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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
What Did You Expect?
I love this country, really I do, but there are times when I find myself thinking, "How can these people, who've achieved so much, be so stupid?"
There was a news story recently about a woman forced to remove her nipple rings to pass through airline security. I've lost the link, but I recall that the story treated her as some kind of victim. Victim of advanced stupidity, maybe. Airport magnetometers don't much care about how attached you are to your "body jewelry." TSA screeners are paid to be obtuse. I think they might receive some encouragement to be voyeuristic and larcenous, too.
But really, America, what did you expect? You allowed Washington a monopoly over commercial airports, and vast regulatory powers over commercial air travel. Now, with "terrorism" being the biggest fear of the day, the federal government has taken over all security functions for commercial airports. Those functions used to be adequately handled by the airlines. They might have increased your ticket prices a little, but they couldn't command that you strip down to your panties or detain you long enough to miss your flight because you didn't want to part with your money clip.
New Yorkers elevated Eliot Spitzer, a man who made his career as a bully, to the Governor's Mansion. He'd spent most of his effort in office terrorizing companies into firing their presidents and chairmen, just because he disapproved of them. Then he got into a position of real power, and he started to trample on the legislature, making some politically powerful enemies in the bargain. One of them was able to prove that Spitzer had used his position to try to dig up blackmail dirt on him, using state troopers. His fall from grace because of indulgence in the overpriced favors of an echh, so-so call girl was almost an anticlimax.
But really, New Yorkers, what did you expect? Spitzer's record wasn't a closely held secret. His personality was never any different from what it is today. His reactions to being opposed were never far short of nuclear. Give power to a man like that, and his opinion of himself will go from excessive to Godlike. He'll assume you want him to go on as he's been doing, but doubled, which is exactly what Eliot Spitzer did.
We made a complementary mistake in California. Arnold Schwarzenegger looks good, he's married to a beautiful woman, and he sounded pretty good on the campaign trail. So we ejected Gray Davis, spurned Cruz Bustamante, and made the Terminator into the Governator. And he proceeded to surrender to just about every foolish idea the Democrats in Sacramento tossed at him.
But what did we expect? Schwarzenegger is an actor. Actors live to please audiences. Put an actor into a Governor's Mansion, and he'll cripple himself bending over backwards trying to please the people who've become his new audience. Politicians, special interest groups, feisty mayors and county executives, and now and then, anyone whose vote he thinks he can buy with an autograph and a toothy smile.
I'm not deeply politically engaged, the way the rest of the Eternity Road crew is. But even I could see what would come of the laughers I mentioned. Why couldn't my countrymen see them in time to prevent a disaster?
But Fran didn't invite me into this distinguished company to write about politics. At least, he said he didn't. So here:
Marciano "Tamela" platform sandals. I saw a pair in a shop window just yesterday, and rushed in to ask about them -- and they had only one pair left, and it was size 10! Boo hoo.
But what did I expect? This is Manhattan, after all.
Comments
how would you feel if somebody asked you to remove your rings at the airport?
Posted by Ghost Dansing on 04/01/2008 at 08:37 PMUm, don’t those make your toes hurt?
Posted by Jeff Medcalf on 04/02/2008 at 12:58 AMNotwithstanding your larger point, there has been one actor who rose above his need to please audiences and became one of the better presidents America had seen in some time. Perhaps the voters hoped that Ahnold would be more like his movie roles, and not take crap from anybody. Oh well, maybe next time.
Posted by on 04/02/2008 at 10:35 AMFetiche: Thanks SO much for your engaging style and clear thought. You go ahead and write about politics all you want; I’ll read it. I only have one question: Are those shoes meant to be walked in?
Posted by LizP on 04/02/2008 at 04:07 PM"Are those shoes meant to be walked in?”
Well, dear, I can’t say how well I would have walked in them, since I never even got to try them on. (I’m a size 5, or 5.5 in some manufacturers.) But I have quite a few pairs of heels as high as or higher than those, including a candy-apple red pair of platforms I once wore to...well, maybe I shouldn’t scandalize the gathering any more than I already have. But I assure you, if the shoes are well made and fit properly, it can be done.
Most women don’t wear or walk in their heels properly. It’s a teachable skill, but perhaps there are too few teachers out there.
Posted by FeticheNouvelle on 04/02/2008 at 04:55 PMthose shoes are the kind you wear in bed…
Posted by on 04/07/2008 at 11:58 PM
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