All the media outlets want to talk about is a twenty-year old nepotism beneficiary who took dirty dancing down into the depths on the teevee . . . oh and the outrage, OUTRAGE, over Ben Affleck as Batman. Well, okay, that's not the only things being discussed; there is the obsession with "ONLY 5 EPISODES LEFT OF BREAKING BAD!!!" It's a well written show, and extremely well-acted, but its a TV show, people, it's not a way of life. Seriously, the State Department and the Administration have apparently concluded that chemical weapons were used on Syrian civilians, now it's time to kick some Arab behind. Except for, whose butt is it, anyway? On one side, there is Assad, a beady-eyed, grinning little creeper who comes off worse than a car salesman, swearing it wasn't his regime. Yes, he looks dishonest, yes, untrustworthy, yes, he'd probably say anything to avoid cruise missile bombardment. But what possible motivation would he have for doing this now? What does he gain by dragging the US in to his dirty little Civil War - which he appears to be winning against rebels for now? What about those rebels? Several different factions, with a plurality having ties to terrorist groups and Islamic fundamentalism? Is that the group we want to aid by attacking Assad? Moreover, don't those same splinter groups benefit if someone with a lot of firepower suddently steps in and levels Assad's capabilities? Doesn't this same mindset look at lost lives with a more jaundiced eye than the West? So . . . in the absence of compelling, independent proof that Assad's henchmen unleased the chemical weapons, isn't at least more plausible that the rebels - if they had a hold of this awful stuff - would use it first and angle to blame the Regime in power? Going after the dictator here doesn't fit the mold of aiding that cliche definition of friendship oft referred to as "the enemy of my enemy." The consequences of an incorrect guess in these circumstances are devastating, and portend to be longstanding, too, in a region of the world not collectively well-renowned for either its shortened memories, or its willingness to forgive, let live, and move on.
Perhaps, then, there is something to be learned from all the Pop Culture immersion after all? Perhaps, when it comes to what to do about Syria, the lesson for President Obama is - as Walter White admonished his brother-in-law nemesis Hank Schrader two weeks ago - "tread lightly."
