Of rats and men

Or, in vino veritas

By Capt. Fogg

When I watched Dennis Rodman's drunken rant the other day, I was astonished, dumfounded and amazed that none of the commentary included the compelling, obvious, unavoidable observation that the man was dead drunk: smashed, stewed, tanked, wasted, three sheets to the wind and shitfaced. It was probably more obvious to the sheepish players sitting next to him who were, I'm sure, worried about any open flame in such hazardous atmosphere. If we needed any further reminder of the somewhat erratic journalistic and public tendency to forgive athletes for their often disgusting outbursts, perhaps here we have it.

Nonetheless, we now have the inevitable apology from the man who might not give a rat's ass about being a rat and an ass himself but just might respond to worries about the financial consequences on those too rare occasions of sobriety. I'm not expecting any such retraction from the Reverend Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson, who not only couldn't find the strength to criticize the friend and defender of a grizzly mass murderer and psychotic tyrant, but still defends him. "I had been drinking," says Rodman through a face full of hardware. No shit! reverberates throughout the cosmos.

Is it time at long last for America to examine the way it selects people for elevation to the status of hero, prophet, and role model for our children -- examine the reasons we give to explain our support or condemnation? 

Shhhh -- what's that sound? No shit! says the universe.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)