Spin is a word with many meanings. A top spins. You can take your car out for a spin. You can spin the truth.
Spin is defined as a rotation around a fixed point. Physics dictates that an object moving through a resistive medium like water or air will bend if spin is present. Golfers are painfully aware of hooks and slices. A baseball pitcher puts spin on the ball to get a curve or a slider. In tennis, a topspin lob drops like a rock while a cut shot with backspin floats.
In the world of opinion, the truth is spun…by almost everyone…and people like it that way. Bill O’Reilly of Fox News claims his show is a “no spin zone” and yet clearly his truth is decidedly right leaning. When a recent letter to Bill indicated that the writer seldom agreed with Bill but did on a particular point, rather than acknowledge their common opinion, Bill said “That makes you a Secular Progressive. “ He had to make sure his core audience knew where he stood without actually saying so…Spin!
The more left leaning commentators on MSNBC do the same thing…spin! But in all fairness to both the Left and the Right, that is exactly what their audiences want. They can follow the truth if it has spin.
If a batter knows a pitcher is going to throw a curve, he can follow the start of the arcing flight of the ball and coordinate his bat position to hit the ball. The trouble is he doesn’t know what the pitcher is going to throw. If the tennis player knows a topspin forehand is coming, he will know how to adjust to the lower ball flight and the quicker bounce and he can return the shot…if he knows it is coming. Both athletes understand the spin and can be where they need to be. But ask a batter what is the hardest pitch to hit and he will say the knuckle ball. Ask a tennis player and they will say the absolutely flat shot is hardest to track. Why? Because they have very little spin and, as a result, the ball wobbles, sometimes up sometimes down sometimes left and sometimes right.
And so it is with the truth. Truth, delivered with no spin, bobs and weaves its way into our consciousness. Good people do bad things. Bad guys are not always that bad. It is this moral ambiguity that spun truth lacks. Sadly, pure truth is most often accurately portrayed in shades of gray. And as much as we want to think we want it, very often Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men”) is correct when he observed “You can’t handle the truth.”
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Iraq’s New Bicycle
When I was 7 years old, I learned to ride a bike. Our next door neighbors, the Dodges, had two kids the same age as my brother and me, and they had bikes. My dad borrowed one of their bikes and, as I sat on the seat and, as my dad began to push and steady the bike, I started pedaling. Suddenly, I was aware that my dad was no longer behind me…I was riding…by myself! I made it to the corner and somehow managed to turn right. I rode about half way down the block when I started to lose my balance. I tried to pull over to the curb, which I hit, landing in a bed of ivy. I got up and made my way back to the curb. With one foot on the curb and one foot on the pedal, I pushed off and, after wobbling violently for a second, I got my balance and continued on. I made it around the next two corners, heading for home, when my balance again began to fail me. This time I was able to bring the bike to a stop, placing my foot on the curb, and then pushed again, returning to where I started.
Over the next few months, the Dodges were gracious enough to let me use Bobby’s bike to improve my skills which, despite numerous falls, scrapes, and bruises, did improve. That Christmas, I got a bike which ultimately became my magic carpet to the world around me.
Iraq just got a brand new bike. It was built with the fall of Saddam Hussein and delivered when the people of Iraq voted for a new government. And now they are learning to ride it. The problem is, Dad (The U. S. of A) won’t let go of the seat for fear Iraq will fall and yet that is exactly what must happen if the Iraqis are to learn to ride by themselves. Granted, the road is rough and slippery, which makes learning difficult, but the roads in this part of the world are all rough and slippery. The warring factions in Iraq must finally come to terms with each other if “the bike is to be ridden.” This will never happen as long as the USA functions to buffer their interaction. This democracy and nation building stuff isn’t easy. We, of all people, should know that. It takes time…sometimes a long time.
“Four score and seven years” after “our fathers brought forth on the continent a new nation”, that 87 year old nation was tearing itself apart in a bloody civil war. Ken Burns, in his documentary “The Civil War,” noted that, before the war, politicians referred to our nation as “These United States.” After the war, our nation saw itself as one nation and we referred to ourselves as “THE United States.” Iraq must go through the same process. No matter how much we may want to steer the outcome, they must learn to live with each other. The bottom line is…we have to let go of the seat.
Over the next few months, the Dodges were gracious enough to let me use Bobby’s bike to improve my skills which, despite numerous falls, scrapes, and bruises, did improve. That Christmas, I got a bike which ultimately became my magic carpet to the world around me.
Iraq just got a brand new bike. It was built with the fall of Saddam Hussein and delivered when the people of Iraq voted for a new government. And now they are learning to ride it. The problem is, Dad (The U. S. of A) won’t let go of the seat for fear Iraq will fall and yet that is exactly what must happen if the Iraqis are to learn to ride by themselves. Granted, the road is rough and slippery, which makes learning difficult, but the roads in this part of the world are all rough and slippery. The warring factions in Iraq must finally come to terms with each other if “the bike is to be ridden.” This will never happen as long as the USA functions to buffer their interaction. This democracy and nation building stuff isn’t easy. We, of all people, should know that. It takes time…sometimes a long time.
“Four score and seven years” after “our fathers brought forth on the continent a new nation”, that 87 year old nation was tearing itself apart in a bloody civil war. Ken Burns, in his documentary “The Civil War,” noted that, before the war, politicians referred to our nation as “These United States.” After the war, our nation saw itself as one nation and we referred to ourselves as “THE United States.” Iraq must go through the same process. No matter how much we may want to steer the outcome, they must learn to live with each other. The bottom line is…we have to let go of the seat.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Damn the Damnable?
New Years Night, I was flipping channels between bowl games and I caught a glimpse of a Marine Color Guard and Band. At first I thought it was another tribute to President Gerald Ford, but then I noticed it was film and not video tape. And then the credits started to roll. It was the beginning of “A Few Good Men”. I switched channels again and caught a talk news show discussing President Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon, an action which (if you accept the position of Ford’s supporters) simultaneously healed the nation and doomed Ford’s political future.
As I listened to the debate over Ford’s pardon (which many liberals will forever condemn as the action which allowed Richard Nixon to escape “public justice”), I thought about THE line from “A Few Good Men”. It was, of course, Jack Nicholson’s vitriolic response to Tom Cruise, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.” So I guess the question is “Can America handle the truth? Or maybe more importantly…do we want to?”
For many Americans, the image of the American policeman is Jack Webb’s Joe Friday; the image of the American soldier is John Wayne, the image of the American statesman is Jimmy Stewart’s Jefferson Smith. Obviously, these are extreme idealizations, but this is what we hope for…it’s the truth we want to believe. So, again, can we handle the truth...or do we want to?
Would a criminal conviction of Richard Nixon have improved the American Psyche? History proved that Nixon was a crook. Did America need the conviction? Would America have been better off if Ronald Reagan had been charged for the Iran-Contra scandal? Would America have been better off if Bill Clinton had been driven from office as a result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal? I don’t honestly know. I do know that there are people who despise all three of these men, and they will forever seethe over the notion that criminals were not brought to justice.
I do not like the Iraq War. I believe America was seriously misled (lied to?) about the threats to our security, and those lies have cost 3000+ lives, and have made the world a much less safe place in which to live. Some believe that this level of deception is criminal, and there has been talk of impeachment. The question is would this “truth” do anything at all to fix the horrendous mess in which we find ourselves? Would our nation be healthier? Not likely. Rather, I would hope that the new Congress will do its job of oversight and rein in the President and his inept policies.
In the end, I think Ford was right. Removing (or in the current instance, containing) the problem is of primary importance. Pursuing the creator of the problem, while providing some level of visceral satisfaction for vengeance (which often masquerades for justice), leaves a scar upon the office…and the land.
As I listened to the debate over Ford’s pardon (which many liberals will forever condemn as the action which allowed Richard Nixon to escape “public justice”), I thought about THE line from “A Few Good Men”. It was, of course, Jack Nicholson’s vitriolic response to Tom Cruise, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.” So I guess the question is “Can America handle the truth? Or maybe more importantly…do we want to?”
For many Americans, the image of the American policeman is Jack Webb’s Joe Friday; the image of the American soldier is John Wayne, the image of the American statesman is Jimmy Stewart’s Jefferson Smith. Obviously, these are extreme idealizations, but this is what we hope for…it’s the truth we want to believe. So, again, can we handle the truth...or do we want to?
Would a criminal conviction of Richard Nixon have improved the American Psyche? History proved that Nixon was a crook. Did America need the conviction? Would America have been better off if Ronald Reagan had been charged for the Iran-Contra scandal? Would America have been better off if Bill Clinton had been driven from office as a result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal? I don’t honestly know. I do know that there are people who despise all three of these men, and they will forever seethe over the notion that criminals were not brought to justice.
I do not like the Iraq War. I believe America was seriously misled (lied to?) about the threats to our security, and those lies have cost 3000+ lives, and have made the world a much less safe place in which to live. Some believe that this level of deception is criminal, and there has been talk of impeachment. The question is would this “truth” do anything at all to fix the horrendous mess in which we find ourselves? Would our nation be healthier? Not likely. Rather, I would hope that the new Congress will do its job of oversight and rein in the President and his inept policies.
In the end, I think Ford was right. Removing (or in the current instance, containing) the problem is of primary importance. Pursuing the creator of the problem, while providing some level of visceral satisfaction for vengeance (which often masquerades for justice), leaves a scar upon the office…and the land.
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