The controversial New York Post cartoon

Using all the subtlety of a hammerhead feeding frenzy, Rev. Al Sharpton snagged a whopper last week, harshly condemning the NY Post cartoon depicting little more than a dead chimpanzee felled by police gunfire.

That is all we can know – no telling for the supposed biases and humors of the cartoonist – but there is no turning back from the enlightened form of discourse provided by the Reverend.

Any discussion over what exactly the cartoon meant is worthless beyond revealing the particular subjectivities of the person orating, and would not lend credence to our purpose.

The question that this, and many similar incidents, brings to the forefront is: Why do we let these people speak for us? What is it about the human character that allows for a loud-mouthed, act-first-think-later, accusatory, deny-deny-deny ethos in our public figures?

It is a problem when you hear of a controversy (and I use that term loosely) through the reaction rather than the point of origin – in this case, the cartoon itself. This remains one of the fundamental problems with objective journalism in the Age of the Internet, where democratic opinion reigns – there is no telling what the real story is. Each and every person is allowed his turn to speak ad nauseam, to filibuster without reproach, and we sing the praises of our newfound freedom.

A man can become famous for ‘asking the tough questions’ and bring up one of the magic words of unity (Socialism!), and we wonder why he wasn’t in the media in the first place. He becomes a figure of great achievement, and piques our curiosity in the same manner as a freak show welcoming a new act.

If this were another country, the mockery would never cease. The wonders of democracy, in particular the American brand (if there is any other kind), guarantee the dumbest among us a substantially higher credibility than the smartest on the outside.

I suspect that is partly how we came into existence, with a population of moral intelligentsia and depraved criminals and seedy figures. The capitalist system allowed for members of both classes to thrive, accounting for a system today that continually tests the virtue of the honest by rewarding the greed of the swindlers.

From here, it is not altogether too difficult to watch our history unfold. The unfortunate tradition in human nature of acquiescing to those who bully relentlessly puts forward the ultimate question: Which side are you on?

How did this get so deep? How did we come to allow buffoons to fill our pulpits, to tramp their feet on our soapboxes?

Al Sharpton is only the largest in my mind at this moment. His species exists everywhere, on all sides of every issue, and in every gang, club, clique, society, and population.

Carpetbaggers on all sides.

This is a nation of opportunity in the best and worst ways – all too often, the tendency is towards the worst.

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