Enemy Central has been left speechless. At Tuesday’s memorial
service for the victims of Monday’s massacre, the concluding
remarks were delivered by Virginia Tech’s Poet Emeritus, who
managed to do the unimaginable: She turned the event into a Paul
Wellstone memorial, observing that “we [who] are embracing our
mourning” (in all this she somehow neglected to honor the dead)
were as undeserving of “this tragedy” as a baby dying of AIDS in
Africa or as an Appalachian infant crushed in its crib by a boulder
set off “because the land was destabilized” or as “a baby elephant
watching his community being devastated for ivory” — whereupon she
led her audience in raucous cheers because “We are Virginia Tech”
(which served as both the title and refrain of her poetic
presentation).
Her remarks and the reaction to them were immediately hailed by
the university’s vice-president for student affairs, who bellowed
from the podium, “Boy, did we need that.” But don’t they get plenty
of that during football and basketball season? We would have
thought that what they really needed, if prayer couldn’t cut it,
was a performance of Beethoven’s funeral march, say, or Chopin’s.
But they appeared to take their cue from the Daily Kos. In praising the Poet Emeritus — Nikki
Giovanni is her name — one Kos scribbler noted: “I took a class
with Nikki in 1988 and she was the only reason I watched the
convocation — no surprise that they put her on at the end. Worth
the stomach turning pronouncements of others…she is an amazing
lady.” Another Kossie concurred: “I was very moved and impressed by
the memorial today (with exception of W). All four major religions
represented which showed rich understanding and appreciation of our
diverse community. And the poet emeritus at the end was a powerful
end which had me in tears.”
Not that religion was of any use to a third Kossie, who titled
her entry, “What I Learned About Religion Today.” It read:
“religion did not help me make sense of insane violence today…
did not help me find answers…but the words of a poet emeritus
helped me to find what is invincible in the human spirit. Religion
is meant to inspire and bring people together, but for me it fails
today.” She/he ended up giving “Religion” a “0” — but “Art” earned
a “10.” Grade inflation, even on a day like this.
Speaking out, however inappropriately, has become the law of the
land. Just yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling
upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion. Judge Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, who wrote the dissent in the case, “took the unusual
step,” as the Legal Times put
it, to read a summary of her dissenting opinion from the bench.
It wasn’t enough that she could have her say on paper. No, she
needed to score immediate, political points, including a
few at the expense of the court’s new chief justice and newest
justice, not to mention the disruptive impact her unbecoming
outburst could have on the public order. Such a class act we
haven’t seen since the last time Nancy Pelosi journeyed to the
Middle East.
Judge Ruth reminds us of that old margarine commercial, in which
someone tried to pass a tasty new oleo off as butter. Before that
someone knew it, there’d be a vicious crack of lightning and clap
of thunder and we’d hear a witch-like voice menacingly declaim,
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
Anyway, Judge, you’re not fooling anyone except yourself. In our
humble albeit unanimous opinion, you’ll be better off arguing
against the constitutionality of the Enemy of the Week prize you’ve
just inherited. What new spectacle can we expect from you next?
Marching with Naral and NOW in front of the U.S. Supreme Court?
Send your Enemy of the Week nominations to Enemy Central
c/o editor@spectator.org.
