Corporate greed and the Ugly American

Good old America, land of the dream, land of opportunity, and land of big corporation opportunists.  When the Walt Disney Company acquired the trademark Seal Team Six, what could they possibly have in mind other than profiteering on the exploits of others?

Sorry, but they can’t get me to believe that they had plans all along to develop a movie or anything else that could possibly, somehow, be related to Seal Team Six.  It’s a shame and a dishonor to our country and to those members of Seal Team Six, who will forever now be remembered for some quaint and tawdry money maker for Disney.  I don’t think Disney made this move in order to protect the Seals from some scurrilous corporate opportunists, you know sort of as a defense mechanism.

Oh contraire.  Disney applied for the rights to the name three days after the assault.  Someone, perhaps part of their omnipotent law firm, recognized the opportunity to grab some easy money and they leaped at the chance.  In part, this is what they get for owning the “rights” to the name:  clothing, footwear, headwear, toys, games, and “entertainment and education services.”

Unfortunately, along with the land of opportunity comes the land of opportunists.  We handled the whole Bin Laden thing wrong anyway.  Once the mission was complete, we should have made the announcement, fielded whatever questions the reporters could come up with, and then walked away. Walked away with our heads somewhat bowed, as in we did our jobs, now let’s get back to work.

Lauding over the whole thing was very unbecoming.  Yes, we have been trying to do this for a number of years, but we don’t need to do it with a grand Hurrah! and slamming the political football down at Ground Zero.

In sports, it’s called “acting like you’ve been there before.”  In America, apparently, it’s called a chance to make an ungodly amount of money over something that is sure to be a national hit.  I can see it now, the lunch pails, the T-shirts, the video games.  It would be one thing if the Navy grabbed the rights, but there is something about Disney doing it that does not sit well. It is the worst aspect of capitalism, and it shows up as greed.  It’s no wonder not everyone embraces our economic philosophy.

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Great and Wonderful Disney World someone undoubtedly is snickering about how they pulled a fast one over on the US Navy and the rest of America, as well.  At some level, we Americans ought to make a stand against such opportunism.  I don’t so much have a problem with making money off the name.  But I do think the name, Seal Team Six, belongs to the actual military unit or at least to the Navy, and as such should not be usurped by some conglomerate who had absolutely nothing to do with the event, has no direct right to the name, and is merely trying to capitalize off the popularity of the name due to the heroic actions of the members of Seal Team Six.

So, Walt Disney Company, let’s show a little class and either drop the patent, or better still opt not to use it as a resource to make huge profits.  The work done by Seal Team Six ought to be treated with respect, and handled in a respectful manner.  We all know what happened, do we really need to make a spectacle of the event? I don’t think so.

Tennessee to ban teaching homosexual education

My my how the world changes when you’re not looking.

One would think that the great state of Tennessee would be a bastion of conservatism. I mean, this is the state that filed suit in the Scopes Monkey Trial, and now where have they gone? A recent CNN internet headline reads: “Tennessee considers banning teaching homosexuality in elementary school.”  On the face of it, this seems pretty odd, pretty odd indeed.

First off, it flies in the face of the nurture vs nature argument.  Most people arguing the homosexuality issue would say that homosexuality is distinctly nature, meaning that it is not a learned trait.  And, for me, I would have to agree.  After all, doesn’t everyone say, “Some of my best friends are homosexuals.”?

Still, here we have the state of Tennessee actually admitting that they have been teaching homosexuality in their elementary school curriculum.  It gives one pause.

Now, I have to wonder more about whether this is instinct or a learned trait.  Why do entities like CNN and the State of Tennessee have to make my life so hard?  I mean, we all had pretty much relegated homosexuality to whatever corner of our collective minds that we wanted to put it in, right?  People take whatever stand regarding that issue that they feel they need to take.

For me, it’s been sort of a laissez-faire approach; you know, hands off. What people choose to do on their own is something they have to live with, not me. Certainly, I have my own demons, but somehow chocolate and juicy hamburgers don’t carry quite the same moral and ethical ramifications.  Although, when I hear it from my cardiologist they do.

Still, getting away from the idea that Tennessee is actually teaching homosexuality, what are we to do with this issue?  There certainly seems to be two sides that are constantly in conflict. In some ways, it’s like the great war on drugs that the US has been waging with its citizenry over the last 100 years or so.  While some people rail against the idea itself, there are those who continue to support and embrace both issues.

What does homosexuality education do?  Does it somehow mitigate the number of homosexuals that live in the US or even in the world (we all know that there are no homosexuals in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said so)?  And even so, is that the intent of such education?  Or is it just like an early warning to let the kiddies know that such people exist in the world and that one ought to be aware?  But does having such knowledge make one leery or curious?

Seems like holding such classes would be a double-edged sword.  And then the drug war, still going strong after all these years.  The 100-years war probably netted more fatalities, but how many lives have been ruined over something that apparently will never be won?  There will always be homosexuals and there will always be people on the “wrong” side of the drug war.

The problem with education is that it brings a certain knowledge along with it, a certain loss of innocence. What is the intent of the class, who is teaching it, and what is their approach?  Is there a bias in how the material is presented? Not meaning to be too trifling, but do you have speakers come in for these classes, and what would field trips look like?

As a society, I think we need to look into these issues with a logical and open attitude.  How is it very different from the problems we have with race?  The two sides never seem to want to accept anything, and at that point there is no hope for resolution in the future.

We have made some big strides in the realm of race relations since 1965, and yet, I believe we will never come to a full resolution. There are people on both sides who will never allow that to happen. But I believe the gulf of people who live between the outer factions is growing.  Those are the people who have come to personal terms with race relations and don’t harbor some unfounded grudge against another person merely because of their skin tone.  I believe they are the majority and not the minority.  The minority are those people who see race as a rallying point for negativity; typically they are not builders.

As for homosexuality, I don’t believe teaching it is anything less than a mild form of brain washing. Personally, I don’t trust anyone who advocates such classes.  While my kids certainly underwent those dreaded classes in the public school system, homosexuality resolves to personal choice and personal values. The school system is not responsible for teaching my offspring about personal choice and values, I will render that education myself, thank you very much.

And to close out the three topics we have in this column, what have we gained by the war on drugs?  Our jails are filled to beyond the brim. Many of those serving time are doing so for pretty much stupid reasons.  So, the drug wars have filled our courts, filled our jails, and emptied our bank accounts through funding the cops, the courts, and the prisons.  Again, it’s personal choice.  There has to be some better way to deal with drugs, drug addiction, and the results of prosecuting the laws developed to justify the war on drugs.

I think, somehow, we have gotten on the wrong tack with this.  The war on drugs has been far more costly than any other war the US has been involved in, both in terms of cost and in terms of ruined lives.  I certainly don’t know the answer, but I do know that if the horses in your stable haven’t won the race it’s time to get new horses.  Likewise, if we consistently deal with the same problems: homosexuality, drugs, and racism—perhaps we ought to entertain a different view of how to handle the problems.