Going against the grain

CULTURE CUL DE SAC
By JACQUELINE PEREIRA

Speaking your mind nowadays can have dire consquences.

PERSONAL view” as a meaningful phrase, in the sense of “he/she was merely expressing a personal view” has ceased to exist. Perhaps it should be erased from the English lexicon, since we appear to have reached the stage where everyone has the capacity to know everything about you and what you really think. Whether you want them to or not.

In the latest issue of New York Magazine, jailed fraudster Bernard L. Madoff’s similarly incarcerated mates have revealed what the vilified Ponzi scheme perpretator is like in prison. The profile, which makes for compelling reading, is based solely on the writer’s interviews with Madoff’s cell-mates and lawyers. We are left to wonder what the man himself, convicted of swindling US$65bil (RM$271bil) from his investors, said.

After reading Madoff, Free at Last, we know what the seemingly unrepentant culprit thinks about his victims. In short, he doesn’t give a hoot about any of them. Instead, Madoff labels them greedy and selfish, and even insinuates that his victims deserved everything they got. He revealed to his cell-mates that the casualties of his con were throwing their money, consistently and voraciously, at him. Even when he did not want to, they kept insisting that he make more money for them.

Because of Bernie’s celebrity status in prison, his fellow inmates, most of whom evidently admire him and his accomplishments, freely divulged details that he had no idea were slated for publication. He was, it seems, merely stating his opinions when questioned.

Though many may deride his views, Madoff, 71, and currently serving his 150-year sentence, is telling it like it is, unafraid of speaking his mind. And he does have a valid point. The state of the world is the direct result of unbridled rapacity for money and power.

In another domain, just a few days ago, 89-year-old veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas was forced to resign. The columnist for Hearst News Service left her job because she was caught on camera saying what she thought.

Thomas’ commentary on an online news service, saying that it was time for the Israelis to leave Palestine and go back to Poland or Germany, resulted in an immediate denunciation of her statement. What should have been merely an expression of opinion sparked a controversy that led to her resignation, despite her profuse apologies.

The White House called her remarks offensive and reprehensible, and her detractors went into anti-Semitic accusatory mode. Her credibility as a reporter was questioned, as well as her ability to remain unbiased in her journalistic duties.

Nevertheless, Thomas has some support, with her defenders calling for respect of the much-vaunted American principle of freedom of speech. After all, this was not the first time she had spoken out in a career that covered seven decades and 10 United States presidents.

In the light of her calling George W. Bush the worst president in US history, and her constantly pushing for answers from evasive spokespersons, Thomas’ latest comments should not have been surprising. She is known to be persistent in her pursuit of the truth. And she does not suffer fools gladly. Just two years ago, she even referred to the White House press corps as being in a collective coma.

What she did was merely to state what many people think. The difference was that she was brave enough to say it, and willing to suffer the consequences.

Madoff and Thomas are worlds apart, but they find common ground not only in the licence that their advanced years offers but, more importantly, in the way their words challenge us to re-think views that we may hold on issues of public concern.

In a frequently biased world in which prejudice and political correctness go hand-in-hand with money and power, that is something we clearly need to nurture.

At the same time, though, the private domain is becoming public property, with some even claiming that, in an increasingly wired world, privacy is an outmoded concept. Thinking before speaking is imperative. No matter what your convictions – 150 years in Madoff’s case, or free speech for Helen Thomas – may be.

Source: The Star, Sunday, June 13, 2010