Bad Television
I walked in on my wife watching Oprah interview Tania Harding. Eeeeeeyuk. I thought -- could there be any TV show I would want to watch less?
Well, actually, it turns out there was: A three day royal funeral and ongoing slobbery kiss for Ted Kennedy, a man who literally got away with murder and dedicated his life to trying to hide his poor impulse control better than the rest of his family hides theirs. I watched about 5 minutes of the spectacle and all I could see was a man being revered for, uh, being related to people folks really liked a lot. What's next, a public funeral for John Lennon's brother? It is just so weird to me that people revere this family not in spite of, but actually because, they are so relentless in trying to exercise power over us all.
Postscript: I am confused on the military service qualifications to be buried in Arlington, as was Ted Kennedy. My sense is that Arlington is pretty full, and that being buried there is reserved as a special honor for those with unique or heroic service (like that of Ted's brother). I am having a hard time in this Wikipedia description of Ted Kennedy's military service finding what put him over the top for burial at Arlington:
Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army in June 1951. Following basic training at Fort Dix, he requested assignment to Fort Holabird for Army Intelligence training, but was dropped after a few weeks without explanation. He went to Camp Gordon for training in the Military Police Corps. In June 1952, he was assigned to the honor guard at SHAPE headquarters in Paris.His father's political connections ensured he was not deployed to the ongoing Korean War. While stationed in Europe he travelled extensively on weekends and climbed the Matterhorn. He was discharged in March 1953 as a private first class.
I suppose that managing not to get oneself killed pursuing a rich-kid hobby like mountain climbing is an accomplishment within the Kennedy family, but I am not sure it merits an Arlington burial.
