Ocean_Islands | Friday, March 29, 2002 - 07:31 am     Hypocrisy Hits High Note By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 29, 2002; 8:03 AM Arafat offers to talk cease-fire just as Israeli tanks begin moving to retaliate for the latest suicide bombing. The Saudis unveil a peace plan after opposing Israel for decades. Arthur Andersen pushes its own peace plan to avoid conviction after its Enron shredding party. Bush heads off to raise big bucks after signing a campaign-finance reform bill. The White House says there's nothing surprising in Energy Department officials shaping a pro-industry plan after meeting with big-industry contributors (and rushing in some environmentalists at the very end). The church insists that all these pedophile priests don't amount to a major scandal. Walter Hewlett tries to derail the Hewlett-Packard merger with Compaq, loses, then sues his own company because he doesn't like the outcome. The media say the recession was rather mild after roughly 89,000 stories about how terrible it was. Paine Webber tells its clients that Enron stock is fine after firing an analyst hours after he offended the energy company by downgrading its now-worthless stock. The Pentagon says Army Secretary Thomas White was on official business when he flew this month to Aspen, where the former Enron executive just happened to close on the sale of his $6.5 million home there. Marion Barry is outraged that his successor suggests he has a drug problem after the ex-mayor is found with a small rock of crack cocaine. Playboy says it's planning a Women of Enron spread because of its deep concern for the employees who lost their jobs (as long as they have sufficiently impressive measurements). Do we detect a pattern here? A small whiff of hypocrisy, perhaps? Doubletalk seems the order of the day. Everyone proclaims his or her lofty motives while doing what in his or her own base self-interest. It's enough to make us downright cynical. We've all come to expect spin, in every walk of life. But does the phony rhetoric have to be so insulting? Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35328-2002Mar29.html |