[lit-ideas] A Culture of Death
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 11:07:00 -0700
(if nothing else, read the final paragraph. -- andreas)
From: "Arianna Huffington" <arianna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 10:57 AM
A CORNUCOPIA OF DEATH
By Arianna Huffington
Paint the last month black. It's been an orgy of mourning; a cornucopia of
death. We've had
Terri Schiavo, Pope John Paul, Prince Rainier, and Charles and Camilla's
wedding--which felt
as grim as any funeral. All brought to us in no-longer-living color. If nothing
else, the
media have outed themselves as the ultimate necrophiliacs. I expect CNN and
Forest Lawn to
announce a sponsorship agreement any day now.
The pope's interminable interment was the magenta-colored cherry on the death
sundae. The TV
coverage was so over-the-top and utterly uncritical, it was as if John Paul had
been, well,
the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Or, at least, Jim Caviezel.
Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that the last week should have been spent
trashing the
late pontiff. His many achievements--taking on communism, embracing the Third
World,
speaking out for the poor, and standing up against war--surely deserved
recognition and
praise. But you'd think the wall-to-wall coverage would have included some
serious
discussion of the two tragic failures of his reign: his woeful mishandling of
the church's
child molestation scandal, and how his archaic position on condoms contributed
to the deaths
of millions of people, especially in Africa.
The molestation outrage is a black mark that can't be whitewashed.
Over 11,000 children were sexually abused and close to $1 billion in settlement
money has
been paid out, but the pope did not go much beyond decrying "the sins of some
of our
brothers." He never met with any victims, he never offered practical solutions
to dealing
with the problem, he never addressed the decades-long cover-up of the abuse. He
even
rejected a "zero tolerance" policy calling for the immediate removal of
molester-priests,
concerned that it was too harsh.
Too harsh?! This is a man who wouldn't allow a priest to become a bishop unless
he was
unequivocally opposed to masturbation, premarital sex and condoms. So, in his
perversion
pecking order, you had to be dead-set against "self-love" but when it came to
buggering
little kids, there was some wiggle room.
And let's not forget that the Pope appointed Cardinal Bernard Law, who was one
of the
architects of the sex scandal cover-up, and who even faced potential criminal
prosecution
for his role in the concealment. But instead of making an example out of Law,
the pope gave
him a cushy sinecure in the Vatican. Adding insult to the grievous injury
suffered by the
abuse victims, Law was one of the nine cardinals specially chosen to preside
over the pope's
funeral masses. It is a disgrace--and an indication of how detached the Vatican
became under
this pope.
The other stain on the pope's legacy is his tireless opposition to the use of
condoms--even
in places like Africa, where AIDS killed 2.3 million people last year alone,
and where the
disease has driven life expectancy below 40 years in many countries.
But even in the face of that kind of suffering, he fought tooth and nail
against condoms.
Any time a church official even suggested that people infected with HIV should
use condoms,
they were either removed from office or censured by the Vatican. We were told
again and
again last week about how committed John Paul was to promoting a culture of
life. I guess
the 20 million people who have died from AIDS are the exception that proves the
rule.
On the other hand, the pope's passing might have saved the political skin of
one of his
culture-of-life cohorts, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. If you have a series
of looming
ethics scandals about to come crashing down on your head, having the media
focused 24/7 on
something else is a very lucky break indeed. But, in the end, it's going to
take a huge
celebrity dying every three days for the next few months to keep The Hammer
from going down.
The presence of DeLay at the pope's funeral in Rome, along with President Bush,
the First
Lady, Condoleezza Rice, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Bush Sr., was a stark
reminder of our
perverted priorities. The pope dies and it's Must Holy See TV; 1,547 American
soldiers die
in Iraq and President Bush and Laura have yet to attend a single one of their
funerals. Not
a single one. Maybe the president only goes to funerals of people whose death
he wasn't
involved in.
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