European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 02, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 Colu tins Andrew j. Glass the stars and stripes would it matter to democrats if Wright goes pin Itrat. Ines i a wherever political insiders gathered in Washington last week their talk turned to whether speaker Jim Wright of Texas would survive the bar rage of charges Flung against him by the House ethics committee. While opinion appeared divided on that score the real Issue May be How much damage Wright s departure could cause the country and the democrats. In historical terms the continues to diminish in Power less ening the potential crisis. Should Wright go a popular Deputy stands ready to take control. In 1974, an embattled president Nixon told his associates that Congress would not dare impeach him for his role in the watergate scandal since they regarded Gerald r. Ford a one time House Republican Leader and Nixon s Choice As vice president As essentially a Small time politician incapable of Assum ing the Powers of the presidency. Yet when Nixon finally left Ford quickly took command thereby easing rather than prolonging a deep National crisis. All sides have been careful to stress that the 69 ethics violations lodged against Wright amount in Legal terms to an indictment and not a conviction. But the House is a political institution and not a court of Law. Therefore it is Apt to respond to the charges in political terms giving much weight to the feed Back it receives from constituents and the press. In constitutional terms Nixon also had faced the threat of a House indict ment with a Senate impeachment trial looming in the distance. Facing widespread erosion of support Nixon chose to resign. By contrast Wright plans to stand an tight the charges despite the unanimous bipartisan committee vote against him n several crucial ethics charges. So Long As he docs so any dump the George will speaker movement on the part of his Fel Low democrats is Apt to remain a quiet even underground affair. Wright wields considerable Power Over committee assignments and the legislative Calendar. Cautious politicians will seek to avoid possible retribution from Wright and his cohorts in the leadership. Yet with the increasing dispersal of Power on Capitol Hill any speaker gov erns More by persuasion than by decree. It is a trend that has steadily gathered Force since 1910, when a bipartisan re Bellion against the arbitrary control of Joseph o. Uncle Joe Cannon of Illi Nois led to his overthrow. A hidden but potentially significant Factor in the coming Battle Over Wright s Fate is the popularity of rep. Thomas s. Foley of Washington. As the House majority Leader Foley is certain to Rise to the should Wright step Down presumably after Wright has been censured or reprimanded by his legislative Peers. Foley came to Congress in 1964 when 71 new democrats arrived on the tide of president Johnson s smashing Victory Over Barry Goldwater and has since be come widely regarded As an effective spokesman for his party. C Cox news service society is flinching from crime and punishment there seem says a professor described As a specialist in adolescent behaviour to have been some socioeconomic factors a. Here is what those factors were involved in. More than 30 boys most under 16, went in their rampage they raped and battered nearly to death a 28-year-old Jogger in Central Park near har Lem. They hit her Wii a pipe hacked her Skull and thighs with a knife pounded her face with a Brick bound her hands beneath her Chin with her bloody sweatshirt which also served As a gag. Seven or More boys raped her. One boy says he Only played with the lady s legs and another says he Only Felt her breasts and held her Down while others raped her her Larynx May have been crushed. She Lay undiscovered for nearly four hours l9sing three quarters of her blood. The puddle she Lay in hastened hypothermia and her temperature fell to 80 degrees. Various experts say they know Why this happened. Alienation atomic boredom rage raging bore Dom peer pressure inequality status anxieties television advertising. The professor who says there seem to have been some socioeconomic factors involved elaborates the Media especially television is constantly advertising these various things that Are necessary to define yourself to be an acceptable person and the joggers May represent a level of socioeconomic attain ment that the Media has convinced everybody is Nec Essary to be an acceptable person. So to that extent such people become a a. Who is the victim Well yes. Of course the woman. But her identity even her reality disappears As she recedes into a category High altar cars. The boys too Are victims. They were provoked by High Atta Iners an disoriented by Media imposed criteria of acceptable person Hood. We have Here another Triumph of the social science of victim ology. Its specially is the Uniec realization of victim Hood the dispersal of responsibility into a fog of socioeconomic on the other hand says the professor that does t explain Why they would attack a homeless per a homeless person was one of the Wilding pack s eight victims before they caught the woman. The fact that the new York times considers the professor an illuminating source is itself illuminating. It reveals the rhetoric that elite Liberal institutions find convincing and comforting when confronted by Hor ror. Another theorist is heard from one does t have to excuse sociopathic behaviour to notice the contrast of visible great wealth and massive verily Nail your political Agenda to every passing tragedy the lesson Here is to do something about the under first of course a task Force. Never mind the fact that most of the attackers come from comfortable Middle or working class Homes. Four live in a building with a Doorman. Another theorist Speaks of the boys unfocused the frequent references to the attackers a Sec Are fascinating because there is not a scintilla of Evi Dence of rage. Actually one of the boys blurted but the reason they did it. The reason he gave is theoretically unsatisfying politically in useful and philosophically unsettling so he will not be heard it was something to do. It was newspaper reports have repeatedly referred to the Wilding attacks As but fun is a motive. Policemen with their Knack of the language of unvarnished fact refer to windings packs of boys loot ing stores and inflicting random beatings As a Pas pastimes arc adopted for fun. In earlier simpler or were they Days descriptions of an episode like the one in Central Park would have begun with a judge Cal thai Loday is never reached at All the attackers did whal they did because icy Are evil. Today people respond " evil such a primitive notion not at All useful As an explanation. But that response is not real sophistication it is a form of flinching. It is a failure of nerve. A vanishing moral vocabulary is being replaced by academic rubbish collected reflexively by serious newspapers. They serve up a Rich sauce of sociological cant that Coats reality making it unrecognizable. We have lost the ability to speak the language of emphatic judgment. As James q. Wilson says our habits of the heart have been subverted by the ambitions of the the ambition of the modern mind is to spare itself a chilling sight that of inc cold Blank share of personal evil. The Modem program is squeamishness dressed up As sophistication. Its aim is to make the reality of evil disappear behind a re clerical Gauze of Learned garbage. Until relatively recently in most Sci clips people who did whal the Wilding boys did would have been punished swiftly and with ice Ribic seventy. Punishment in this Case will be interminably delayed and ludicrously Light. The boys know that that is one reason they were singing rap songs in their jail cells. A society Hal flinches from the fact of evil will flinch from the acl of punishment. It should not won Der Why it docs not feel Safe. Washington Post wows group
