Palin Agonistes 13.2: …into the ears of the deaf.

Needless to say, the idea of someone’s time being worth a figure of five digits seems beyond the pale. Given the person in question, it is an outright mockery of capitalism. To whom, then, should the withering glance be cast? The answer is astoundingly simple: anyone involved in the whole sordid process. To borrow from Zola, J’accuse:

            1.) Bristol Palin: for being able to face herself in the mirror, comfortable in the knowledge that an hour’s worth of her musings on life are worth $15,000 at a minimum.

            2.) Prospective event organizers: for agreeing with Ms. Palin as delineated above.

            3.) Prospective attendees of said events: for giving tacit approval to the whole concept by willingly purchasing a ticket.

Granted, there are a host of others who rightfully deserve acerbic condemnation, but the twin demons of time and available space have conjoined to preclude further remonstration.

Bristol Palin is the product of contemporary attitudes towards politics: spectacle at the expense of substance. In her defense, I doubt very highly that she ever intended to be thrust into the national consciousness in so coarse a manner. Nevertheless, her actions indicate that she fully plans to reap the benefits of our (by which I mean people who are neither me nor my ever-shrinking circle of friends and well-wishers) fascination with the trivial and mediocre. In the strictest terms of empty-words-for-money, she is not alone: Bill Clinton regularly commands $150,000 for a single speech. However, consider the mathematics: at her lowest asking price, Bristol Palin is asserting that her viewpoints are at least one tenth as impacting as a man who, for better or worse, was the most powerful person in the world for eight years.

Have we become so enamored of the transient, fleeting qualities of shallow fame that we are singularly unable to focus our attention on the worthwhile persons of consequence who exist in our facile-minded country? Have we traded the timeless wisdom of the Founders or the wealth of brilliant art, literature, and music produced by our fellow compatriots for the mindless eructation spewed forth from the mouths of babes (meant strictly in the literary vice misogynistic tone)? I am not suggesting that our lives be dictated such that the occasional guilty pleasure may not be enjoyed, but consider: how many people have taken the time to read the Declaration of Independence as compares to the number of people who have read The Da Vinci Code? Our political identity is inextricably woven into the preponderance of illogical passion for the spectacle of gaffes and foibles perpetrated by persons who, absent their public exposure, we would not willingly invite to dinner. Bristol Palin has chosen (most likely unwittingly) to derive financial gain from this morass; I wish her the best of luck: her actions tend to be remarkably adept at validating my beliefs as to the overall direction of the grand experiment that is the United States of America.