Thursday, April 03, 2008

Is This Horrible or Canny?   [Jonah Goldberg]

I truly can't decide. John McCain's new ad about heroes in general and his high school teacher who taught him to turn in fellow classmates if they violated the honor code. Again, I'm not sure what to make of it. I think the decisive voters this election are cranky older white people, and I'm sure this appeals to them. I also think there are some sly religious themes here as well. The honor code plaque reads "I will not ..." do x or y, but the narrator says "shall not" in a way that is more evocative of the Ten Commandments. I dunno. It's just so odd, I can't tell if I'm over-reading it or not.

Update: Lots of folks — some needlessly insulting — think I just don't understand the importance of honor codes, that I have no conception of honor, etc etc. Please. Perhaps I was too glib above, but I was not trying to get at the merits of honor codes — and I think there are many! — but trying to get at the thinking behind the ad.  I should also add, that I'm not 100% sure that McCain himself was a stickler for  the honor code when he himself was at the Naval Academy. I'm not saying he's a dishonorable guy, but he wasn't famously a boy scout either. 

04/03 09:01 AMShare