Normally I like the way pop culture suffuses institutional culture, like naming the first Space Shuttle “Enterprise” or making Paul McCartney a knight.
But for some reason I get sick to my stomach listening to Ambassador to Israel Richard H. Jones talking about the Mideast conflict on CNN, saying how he’s “seen this movie before” because he was ambassador to Lebanon in the mid-90s.
Then Soledad O’Brien only made it more annoying when she said that finding a solution was, “of course, the sixty-four thousand dollar question.”
Great. So now it’s not even a movie. It’s a game show. And by the way, wouldn’t the former ambassador to Lebanon want to show a little more respect for that country’s slain civilians, rather than focusing exclusively on Hizbollah when asked where the fault for all this lies?
As they spoke, the ticker at the bottom of the screen also mentioned that Colombian pop star Shakira made a plea for a cease-fire on stage last night during her Oral Fixation tour. I suppose it might have been part of their entertainment news, but it just added to the surreality.
On the other hand, Shakira’s parents are Colombian and Lebanese-Macedonian-American. Peace could have a worse spokesperson.