Much Atwitter About Nothing

Don't -- don't hang back with the brutes!
--A Streetcar Named Desire,
Tennessee Williams

People who need people
Are the luckiest people
In the world!
--People, fr. Funny Girl

Ex-cuuuse Me!
--Let's Get Small (album), Steve Martin
_________________

Front page People mag heralds "Brave" Elizabeth Edwards as "courageous", having gone through "hard-fought" battles.

Yes, she may have been the long-suffering wife of less-than-noble politician John Edwards, and she may have carried herself with dignity, save for the last bit when confronting the issue of his mistress and their bastard child, but so what? These are the vicissitudes of far too many ignoble lives. We never learn, and we never tire of the voyeurism.

The same week, American soldiers were killed in a manner most vile, and who cares? Not People, which pretends to portray the lives of those worth talking about. A rich entitled white woman dies and everybody is all atwitter; the Phony Wars on Terror continue to tear up our best and bravest, and no one bats an eye over what should be the central issue for patriotic nation, especially during the holidays when we count our blessings.

Where is the concern for our soldiers, who are truly deserving of our sympathy? As Erin Martin, whose Marine husband is recovering in Walter Reed Medical center, wrote in the letters section of USA Today (12.23.10): "It always amazes me when someone asks me why my husband wants to "kill people" for a living. I have learned that we live in a backward world. ... We praise celebrities who are addicted to drugs and are floating through life like lumps of nothing ..."

Elizabeth Edwards does not deserve my sympathy. She lived a life of luxury and was not exactly a Mother Theresa. Ditto the other denizens of the 12.20.10 front page, Celine Dion and Brad & Angelina.

Why do we hang out in Fantasyland? Let's get back to reality and get our soldier's out of harm's way.