If
you can read this,
then it means the
world has not ended
and we are all still
here. I’m referring
to a column I wrote
a couple of weeks
ago describing what
might happen when
the CERN project (in
Europe) gets cranked
up on September
10th. If we’re lucky
nothing will happen,
but if they manage
to recreate a black
hole that swallows
up the earth, then
my column writing
days are over.
So, where to start?
Having nothing
better to discuss, I
can always turn to
politics, which
seems to be on
everyone’s mind and
will certainly
occupy our thoughts
and lives for at
least another couple
of months. The
country seems to be
fairly evenly
divided between the
two major parties.
It certainly will be
interesting to see
how all of this
turns out and who
might emerge as the
ultimate winner.
What we can expect
to see in the coming
weeks is a veritable
avalanche of mud
slinging.
The term originated
as follows:
MUDSLINGING – "wild,
unsubstantiated
charges; a word,
like ‘smear,’ used
to turn an attack
back on the
attacker.
‘Calumniate!
Calumniate!’ Some of
it will always
stick,’ advised
Beaumarchais in ‘The
Barber of Seville’
in 1775. This was
based on ancient
Latin advice, ‘Fortiter
calumniari, aliquia
adhaerebit,’ or
‘Throw plenty of
dirt and some of it
will be sure to
stick.’ Sometime
after the Civil War,
‘dirt throwing’
picked up some water
to become
‘mud-throwing,’
mud-gunning’ and the
word that gain
pre-eminence,
"mud-slinging.’ The
New York Tribune of
April 13, 1876,
disagreed with the
Latin dictum: ‘Mud
doesn’t stick to Mr.
Blaine any better
than it does to
Bristow. The slander
peddlers are having
a bad season.’."
"Safire’s New
Political
Dictionary" by
William Safire
(Random House, New
York, 1993). Page
471.
In our modern
society, we’re
besieged with news
from all points. The
radio, newspapers,
television,
internet, cell
phones are all
clamoring for
content to fill up
their otherwise
vacant spaces. This
political season
seems to be taking
on the vestige of
‘publish first,
verify later’. I’m
surprised that one
of the parties
doesn’t accuse one
of the other
candidates of being
an alien.
And I’m not talking
about someone from a
foreign country.
It seems as if new
allegations about
all four of the
major players are
being dished out to
us on an hour by
hour basis. No topic
is sacred. Family
and friends are fair
game in the tough
world of politics.
I ‘m reading a book
on how politics
started when this
country was first
founded. Little has
changed since then.
Aaron Burr will
always be remembered
for having killed
Alexander Hamilton
in a duel over
something Hamilton
said about Burr
during one of the
elections. Mud
slinging in those
days could be fatal.
One had to be
careful of the words
they spoke.
Duels were quite
common in those days
and were required in
order to restore and
maintain one’s
honor. If the same
standard were in
effect today, I
suspect that not
many people would
live long enough to
be elected to
national office.
However, in some
cases this might
well be a good
thing.
No, today it seems
that the wildest
accusation and rumor
are thrown out to us
to either believe or
disbelieve without
any source of
substantiation for
us to review. One
candidate can get
away with comments
having no basis on
Monday and then
issue a retraction
on Tuesday saying
that ‘someone in my
staff misspoke’. Of
course that
‘someone’ is never
really identified or
required to explain
where they obtained
their daily mud
ration.
It’s somewhat tiring
to sit through all
of these and try to
sort out what is
real and what is
unreal. What I’d
like to see is a
clear explanation
from all persons
trying to get
elected about just
HOW they intend on
getting their
reforms put into
effect.
Having a plan and
then making that
plan actually work
are two different
things. One can
speak of great
things all day long
but without the
wherewithal to have
them become real,
they are just so
many empty words. I
want to see a
description of just
how these grand
solutions can be
converted to reality
and the timeframe
for these to happen.
Calling someone
names is part of the
political process,
but does little to
tell me how we can
improve our economy
or fix the societal
problems that we are
faced with in
today’s world.
For my part, I’d
like a little more
rock and a little
less mud.
