Mr. Bush Goes to Recess
The President claims that it was "improper" for the newsmedia to report that he is wiretapping citizens without warrants. And after he asked them not to tell! It's not fair!
No one, it seems, likes a tattle-tale.
On the playground, tale-tellers ruin everyone's fun and disrupt the dynamic of play. After someone tattles, the teacher comes over and the questions begin and no one gets to play anymore.
I had a long talk with a six-year old recently about when/what to tell. This otherwise delightful child's instinct is to tell on anyone whenever her feelings are hurt. I understand this. No one likes hurt feelings. But no one likes a tattle-tale, either. We discussed how it's important to gauge the injury and intention before going to the teacher. Can you remedy the situation yourself? Did the other child do anything against the rules? Or was he just not playing nice? How do we know the difference?
It's important to know these things, because no one likes a tattle-tale.
The more important message, though, is that if someone (especially an adult) does something really wrong, if they hurt you or someone else and ask you not to tell--YOU MUST TELL ANYWAY.
The President hasn't gotten over the code of the playground. He doesn't understand that he isn't the boy playing a little too rambunctiously, but the creepy band teacher who keeps offering "private lessons." He is harming people. He is harming us all by using illegal wiretaps. And it is ok to tell.
I am as disgusted as the next guy by how long it took the newspaper of record to report this story. But Bush's response is illuminating.
Bush operates by a sense of fair play that conforms not to the right of due process, as set forth in the Constitution, but by the "fair play" of the schoolyard and the frat house where there are special rules for the popular kids and the bullies. Where the code of the playground (or of "gentlemen") favors those with influence, the popular, the rich, the skilled at kickball.
And everyone else can lump it or leave it, because no one likes a tattle-tale.
No one, it seems, likes a tattle-tale.
On the playground, tale-tellers ruin everyone's fun and disrupt the dynamic of play. After someone tattles, the teacher comes over and the questions begin and no one gets to play anymore.
I had a long talk with a six-year old recently about when/what to tell. This otherwise delightful child's instinct is to tell on anyone whenever her feelings are hurt. I understand this. No one likes hurt feelings. But no one likes a tattle-tale, either. We discussed how it's important to gauge the injury and intention before going to the teacher. Can you remedy the situation yourself? Did the other child do anything against the rules? Or was he just not playing nice? How do we know the difference?
It's important to know these things, because no one likes a tattle-tale.
The more important message, though, is that if someone (especially an adult) does something really wrong, if they hurt you or someone else and ask you not to tell--YOU MUST TELL ANYWAY.
The President hasn't gotten over the code of the playground. He doesn't understand that he isn't the boy playing a little too rambunctiously, but the creepy band teacher who keeps offering "private lessons." He is harming people. He is harming us all by using illegal wiretaps. And it is ok to tell.
I am as disgusted as the next guy by how long it took the newspaper of record to report this story. But Bush's response is illuminating.
Bush operates by a sense of fair play that conforms not to the right of due process, as set forth in the Constitution, but by the "fair play" of the schoolyard and the frat house where there are special rules for the popular kids and the bullies. Where the code of the playground (or of "gentlemen") favors those with influence, the popular, the rich, the skilled at kickball.
And everyone else can lump it or leave it, because no one likes a tattle-tale.
posted by Feemus at
11:11 AM
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