Oh Come On Dot Org

Apparently, "Petraeus" sounds enough like "betray us" to make some intern at Moveon.org think it would be a great idea to make up a new and disparaging nickname for the good General. Come on people. Who green-lighted this? Are you TRYING to torch your credibility? Let me introduce you to a little bit of important PR calculus: if you're going to engage in character assassination, you have to do so in so clever a manner that even your target can't deny the humor without being pegged as a stuffed shirt. Homophones aren't going to cut the mustard.

So embarrassing.

General Petraeus is a pawn, okay? He is trying to put a good face on things because his job is to win the war in Iraq. Not to decide whether we should be fighting it. Not to declare the policy failed. Just to win. If his boss gave him the latitude to decide those other things, he would be a less sympathetic character, but in the current situation, THAT'S NOT HIS JOB. Do you suppose he got where he is by giving up? This guy is doing his level best to spin gold from hay, and while that may make him a little delusional, it doesn't make him malignant. The president may have been acting like this is all Petraeus' baby, but seriously. This is George Bush we're talking about. Not exactly what we would call a reliable source.

So please, Moveon.org, next time you find yourself in the kind of paroxysm of group-think that led to that headline, remind yourself that that's how teenagers and coke-addled studio executives think, not effective political actors. The rest of the copy in the ad wasn't terrible, but who do you think read past the headline? Anyone who isn't already in the choir? Not so much.

Bush league, folks.

It's Not Foie Gras, It's More Like Veal.

I'm going to draw a parallel here: you are aware of the people who decry games like tag in schools in some kind of misguided rush to avoid conflict during developmental stages when kids should be learning to deal with conflict? You are also aware of the people who decry the university professors who bring their politics to the classroom and make dissenting students feel uncomfortable at a time when said students should be learning how to debate effectively in hostile ideological environments?

Same team.

I fought my alma mater on a number of issues, and you know what? I consider that to be among the more valuable lessons of higher education: taking on an institution that holds all the cards. Because I hate to break it to you if you were unaware, but that's life, kid. When I was in middle school we played a game at recess called "Smear the Queer" wherein one kid had a ball and every other kid in the game (and there was no limit to participation) would try to take that kid out and take the ball from him (this was generally a boy's game, not by design, but by nature). The educational value of that game cannot be overstated. It's just you against an overwhelming force, success is only fleeting, and defeat is assured. When I was in college we played a game called "Divestment" wherein a small group of students with no money would try to get the university to stop investing in wealthy companies that conducted business with oppressive regimes such as those in Burma and Afghanistan. It was just us against an overwhelming force, success was only fleeting, and defeat was assured.

It is these experiences that foster growth, understanding, and character development. It is these scenarios that will recur ad infinitum throughout life, and those who are unprepared for them are weaker for it. So I say to those complainers, you are opposing the very thing that makes you strong. Your success will ensure the failure of those who follow you. Educational environments require these elements, for the same reason that gyms don't prohibit weights over 5 pounds.