Michael B. Mukasey and the Sanctification of Depravity
It looked like the nomination of Michael B. Mukasey was on the ropes because he refused to condemn the use of waterboarding. This brought a small ripple of outrage from the senate judicial committee and the nomination seemed DOA.
That was until the democrats rode to the rescue by caving. All of a sudden, sen. Chuck Schumer (d. NY) and sen. Diane Feinstein (d. Calif.) announced they would support him, thus assuring his confirmation by the committee.
Their reason is telling: It seems Mukasey promised them that if congress passed a law banning harsh interrogation methods, he would enforce it. Mind you, we are talking about a law that would include signing statements, interpretations, rulings, parsing and convoluted definitions of just what constitutes harsh interrogation methods. And this assumes that congress would pass such a law, which will they never will because banning harsh interrogation methods would make the democrats appear soft on terrorism, and they will let the world be incinerated before allowing that to happen. This is especially true with a pack of Republican candidates who want to bring back disembowelment nipping at their heels.
Schumer and Feinstein’s cave was a defining moment that sanctified depravity. There was a time when torture wasn’t even an issue. Now the only moral question is one of definition. It is okay to torture as long as it is not torture as defined by the torturer. Mukasey’s inability to tell if waterboarding is torture is illustrative of the inroads depravity has made into polite society. It is a sad day when Mukasey’s integrity is praised because he admits he cannot tell the difference between torturing and not torturing.
Depravity flourishes when it wears a suit and tie, speaks in even, measured tones, and is polite at all times. It succeeds because the de-ethnicized children of the middle class are raised as featureless wax tablets upon which anything can be imprinted, while the spiritual passion that was the foundation of moral outrage has been neutered and reduced to a dogmatic eunuch that worries more about stability and good behavior than about the evil within us. In the administration’s eyes, the sole definition of depravity is any sexal activity outside a monogamous heterosexual marriage. Everything else is simply policy.
Schumer and Feinstein’s small concession to depravity gives Bush his victory and legacy. By slow, incremental steps, depravity has become business as usual as the public has been desensitized to cruelty, bigotry and the naked application of power. Once again, the administration has shown that depravity thrives best in an atmosphere of apathy and distraction and that given a combination of time and sophisticated marketing, cruelty becomes a matter of mind numbing routine.
Political satirist Case Wagenvoord blogs
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