In class a couple weeks ago, we read the myth of Pandora to the students because they showed the holy grail of teaching (interest), in the subject. As it was being read I was struck by many questions. Since suffering existed even when it was imprisoned in Pandora’s box, did people feel it still? Was it that humankind now had a name for the phenomenon? Was it simply human knowledge and understanding that sprung fourth much like the story of the apple in Genesis? I believe it is so. The curse the story speaks of is simply knowledge. The curse is no curse, for what you don’t know, what you don’t see, and what you refuse to admit can hurt you, and everyone around you. Zeus was not angry at Pandora for opening the box, because he knew she had been given all the gifts of the gods. Eventually, her compassion was used against her by the contents of the box and she was tricked into opening it.
That is not the only way to look at the story. Pandora can easily be blamed for the evils released upon man, even though she neither made them nor stored them so haphazardly. She’s the silly person who asked too many questions, the curious cat, the sinful and dangerous eve. It’s a simple and trite way to see it, but unfortunately also valid- valid enough that the construct has been used by the U.S. left since President Obama won the office of the Presidency. The plan is simple, put reality in a box and blame Pandora when she opens it.
The curious case of Representative Anthony Weiner is a good start. At the start of the saga was an extraordinarily inappropriate tweet sent from his Twitter account with an accompanying picture. He claimed shortly after through another tweet he was hacked. His evasive and immature behavior after, as well as his refusal to call for an investigation and his hiring of a lawyer were obvious signs of guilt but many chose to believe his story anyway. To rationalize their belief, they went straight after Pandora. The Pandoras in our first case being, an anonymous tweeter who captured the tweet and Andrew Breitbart, of course, who else? Mr. Breitbart was accused of hacking the Representative’s account and posting the picture. No actual evidence ever existed to support that theory, except for more theories. When Representative Weiner finally admitted to what happened and more, many well-known people who believed Representative Weiner’s initial claim and accused others of severe federal crimes could hardly even muster a sardonic and backhanded apology. For good reason, they didn’t want to know the truth, they were angry at Pandora for opening the box. Yet another box remains, the fact that his behavior showed a quick and sociopathic tendency to lie and infer guilt onto others to protect himself, a lack of morality and an extreme capacity for stupidity. This box is being opened, and you can already hear Jeanine Garofalo baying at the light shed. In her herd, nobody likes Pandora.
The young James O’Keefe is another example. He created those undercover videos of Planned Parenthood, Acorn and other organizations. A youthful firebrand who has made some mistakes in his process, he was instantaneously attacked. While Planned Parenthood continued on even though the video shows clearly an instantaneous and un-questioning support for criminals of the worst kind, the kind of support that is reflective of active policy. If those people cared, they would have had the local Police Department waiting outside the door to arrest what they thought was a child pimp. They wouldn’t wait a couple of hours and contact the Department of Justice (our most liberal D.O.J. in history). According to the left wing the story was more about James O’Keefe, for the purposes of directing attention away from what happened and on to the narrative that anyone who is right on the spectrum is a bad person.
Representative Darrell Issa is another key example. Issa has been working hard to uncover information on project “Fast and Furious”, which pumped illegal weapons into the Mexican Cartels to “track” them, even though there was no plan of action to track them. Whether created out of shear stupidity or for political reasons, we don’t know yet. Multiple people have been killed with the guns willfully allowed to the cartels. The media, after ignoring the story for around a year, have finally started to report on it. Yet again, the focus of the mainstream media, was on Darrell Issa. A full out attack was enacted by liberal propaganda websites going after his criminal record when he was younger. He was convicted of a weapons charge and was charged with auto-theft, but that charge was dropped. This all happened in the early 70’s. Issa’s criminal past is important, at election time, but I find it odd that people wish for that to be the story while we have Americans getting murdered by weapons the government purposely flowed to the cartels. It really is “Iran Contra” on steroids. Darrell Issa became another Pandora ripe for attack for that reason.
There is a new Pandora just recently created through our Debt Ceiling battle in the legislative branch. Throughout the battle the left claimed that if the debt ceiling was not raised they would be downgraded. When the downgrade was made by Standard and Poor’s, the left chose to attack the rating agency. Even though none of the suggestions given by the agency were used. Oddly enough while claiming Standard and Poor’s is wrong the left is blaming the downgrade on the Tea party. Standard and Poor’s simply gave their opinion, which is their job, but that opinion based on the reality of the situation opened another box the left needs to be ignored.
Politics of personal destruction, blame it on Pandora. Thought terminating cliché,Ignoratio elenchi and red herrings are the weaponry being used. You have to see it to defeat it. Support all Pandoras regardless of what they uncover. If you have an issue with it go after the information, not the person. We cannot fall into the rut the left has lived in. You need to try to love those you disagree with, never try to do what the left has done to Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and anyone who confronts them or threatens them. Bring it to the battlefield of ideas, ignore the middle school clique mentality.
