Interlock PrayerNet

“Welcome to ‘The Cat was Black: Symposium on Linguistic Interpretation in Modern Life.’  My name is Sigmund Butterhead, director of Harvard-R-Us Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts and I am moderating today’s session.  It is imperative today for us to understand the modern use of language.  As our former President Bill Clinton reminded us,” (scattering of applause from the audience), “more than ever it depends on what our definition of ‘is’ is.  The New York Times has helped us to understand that even when the facts in a story are completely wrong, such as the account of President Bush’s National Guard duty (uneasy stirring in the seats), the story itself can still be conceptually true. Even the Supreme Court is joining in the redefining of language.  Recently their decision of Kelo vs. City of New London helped us to understand that though the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution seems to clearly say that private property cannot be taken for anything except public use, what it really meant is public purpose.  This new interpretation opens up huge new vistas for government officials to not just appropriate private property for things like highways, bridges or railroads for public use, but confiscate it for any public purpose like beautiful new shopping centers and malls or anything that will bring in higher property taxes.  Isn’t liberating language wonderful?”  (Polite applause from the audience.)

One of the concepts of my Ideal Leadership Model is that those who find themselves in leadership positions are not always the wisest or most courageous, but rather those at the right place, at the right time, doing the right things, with the right people.  The Senator Joseph McCarthy was a buffoon and a shameless publicity hound who stumbled on the find of the century – Communist infiltrators in the US State Department.  To this day, no one knows exactly how many there were, but they did exist.  By raising the Communist canard at everyone, however, McCarthy seriously jeopardized American civil liberties. 

As a young teenager, I was hooked on Marvel Comics.  I can remember taking my grass mowing money I earned on Saturdays and running over to Bower’s News Stand on Main Street in Montgomery, Pennsylvania to buy the latest issues of Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk and the Fantastic Four.  I have found it fascinating that all of these have been made into major motion pictures in recent years.  

The rival to Marvel Comics was Action Comics’ Superman, and DC Comics’ Batman, and yes, they have been made into movies also, but for some reason, these guys never grabbed me like Marvel’s characters.  To me it seemed that other comic books only focused on the conflict between the evil villain and the superhero, but Marvel’s team of writers, Stan Lee and illustrator Jack Kirby, created superheroes that had personalities as well as conflict.  They had real struggles with their powers.  Those portrayed as teenagers like Peter Parker (Spiderman) and Johnny Storm (Human Torch with the Fantastic Four) had the same kind of problems in life, like getting a date and passing tough exams in school, that I had.  The Incredible Hulk and The Thing (Fantastic Four) hated their disfigurement, but had to make the best of it.  They had super powers but they weren’t super people – they were just people.  

Last week I noted that we are in a completely new age in terms of world affairs and diplomacy. This week I want to note the parallel changes happening in the world of media.  Let’s take a little stroll down through the twentieth century and see where we are today.  For the first fifty years, the power was in print media.  Remember the films like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” or “Citizen Kane?”  Those who controlled the newspapers literally controlled what people heard and knew about the world.  But the Dead Tree Media saw its influence eroded with the advent of the little box in the living room known as television.