The pedantry menace

Somewhat belatedly I'm nitpicking on a website from 2012. All-That-Is-Interesting.Com did a series of articles of iconic photographs from various decades, including the 1960s. This included a photograph of the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The article incorrectly states that Kennedy died shortly after the photograph was taken. In actual fact, he died 26 hours later in hospital. These days writers have a world of information at their fingertips, so it is not that hard to put the time in to do proper research and fact checking.

We are all mortal

Earlier today I read that actor Matt Damon is attached to play Robert F. Kennedy in a forthcoming biopic. Kennedy was previously played by Linus Roache in RFK (1992). Emilio Estevez's Bobby (2006) was structured around various protagonists whose lives intersect at the Continental Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of his assassination. A complex and ultimately tragic figure, Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) is one of my historical heroes. As Attorney General in the Kennedy Administration, he was known for his ruthless streak, but his brother John F. Kennedy's assassination was a deeply cathartic experience for him, giving him greater compassion and empathy for those less privileged than himself. A few months after his brother's death, he stepped down as Attorney General from the Johnson Administration and was elected to the Senate in New York. As a Senator he was a powerful and effective advocate for civil rights, various social justice issues, and was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War. I recently downloaded a podcast of an excerpt of the eulogy his brother Edward gave at his June 1968 funeral, and have no hesitation in saying that it is one of the most moving public addresses I have ever heard.

On bended knee

Last week The Australian reprinted an article from Gerard Baker of The Times which was in my view a very incisive analysis of the current American Presidential election campaign. As Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight it out to secure the Democratic nomination, a cult of personality seems to have developed around Obama, where the mostly favourable news media coverage he has received has become almost idolatrous, with him becoming a pseudo-Messianic figure. If this article is to be believed, this is not a new phenonemon, stretching back to the days of Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, and in more recent years, to Bill Clinton. Had Kennedy not been assassinated in June 1968, he may well have become President, and probably would have served two terms. For their part, Presidents Carter (1977-1981) and Clinton (1993-2001) turned out to be flawed and human after all, which would have come as a disappointment to those journalists who canonised them at the time.

Despite our mistrust of authority figures and the tall poppy sydrome, we in Australia have often fallen into the same trap. Despite leading one of the most bold and progressive, but also inept governments in Australian history, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (1971-1975) remains a hero to many from the non-conservative side of politics, as is Bob Hawke (1983-1991). As a Christian, I need to heed Scriptural counsel about respecting our political leaders and praying for them, but not to the extent of hero worshipping them, which would be sinful. In the end, we voters need to be objective and informed about politics and politicians. We need to see through the lofty rhetoric of election campaigns and not allow ourselves to be carried away by the grand promises we often hear at these times.