When The Truth Is Dangerous

It's excruciatingly clear that the dominant practice among America's elite politicians, religious leaders, and other such "role models" in the public eye is cover-up. No one can forget how quickly America's most savvy politician Bill Clinton let us all know he didn't have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. Just as quick was Former National Association of Evangelicals president Ted Haggard is reassureing his 50-plus million right-wing evangelical followers that he met alone with a male prostitute for three years just to help the man kick his Methamphetamine habit and maybe in the meantime grab a quick backrub. Of course, there aren't enough pages in this newspaper to list all the cover-up's the Bush Administration has used in the last six years. What in the world does our future look like when simply telling the truth is revolutionary?

One of those revolutionaries spoke at James Madison last month as the keynote speaker in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Dr. Cornel West. West, arguably the most prolific voice for truth of our time, opened his evening talk by saying he'd prefer to not talk about Dr. King. A prominent African American leader who doesn't want to talk about Dr. King? It didn't make sense. Then West used the word "dangerous" as the first adjective to describe Dr. King. That is the truth, and in our world or more fittingly our democratic nation, where we have become unreservedly comfortable with being lied to by our highest leaders, it's no wonder a man who put his very being on the line to tell the truth is deemed "dangerous." A prophet is never welcome in his hometown.

Contributing to the virtual nonexistence of truth telling in our nation is the mainstream media. Sadly, the mainstream media has abdicated their responsibility to serve the public and keep a close eye on the government. Sacrificing reputation and revenue to give the American public the truth is unheard of from the mainstream media; their only purpose is to feed the United States of Amnesia biased propaganda and lies while lulling us to sleep with worthless, comfortable news. For example, the most notorious American war since Vietnam is taking place in Iraq, genocide is occurring in Darfur, and 30,000 innocent children will die tonight because of starvation. A beautiful American city is still a disaster; yet the main news story of the day is...a bizarre love triangle among three astronauts that culminated in a woman driving 950 miles armed with a BB-gun in attempt to murder a rival. Astonishing. At least it isn't propaganda, but it's a story entirely unworthy of attention.

One must express appreciation to the editors and those who contribute weekly to the Weathervane (which I do not consider myself to do) for not being afraid to produce a newspaper with stories and opinions that tend to "ruffle some feathers". Some have labeled the Weathervane's opinion sections to be "liberal" because of the consistent criticism of the imperialistic war in Iraq. But what do you expect from editors and opinion writers with an Anabaptist perspective at an Anabaptist institution who are angry with the state of the union right now and bold enough to say it? In a democratic nation where the ethic of truth telling has been abandoned, it's truly revolutionary for a university newspaper to continue to tell the truth, no matter how dangerous it may sound.