JayMo

April 04, 2008

I am not one to stay up late at night for comic relief. Rather it benefits me more to ease into a night of blissful rest after reflecting on my actions of the day and showing gratitude and asking forgiveness of my sustainer. Surely, there are many who would rather stay up and seek some sort of escape from the drudgery of the daily toil through the medium of the late night shows. My daily duties do not allow for wasting of time. It is too precious. As such, I cannot claim to have seen the video footages of either the “ducking for cover under a hail of sniper gun fire” or of Hillary’s appearance on the Jay Leno show last evening.

But, on the drive in to work this morning, I did catch an audio clip of Hillary’s performance with Jay Leno. As is now common knowledge, Hillary allowed that she “misspoke” about being caught on the tarmac under a hail of gunfire, fearing for her life and that of her young daughter Chelsea. Last night, she parodied that “misspeak” when she offered an apology for being late having had to dodge sniper fire.

Now, I would like to think that I am not gullible and I surely hope that American voters are at least a bit more learned in light of the past years of misadventure, lies and deceit by their past and current establishments. Hillary would want us to believe that her words were merely a slip of the tongue. A misspeak as she termed it.

Given that this issue has its fair share of the media coverage, Hillary should have known better than to make fun of it last night. It is not okay to make up these sort of dangerous, fictional events and claim a “misspeak”. The last time I checked, it is not acceptable for anyone, to deliberately embellish a story, to be seen as a hero/heroine, pass it off as fact and then as a joke. It is deceitful, dishonest, reprehensible, insults our intelligence and speaks volumes of the character of such a person, especially for someone seeking the highest office on the face of the earth.

Yes, this is all part of the largest interview process for the biggest prizes, the Democratic Party nomination and eventually, the most powerful and prestigious position in the world, the American Presidency. Yes, job seekers are sometimes known to tell a lie or two in order to land a good position, a better job. In so doing they embellish resumes just enough to get that competitive edge. Hillary has done just that. This embellishment might result in those coveted prizes but it has its moral, social and political ramifications.

The political establishments of the good old US of A have been doing that for the longest while. Embellishing, distorting and deceitfully lying to their people and the world. These lies are not limited to the past eight (8) years of the Bush administration. Bill was known to tell a few lies of his own as has his predecessors. It begs the question, has lying within the corridors of power become politically and morally acceptable and part and parcel of the social fabric of American society?

 As a Muslim, I refer to the perennial words of advice from the messenger of Allah as a constant reminder of the perils of lying. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “You must be truthful, for truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will keep speaking the truth and striving to speak the truth until he will be recorded with Allah as a siddeeq (speaker of the truth). Beware of telling lies, for lying leads to immorality and immorality leads to Hellfire. A man will keep telling lies and striving to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.” (Muslim) 

A lie is a lie is a lie! Lies do have a way of catching up with those who tell it. Perhaps the former first lady ought to draw from the real life experiences of those before her and reflect upon the consequences. Perhaps she ought to be more judicious and thoughtful of her words and the impact that they might have upon the minds of the less impressionable. It also sends the wrong messages, that to tell a lie is acceptable. That one can be dishonest and not expect to be held accountable; that a lie can be brushed aside by joking about it.

Then there are the stories. Stories heard and retransmitted. It is not unfathomable that Hillary, the team surrounding her, her aides and supporters told these stories with great depth of emotion. An especially heart wrenching story of the death of a young, pregnant, minimum wage  pizza parlor worker without medical insurance became a mantra in Hillary’s campaign sweep throughout Ohio and other states. This story was compelling. It brought to light the plight of the millions of Americans without health insurance coverage. It also showed the darker inhumane side of America. It broke many hearts and brought tears to the eyes. Moreover, it influenced the minds of many undecided voters.

It has now come to light that for the most part, the story was true. Indeed, a young, pregnant, minimum wage pizza parlor worker died, but it was not because of being turned away and denied health care by a hospital. It was a stretch of the imagination, a story, partly fact, partly made up, heard and retransmitted without verification, as if it was the gospel truth. The maligned hospital has since debunked the notion that the young lady was denied medical attention.

Stories, lies and misspeak are all too common. So common that the purveyors themselves would seek to weasel their way out of their web of lies and deceit by passing them off as misspeak or worse yet a joke. Then again, isn’t that what telling tall tales and lying are all about? To mislead and influence those who are gullible enough to believe? I pray that we be among the ranks of the righteous.

Jay Mobeen