The Greeks Had a Word For It…
The course I most enjoyed in college was Greek Drama. It was a rare treat to choose an elective, pre-med being the challenge it is. It was also the one class I shared with my wife-to-be.
The word I refer to is hubris, the hero’s fatal flaw, the arrogance, the lustful pride that would be his undoing. Nemesis was the instrument of his destruction. There are some forty surviving Greek plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. A few were funny (e.g. Lysistrata) wherein the wives band together to withhold matrimonial pleasures from their husbands until they stop fighting wars, but most were tragic. Some of the names are familiar: Oedipus, Electra, Medea. The “Greek chorus” acted as a sort of narrator. Special effects were primitive but powerful; the climax often involved a deus ex machina, quite literally a god (the Greeks had many) who arrived via a sort of trapeze to inflict the hero’s punishment or salvation.
The past year we have witnessed hubris all around us with truly tragic effects. Tiger Woods was surely the most admired and blessed athlete in the world; his beautiful wife and children rounded out a picture that shattered months ago with the disclosure of his sordid sexual behavior. The corporate world has taken an estimated $12 billion hit, but that’s not what makes it a tragedy. Bill Clinton got away with it (except for that impeachment thing) but no one ever confused him with an Olympian figure. No, this was the self-destruction of a man of mythic stature.
I do believe that history will show a similar downfall for another man of mixed heritage who had it all, who was worshipped, who transcended all barriers to arrive at the figurative Olympus of our world, the White House, but whose fatal flaw was the greatest aphrodisiac of all, power. Mr. Obama has mistaken his 53% win as an invitation to undo 232 years of unparalleled democracy and prosperity and put in place a Chicago-style thugocracy with his hand-picked cronies in power, spending recklessly and helping to destroy our children’s future. His aim seems to be to create so many government-controlled ventures and voters that his power cannot be challenged. Meanwhile his #1 job, keeping our nation safe from its enemies, is apparently “above his pay grade”.
There have been so many other examples of hubris: Mark Sanford, Republican governor of South Carolina, who has make “hiking the Appalachian trail” the latest euphemism for having sex with one’s mistress; the former vice-presidential candidate and presidential wannabe, John Edwards, he of the trial lawyer billions and $1250 haircuts who fathered a child with his mistress while his wife was recovering from breast cancer therapy, then tried to blame it on one of his aides (who had had a vasectomy).
The inevitable question is Why? The answer seems to be “Because they can.” Shame on them. But shame on us too, for elevating celebrity beyond all reason, for allowing ourselves to be seduced by ordinary mortals who promise us gratification without cost.