George & Martha: Sad, Sad, Sad

It was the week that was. The death toll for American soldiers in Iraq clanged for the fifteen hundredth time and the tears of mothers, fathers and loved ones were shed in silence. Violence in Iraq continues at a breathtaking rate and the bell for the Iraqi dead (if the only objective measure can be believed) chimed 100,000 times long ago, yet we are told that all is well, progress is being made. Meantime, our president, openly scorned and laughed at by European journalists (never aired on American media), issues an ultimatum for Syria to withdraw occupying troops from Lebanon while amassing troops on the Iraqi-Syrian border, yet what is the perpetual lead story on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC? Martha Stewart is released from prison.

In the words of playwright Edward Albee: George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

What is the Martha Stewart story? Was she persecuted? Was she selectively prosecuted? In the judgment of this writer, while there is nothing in the Martha biography that fills me with admiration, she was prosecuted for what is common practice among the elite of Wall Street. She was singled out as a high-profile woman who dared to play hardball in a game dominated by men.

Martha Stewart went to prison so that George W’s good friend, Kenny Boy Lay of Enron fame, would not have to do the same for a crime infinitely more egregious. Martha went to prison to take the heat off the crook that led Halliburton to the promise land and orchestrated the fleecing of California to the tune of fifty billion dollars. Martha took the fall so that the power elite could claim the high ground and Dick Cheney could continue as the president’s man behind the curtain.

George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

Perhaps it is fitting, then, that Martha’s fame and fortune quadrupled because of her misfortune. Not so. Though she was convicted of altering an email, she was clearly guilty of insider trading, a practice with no redeeming value, a crime that took money out of the pockets of small-time investors and deposited it in her already voluptuous bank accounts. Martha may be a victim but she is by no means the hero that her persecution has made her out to be.

Sister Dorothy Stang was a true hero. For over two decades, she defended the Amazon rain forest and the people who depend on it from the exploitation of developers and she paid for it with her life. She was not lionized by the American press. She was not offered a reality television show. At the age of 74, she was rewarded by three shots to the face and her story barely made the evening news.

George W. Bush did not decry acts of terrorism by the landed gentry of Brazil. Nor did he condemn the massacre of eight civilian residents of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado at the hands of the American-blessed Columbian army. The dead included Luis Eduardo, a founding member, and three children.

George W. Bush shed no tears for Sister Dorothy Stang or Luis Eduardo and Martha Stewart shed no tears at all.

George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

What does it say about American culture and American values when we reward Martha Stewart for her courageous endurance of six months cleaning floors and toilets, while turning a blind eye to the follies and foibles of our president, even at the cost of countless innocent lives?

We are instructed by the media that our vote for a second term of George W was largely a measure of our faith and values. What is this faith? What are these values?

We are obsessed with the filthy rich and famous. We are obsessed with the royalty of jolly old England. We are obsessed with Michael Jackson, Donald Trump and Martha Stewart. We are enchanted by the prodigal son, born with a silver spoon, who walks and talks like a cowboy and champions the cause of mendacity and mediocrity. We are mesmerized by those we are nothing like and who have no interest in our well-being, yet we reward them with our undying loyalty and admiration.

George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

America is at a crossroad and we show no signs of awakening from our long and tortured nightmare. If we do not awaken soon to rediscover true American values – justice, equality, decency, freedom, and democracy – the cost will become both unbearable and insurmountable.

Martha Stewart is not important. If we continue to allow the media to dazzle us with stories of the mundane and esoteric, we will be blinded to the events and policies that shape our world and forge our children’s future. What we must understand today is that our leaders have already designed a future world, a world in which the common folk are paid subsistence wages, our nation is in perpetual war, our schools and universities are muzzled and controlled, and the people are pacified by the constant drone of a corporate media.

George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS PUBLISHED WORKS ARE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM. SEE WWW.JACKRANDOM.COM.

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