November 1, 2006

An Ugly Truth Behind a Botched Joke

As Keith Olberman points out, Kerry was obviously attacking the stupidity of the president and not that of soldiers fighting in Iraq.  But there is an ugly element of truthiness to the words that allows them to be easily exploited and misinterpreted by the right wing and their media friends to divert attention from the failed policies and corruption of the Bush administration.

The ugly truth faced by many young people not fortunate enough to belong to the privileged* class is that if they're not smart enough (or in the right place or of the proper ethnicity) to land a scholarship or a good job to repay their student loans, they may be forced to consider joining the military. 

An uglier unspoken truth is that as scholarships, loan programs and decent jobs continue to dwindle, more and more young people are being left without options, including many of the best and brightest who just happen to be poor

But what of the plight of the not so bright?  No problem if your family is rich or, better still, if your family is filthy rich and your daddy was president.  Otherwise the choices are a range of part-time minimum wage jobs with no benefits, which can make even George Bush's military seem appealing to high school graduates who've grown up on video games.

Stray Thoughts from Don Alejandro
* the word "privilege" comes from a combination of the Latin words for private and law, i.e. the base meaning of "privilege" is "private law"