On May 5, Bob Herbert of the New York Times profiled
Aidan Delgado, an Army reservist who was honorably
discharged after filing as a conscientious objector,
based on his experiences as a guard at the Abu Ghraib
prison in Iraq.
Delgado lately is giving presentations, accompanied
by photographs of the gruesome and horrifying realities
of war. What he saw in Iraq and at Abu Ghraib was more
than a wake-up call for him. It was a living nightmare
that is still raging on.
At 23, Delgado is a changed man, and he wants the
rest of America to know why.
The mainstream media don't have the guts they once
had to show what war is really like. During Vietnam,
films and photos of daily atrocities were routine.
Journalists fought to get at the truth no matter what
the cost, and newspapers printed it. The evening news
wasn't afraid to show the American public what was going
on.
The baby boomers who protested against America's
involvement in Vietnam are now the corporate big shots
who giggle at the profits they make off the backs of the
poor. Students in our high schools don't learn about the
real workings of government.
When I was in high school, whoever knew the headlines
was the star of the day. Civics was a required course,
for two semesters. Geography was old hat by eighth
grade. You couldn't get a high school diploma without
knowing trigonometry or calculus.
My kids went to one of the best public high schools
in southeastern Michigan, but the requirements for
graduation were the same ones I had to move out of
middle school. They knew nothing of government, science,
math, geography or language. Writing an essay of more
than 50 words was impossible.
Only one of my three children graduated from high
school. Two dropped out at 16, because they were bored
out of their minds. Both have IQs over 140, but the
school district wouldn't place them in the gifted
category. Both of them have GED's and scored in the top
1 percentile in the nation in all subjects. And they
didn't even study for that test.
What's my point? It no longer matters if you're
smart, honest or inquisitive. Teachers are forced to
train our kids to take tests to keep funding - to heck
with learning about the world.
Bush claimed his No Child Left Behind law would cure
stupidity. Yet the funding he promised is somewhere
overseas, killing people. Journalists write what is safe
to keep their jobs. TV networks spend vast airtime on
Michael Jackson and runaway brides. News publications
apologize for printing the truth.
Corporations and the Bush administration are shifting
the focus of reality to events that belong on the back
pages of a bad tabloid.
When will Americans demand truth, justice and
equality, as they once did? When will America hit
bottom? Or have we already?
You can e-mail Barbara J. McKee at chairgrrl@chairgrrl.com.
Her column runs on Tuesdays.
