I know it is bad form to "blame the messenger" but I am doing just that. Because the messenger has a duty to carry the message. If the army is advancing from just beyond the horizon, is it the messenger's duty to catch his breath and start off his remarks with a few words about what a great job the leader is doing?
We are a weak nation. We have become satisfied with extremely low standards. Michael Brown is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath Brownie is a monolithic culture that does things half-assed and tempts fate on a daily basis.
The Bush administration does almost everything in a half-assed way: from starting wars to waging wars, from naming UN staff to nominating court justices, from having no energy policy to slashing environmental laws, from silently presiding over a corrupt party to ignoring the Constitution in the name of cowardly torture.
That our country and culture allows this president to drag our name through the dirt is simply incredible to me. I always knew that individual people were capable of awful crimes, but it seems that now crimes like waging war under false pretense are fair game for our society's group thinking. A messenger from another era might have passed on the word that what this administration has done in Iraq is basically mass murder.
Low standards are not good in any society. They are an open door to trouble--from a dirty house to a non-productive workplace to a lax enforcement of laws to white-collar crime to putting troops in harm's way.
It is the messenger's duty to tell the truth, not pass on a message that she or he THINKS is the best thing for society.