the fallen

i am not impressed with political leaders or religious leaders who take a "hard line" stance for any topic - because they always fall from grace. it is the "speck and beem" thing Jesus told us about. spitzer is just the latest in a long line of "leaders" who have stood hard on what they saw as a moral issue, only to fall to that same moral issue. when i was a kid my grandfather taught me that, "those who scream the loudest against something, are usually what they are against." i have seen this many times, and more so over the past few years -

leaders who shout "anti-homosexual rhetoric" are caught with gay prostitutes, paying for some pretty kinky stuff. leaders who stand on a "anti-drug" campaign, only to find themselves in rehab working on "personal demons." leaders who shout for a "moral center" are found to be so far to the left, or right, that they lose all creditability. this seems to be the way of the world, shout against and fall into the sin you stand against. but when they do fall, they aways ask for the grace they refused to show others - i am reminded the the swaggart/bakker thing, where swaggart rode bakker about his "sexual immorality" only to stand before his own congregation a short time later asking for forgiveness and grace - yet he offered bakker none.

the hard part for me is not what they are against, or that they have fallen, but that they lived a lie for so long that it is hard to see value in anything they have ever shared - i mean, if they lied that big about who they were sleeping with [and paying big bucks for it] then how can i trust anything they promised? if they lied to the people closest to them, their family, how can i, a stranger, trust anything they have to say? i have lost all confidence in our political leaders, our religious leaders and anyone who claims a "moral right" for any reason - because they all have fallen way short -

now, we can "caulk this up" to them being "human" and they are, but actions must match words. if those we seek to be leaders are not sharing with us a reality we can see and express - who is there to trust to lead? leaders keep complaining that people are not supporting them, well it could be we are just waiting to see who falls next.

just some thoughts i have been having today as i read the spitzer stories - and how they relate to all the flash backs that seem to be going through my mind of past "leaders" great and small.

arby's and racism

in this day and age i am amazed at the lack of respect there is for racial groups - how the stereo-types are played to on the tv and in advertising in general - for me, the latest is the new arby's tv ad [created by merkley and partners, which is owned by the "omnicom group" ] - the one where monkey's preform a traditional irish step dance to traditional irish music.

you see, this is hard for me because over the past the irish had been viewed as being closer to monkey's then to humans; they were called a "simian race" or a "simian people" - through out recent history cartoonists would portray the irish as having "monkey features" - at one time they were thought to be "hairless monkey's" - not too long ago in our history there were signs on business saying "help wanted, irish need not apply." while the irish, as a group, have made some fantastic strides in overcoming such ignorance, i am amazed that an ad agency would think such a display of racism would be funny. a tv commercial where monkey's step dance to irish music, seems a bit over the top - would they have thought about turning the station to a "traditional mexican" music station and have the monkey's dance a traditional mexican dance? how about with doing the same thing with hip-hop? i am not sure that would have gone beyond even a conversation; but to open old wounds and do something as insulting as showing "monkey's acting irish" seems all right in their eyes.

what i find interesting about this, is that when i contacted arby's about it - they were sorry, but they could not see what i was talking about. in fact, everyone said they never heard anything like this before and no one ever heard of "irish need not apply." for some, the response was one of "surprise" that any irish person would have contacted them and thought it was insulting - the assumption was that the irish are a "humorous group" and "good natured" so they were confused that i would even take the time to call.

well, you eat where you desire - as for me and my irish-self - i think arby's is not even on my list.