SHOCKED AND UNAWED
IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, HUMILITY IS GETTING SCARCE AS HENS' TEETH IN OUR PUBLICITY OBSESSED WORLD. Bragging and showing off is now part of most people's job description as are long and laborious motorcades that seem to never end.
Those on the bragging end of the stick expect those of us on the receiving end to be duly impressed and unduly influenced for life by their strips, bars, security clearances, awards, ten minutes of fame and bust measurements no matter how they get there. Peggy Noonan nails this unfortunate trend in egomania in her column today: The I's Have It.
There is the issue—small but indicative of something larger—of how members of the U.S. military present themselves, and the awe they consciously encourage in the public and among the political class. The other day on his Daily Beast blog, Andrew Sullivan posted a letter from a reader noting the way officers are now given and relentlessly wear on their dress uniforms ribbons, markers and awards for pretty much everything they do—what used to be called fruit salad.
Mr. Sullivan posted two pictures we echo here, one of Gen. David Petraeus and one of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. This is the Eisenhower of D-Day, of the long slog through Europe in World War II. He didn't seem to see the need to dress himself up and tell you what he'd done. Maybe he thought you knew. He didn't wear all the honors to which he was entitled, though he could have used them to dazzle the masses if that had been what he was interested in.Top brass sure is brassier than it used to be. And you have to wonder what that's about.
Where did the old culture of modesty go? Ulysses S. Grant wore four stars on his shoulder and nothing else on his uniform. And that was a fellow who'd earned a few medals.
Jump now to the woman who is the main focus in the Petraeus scandal, Paula Broadwell. She was a person of impressive achievement right from the start—high school valedictorian, West Point grad, master's degrees, Army officer. But even that wasn't enough ribbons. In YouTube videos she brags about her security clearance, her inside knowledge—"That's still being vetted"—and the Ph.D. she's working on. She calls herself a biographer, but biographers actually do something arduous—they write biographies. Ms. Broadwell contracted with a professional, reporter Vernon Loeb, to organize, synthesize, think and write. On Twitter, Ms. Broadwell describes herself as "Author . . . National Security Analyst; Army Vet; Women's Rights Activist; Runner/Skier/Surfer; Wife; Mom!" On her website she noted that in her free time she is an Ironman triathelete "and a model and demonstrator for KRISS, a manufacturer of .45-caliber machine guns." "When Paula is not on the frontlines, online, or writing lines," she and her husband run, ski......Are we exhausted yet?
While Paula surely has an impressive resume, at some point my eyes begin to glaze over as I start to suspect her sanity, her marriage, her role as a mother. Then my inclination it to think she's a very sad bore with far too much to prove and run for the door.
This trend is not our friend. Yet we all encourage it by fame and tabloid worship.
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