Is Apathy Now the Norm?

At what point did lying become so acceptable? When did we start regarding blatant fabrications as an inevitable part of life? Was it so long ago that we were outraged when the president of the US knowingly deceived us? Has it really come to this?

I recently read this article in The Washington Post. Basically it outlines how the US informed its allies that North Korea sold nuclear material to Libya, when it knew perfectly well that no such transaction ever took place. North Korea sold uranium hexafluoride to Pakistan, a US ally with its own nuclear arsenal. It was Pakistan that then sold the material to Libya. Meanwhile, the photo on the main page of the Post shows Condoleezza Rice being 'greeted' by South Korean university students upon her arrival in Seoul. No mention that thousands of other enraged Koreans were gathered in various reform demonstrations throughout the country.

Why doesn't this piss anyone off? I was unable to think straight, reading through the article for the first time. Nobody ever said politics or diplomacy is a straightforward affair, but the line must be drawn somewhere. Shame on the American people for eschewing their responsibility to draw that line.

What makes the article even worse is that it shows only concern that the exposure of the falsehood will undermine US credibility. An ignorant public? Who cares? Moral outrage? So 18th century.

I refuse to believe that my outrage is so much old-fashioned humbuggery. I still believe that everyone, and leaders in particular, have a responsibility to be honest and open; that no democracy-in its true form and not the one endorsed by Bush and his thugs-can be upheld without the guarantee that such honesty is adhered to; that demanding reform when such honesty is corrupted is not a right, but a duty shared by the public.

Stupidity I can take. Rice called North Korea an "outpost of tyranny" mere days before Bush vowed in his inauguration speech to fight tyranny. All this while trying to bring North Korea into the six-party talks which still haven't happened. That's pretty stupid. But that's ok.

Lies, however, are not an option. I hope this fact will register soon, for a public insensitive to lies is even more lamentable than an administration which systematically tells them.

SAT Night! Partay!

My best friend Andy wrote a great post about his new column in the Cornell Daily Sun, of which he was formerly the editor in chief. Actually, what I found most interesting was not the column that was eventually published, but the one that he ended up scrapping, about the time we took our SAT's.

Back when we were juniors in high school (a time more distant now than I like to admit), Andy and I had what we called an "SAT sleepover." Yes it was dorky. No, we were not fully aware of that fact. Our plan was to have a quick dinner and hit the index cards to cram ourselves with some final vocab words. Afterwards, we would get some sleep and arrive at the testing station refreshed and fully prepped to fill in some bubbles.

So obviously, we ended up goofing around and imbibing enough caffeine to kill a small horse. Perhaps that's why we ended up with scores much lower than we were accustomed to from countless practice tests.

That's okay. Andy and I both ended up going to college (he at Cornell, and I at Seoul National). I doubt that a better night's rest would have resulted in better acceptances for either of us, and we are now left with a memory of what things used to be like. Right now, that memory is something we look back on wistfully, recalling the wonderful simplicty of our (more distant) youth, and perhaps it will someday turn into a goal, something to aspire to provide for our own children.

In any case, I guess we gained more that night than a couple of word roots.