of the scarlet “s.” Not the chic Superman chest insignia, but the burden of knowing everyone will judge them by this ostensibly perverted indiscretion. For one, abuse of these laws is common in cases involving consensual sex between two young adults, one 16, one 18. And, naturally, there are those who truly deserve the cold, steel fist-to-the-face of justice to correct a gross aberration. Obviously, violent sex offenders, particularly those who prey on children, deserve nothing but the hardest anal pounding/beating from the baddest life-sentenced Aryan or Panther in Cell Block Nine. But, all of this aside, forgiveness and an anchor are requisite for those humans who earnestly seek rectitude.

There’s a somewhat ironic lesson gleaned from the Errol Morris documentary “The Fog of War,” in which a major architect of the Vietnam War, Robert Strange McNamara, underscores the need to “empathize with your enemy.” This is such a ubiquitously relevant lesson that it pains me to see it so flagrantly ignored. The simple idea is to really, REALLY see your opponents/enemies/pariahs as human beings capable of some iota of rationality. No one ever said it was easy, but neither is learning to use to the can in front of someone. When you understand that there is cause behind effect, you have the insight to more effectively counter the perceived disdain. In the case of the therapist, he chose to treat those most in need to reduce their recidivism rate, because, as history has shown, perpetual excoriation will breed more contempt, and, subsequently, more destruction.

For the man convicted, who desires to put this behind him as he flays himself, how will he find work when his reticence and fear are on full display during the pivotal moment in a job interview? What are his options when he can’t find a home? Suicide, prison, indigence? What good is the correctional process without forgiveness?

My focus on the perpetrator is in no way a denigration of the pain of the victim, but an examination/realization that this world isn’t fucking black-and-white, no matter what the talking head shills and bloviating jackasses spew on their paid programs.

Much the same as Lou Dobbs will always find a story about an illegal immigrant murdering an AMERICAN, there will always be unrepentant deviants, chimeras who, for some reason or another, distorted or discarded the line between right and wrong ages ago; but, we cannot allow these anomalies to usurp our judgment…

…which invariably leads me to our “War on Terror.” Am I allowed to denounce and renounce and reject and eschew and disavow the statement that they “hate our freedom”? Or, if you’re going to describe our enemies with such a banal phrase, at least insert another clause or two: they hate our freedom…because while we’re merrily encouraged to go shopping at home, their country is orbiting the event horizon. Again, to black-and-white-world viewers, I’m not blaming our military. They were given orders and are simply protecting their brothers until they leave this clusterfuck behind, all with the hope of victory. Upper management screwed the pooch on this one by completing ignoring reality, and…[drum roll]… not EMPATHIZING WITH THE ENEMY – thank you, Mr. Strange McNamara. By neglecting or dismissing the root cause of homegrown Iraqi terrorism this administration continues on a warpath bound to create more abject youth who are primed with enough enmity to execute the big boom theory. When their homes, villages, and shops are so depredated, dilapidated, and desecrated where else do they turn? Suicide, indigence, martyrdom? If your family is killed by “collateral damage,” your place of work demolished by a rival suicide bomber, your streets filled with sewage, your electricity available for one hour per day, would you wake up the next morning eager to start the job hunt, or settle for the ounce of familial security offered by martyrdom? These humans are not as “foreign” as they’ve been presented because they have been conflated with those who made the grievous mistake of attacking us at home.

I may have disowned my Christianity, but I cannot abandon the diamond virtues buried in that mountain of coal.

Veto for Vendetta

Commander in Chief George W. Bush just vetoed a bill that would have explicitly banned the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques, namely waterboarding. In a beautifully eloquent explication, which I'm sure rolled off his tongue with the lithe grace of a drunken ballerina, President Bush said, "The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror." For just one article debunking that specious claim check out Froomkin's column from yesterday's Washington Post.

I can also say, with great assurance, that I (unbelievably enough) completely agree with Mayor Quimby, er uh, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) on this one, when he condemned Bush’s veto as “one of the most shameful, er uh, acts of his presidency.” [Italics added for New England emphasis]

One thing I can say for certain is this…

Polarize Chaps

Yesterday, John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel, threatened to chuck a lawsuit at Al Gore to, and I quote, “finally put some light on the fraud of global warming.” At first glance, this guy sounds like a crackpot with a vendetta and a frivolous lawsuit – well, on second and third glance, too. BUT, the lawsuit could help clarify the innards of the carbon offset market – something I don’t care to delve into.

“Then what the hell do you care about,” you might ask.

Polarity. Not north or south polarity, but the stridency of global warmists and skeptics.

Let’s tackle the patchouli-caked global warming alarmists first. This might rub some folks the wrong way, but hear me out. I recently strolled through memory lane and dug up some fodder from Fern Bluff Elementary in Round Rock, Texas - something I’ve generally avoided. I seem to recall the swath of elementary school campaigns imploring youngsters to prevent the eradication of the rainforest – save paper, save wood, kill a beaver, etc. – or else…BAM! Mad Max in 20 years. Ironically, we’ve pretty much eradicated the campaign against the eradication of the rainforest. In due time, people went about, slogging through the minutia of average Joe-ness until the next five-alarm fire.

[Cue daunting crescendo]

Global Warmings. How often do you hear the rainforest siren today? It’s this pinball effect of global catastrophe campaigns that gives rise to skepticism. Ergo, people feel like they’ve been duped by the shrill clarion of the eschaton when the world doesn’t perish, and are less inclined to roll along with the next call to arms. I’m certainly not denying the reality of rainforest dissipation, but alarmism pisses jingoistic Americans off. It’s like saying someone can beat America at the game of war. This is best characterized by Robbie DeNiro’s classic, “Fuck me?! Fuck you!” line. Now you’ve pissed off the people who not only won’t listen, they’ve actively sought to form the opposition voice –

“There’s no such thing as anthropogenic global warming. Climate is cyclical. Your track record of predicting catastrophic events is abysmal.”

Ultimately, this creates an unnecessary war (yes, another one) that altogether misses the point. Conservation and moderation are virtues. Go on and drive your car, but consider a more efficient vehicle or a more efficient route. Recycle, save, moderate, take it easy with the waste you twit. If you’re on board the warming train, your rationale can be the protection of our ample-bosomed Mother Earth. If you’re among the skeptics, your rationale can be the protection of your wallet. Shit. Take simple economics. Very simple economics. Supply and demand. The more gas we consume, the more we need. The more we need, the less available. The less available, the more expensive. The more expensive, the more anger. The more anger, the lower stock market. The lower stock market, the more blowhards.

Which leads me to John Gordon of Round Rock, Texas. Gordon narrowly dropped the contest for state representative on a…wait for it…PRO-GLOBAL WARMING platform. He’s not even debating the merits of each side, he’s fucking pro-global warming, for completely un-superficial reasons: more beaches. I’m serious. Yes, punch yourself to make sure it's real.

So, to hell with the divisive language of the apocalypse, conserve for the sake of the economy, the planet, the beaches, whatever it takes. It’s unnecessary to ram red-hot metal pokers up each other’s asses just so one side can claim symbolic victory.

UPDATE

I just heard a report from Meeechelle (what’s with the enunciation) Norris on NPR concerning the toxicity of China’s air, and the steps going forward to remedy the filth before the Summer Olympics. Essentially, the Chinese subjugate the misnomer of “global warming” in favor of the concept of conservation. It’s a positive approach to a ubiquitous malady.