THE WANDERER, FEBRUARY 16, 2006
JOSEPH SOBRAN'S
WASHINGTON WATCH
Bad Sports
Despite my sorry record of late as a couch potato, I
managed to stay awake -- just barely -- for this year's
Super Bowl. Not that I'm proud of it. My waning
enthusiasm for sports has been accompanied by an uneasy
conscience about this national, even global, idolatry.
In his remarkable book ROSARY, Kevin Orlin Johnson
reflects on the origin of the word "agony," used by St.
Luke in its Greek sense of an athletic contest.
Johnson recalls (what I hadn't known) that the
Church fathers, including St. Augustine, Tertullian, and
Novatian, preached vehemently against sports, not only
because of their frequent violence, but more precisely
because they excited an un-Christian spirit of
"contention," contrary to charity, and fostering lust,
sloth, and other vices. The early Church constantly urged
the Roman emperors to abolish the hugely popular Olympic
Games!
If this sounds un-American, so be it. Sports have
become one of the decadent features of American culture.
Wholesome exercise? Think of the idleness, the rivalry,
the drugs, the trash-talking, the health hazards, the
vain hopes, and the sheer waste of time and attention
these things entail.
I thought of Johnson's meditation when I heard a
local news report of a football player stabbed to death
by kids from a rival high school.
But don't sports also promote real virtues, even
heroism of sorts? Of course they do. But part of the
tragedy is that these virtues are misdirected to bad
ends. I hope Johnson will write the iconoclastic book
this subject deserves and the country needs.
The Cartoon War
Once again, with the Great Danish Cartoon Flap, the
world is witnessing the propensity of Scandinavian humor
to fall flat.
Maybe it just doesn't travel well, especially in the
Muslim world, where caricatures of the Prophet aren't
regarded as rib-tickling merriment.
As Western embassies went up in smoke, the Bush
administration tried to pour oil slicks on troubled
waters by deploring the offensive cartoon, adding
scrupulously that freedom of the press is mighty
important and that rioting is an inappropriate way to
express disagreement.
But the Iranian government took another approach,
retaliating by soliciting cartoons ridiculing an article
of faith in the modern West: the Holocaust.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a
neoconservative's nightmare: a Holocaust denier who (as
they think) seeks nuclear weapons. Since Iran controls
much of the world's oil supply, this poses a delicate
diplomatic problem: To bomb, or not to bomb?
Even Bush officials have qualms about extending the
pre-emptive war to Iran, but a leading neocon strategist,
Edward N. Luttwak, writing in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL,
argues that "a single night" of U.S. bombing could
suffice to cripple Iran's nuclear production capacity.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad is also sponsoring a
conference of scholars from many countries who challenge
the received account of the Holocaust, which is the only
form of criminal blasphemy now banned in several Western
countries; the historian David Irving is now in an
Austrian prison awaiting trial on such a charge.
But though Irving is routinely described as a
"Holocaust denier" in the Western press, I have seen no
citations of his own words to support the accusation. In
fact, Irving himself once told me, "I'm not a Holocaust
denier; I'm a Holocaust skeptic."
As far as I know, he denies only such details as
that gas chambers were used at Auschwitz, which is a far
cry from saying that Hitler's Germany didn't persecute,
or even murder, Jews.
But Ahmadinejad and other Muslims perceive an
anomaly in Western law and culture when it comes to this
topic. No other opinion, especially an opinion about
history, is subject to such taboos. In all other
respects, it goes without saying, we take freedom of
opinion for granted.
And this particular taboo is strangely involved with
politics. When I began writing critically about the state
of Israel more than 20 years ago, I was furiously accused
of writing the sort of things that "led to the
Holocaust," in the words of a prominent neoconservative,
and soon I was hearing words like "genocide" and yes,
"Holocaust denial," though I hadn't denied anything of
the kind (and felt unqualified even to venture an opinion
about it).
It is as if the legitimacy of Israel somehow depends
on the sufferings of Jews under Hitler; and as if wrongs
done to Jews in the past justify wrongs done to
Palestinians today.
This seems to be the premise of U.S. foreign policy
in the Mideast. So once again we find ourselves openly
debating whether to wage aggressive war -- a "war of
choice," "pre-emptive" or "preventive" -- on a country
that hasn't attacked us, hasn't threatened us, and can
hardly be imagined as posing any danger to us. And we
think the Muslims are fanatical!
Notably, the Israelis have long had the nuclear
weapons that Iran is accused of coveting.
Unprecedented Behavior
The obsequies for Coretta Scott King quickly turned
into a rather bitter class reunion for liberals,
reminding them of their better days.
Jimmy Carter seized the occasion to take a jab at
George W. Bush, who was also present -- unprecedented
behavior at a funeral, as far as I know.
Usually the idea is that the mourners refrain from
assailing each other until the body is buried. Maybe
Carter thought he was achieving another historic first.
Good News for Liberals
But just as liberals were watching their old icons
die off, they got a happy surprise, of sorts, from New
Guinea, where scientists have found an isolated region
teeming with dozens of previously unknown species --
plants, birds, frogs, butterflies, and even mammals.
One of these is a hedgehog-like critter that lays
eggs; another is what is called a "tree kangaroo," which
sounds like a contradiction in terms.
These discoveries are nothing short of astounding.
So why is this good news for liberals? Well, think
of it! A whole fresh batch of endangered species, which
will need to be protected from Dick Cheney and
Halliburton, before they can start clubbing baby tree
kangaroos to death for their fur!
This cause will invigorate countless liberals who
have despaired that they have nothing left to live for.
And no doubt they will find these creatures new
confirmation of the Darwinian theory.
+ + +
SOBRAN'S -- tackles (so to speak) assumptions that
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--- Joseph Sobran
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