Saturday, April 7, 2018

Massachusetts Soap Opera

An old article on the tragedy of Chappaquiddick reprinted from The National Review:
The immediate reaction of the audience was predictable. That is not our present concern. Never mind what the spontaneous emotion-ridden response of the unguided masses is. What we want to know is the judgment rendered by the leaders and formers of opinion, who are usually so quick and voluble in their moral pronouncements about everything on Earth from apartheid to space programs. The archaic medium of print has made a considerably better showing than the electronic medium. Coverage has been full, more than full, and has in many cases been reasonably objective concerning facts and non-facts. But the reportage has tended to get lost in the mass of detail, and the commentaries have mostly swung this way and that and drowned clear judgment in a flood of portentous rhetoric. (Read more.)
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1 comment:

The North Coast said...

Yes, Kennedy failed the test that night, and I'm not the only one who remembers. But local authorities, fearful of the most powerful family in the state of Massachusetts, failed as badly, in not conducting a more thorough inquest of this death, or levying the charges against Kennedy that this crime warranted- and leaving someone to die in the car you wrecked while you tarry for hours in seeking assistance, IS a crime.

What's worse is the response of the electorate in that state. Almost everywhere you go, there is at least one powerful, popular leader who can do no wrong in the eyes of his worshipers. No one can oppose them in an election, and their omissions and crimes just roll off them no matter how visible and flagrant they are. How well I know, as a witness to the careers of a number of Illinois politicians.