The Devil Made Me Do It

Whenever world leaders call their enemies "the devil," or lambaste them as "evil," it's hard for me to take those charges seriously. When both sides engage in the same kind of name-calling, it's not easy to view one side as taking the high road. So, when President Bush has played the "evil card," or when our enemies have played the "devil" or the "you'll rot in hell" card, it's been difficult to give those words much credence. And when we hear them over and over again, their power is even reduced further. So we tend to ignore them when we hear those words in public discourse.

However, last week, when Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, called President Bush the devil at the United Nations, the decibels and the just plain weirdness of the rant were impossible to ignore.

I admit that Chavez added a clever twist when he said that he could "smell sulfur" as he stood at the same podium previously used by President Bush. But I still felt this was just immature name-calling. I guess I had two main reactions to his speech. The first was that I was appalled that a head of state would use such language and would rant and rave like that at the U.N. My second reaction was that I was pleased that there is still a place in the world where speakers are free to rant and rave and criticize other world leaders in any way they want, no matter how crazy they sound.

And I didn't think much more about Chavez' speech.

(AP)

But their reaction is nothing compared to that of book buyers. If you saw Chavez' speech, you couldn't help notice that he was brandishing a book as he ranted. The book was Noam Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance." When Chavez was waving the book, Amazon ranked it 20,664 in popularity. By the next day, it was ranked Number One. That's right. It became Number One just because this guy was waving it around while he was screaming out his address.

I've decided to respond to Chavez in my own way. I'm not joining the "tear down the Citgo sign" crowd and I'm not ordering Chomsky's book. Instead, I'm writing Chavez directly about his unseemly address. A copy of my letter is below:

Dear President Chavez:

I feel that your address to the United Nations was inappropriate and undignified. The art of diplomacy does not include name-calling. Furthermore, I never feel that one has to shout to get a point across. As president of Venezuela, you represent all the people of your country, and I doubt that they all feel as you do. Thus your verbal explosion did a disservice to your people in the eyes of the world.

Having said this, I would appreciate it if the next time you address the United Nations, you would please wave a copy of my column to those listening.

I don't recall if any of my readers who have disagreed with me have called me "the devil," but they have certainly called me other names that are not printable here. I'll bet you could say those names in the U.N. without getting into trouble. Feel free to say them as you help my column become the most popular in the world.

All I'm asking you to do is wave my column, and tell the people where they can find it. If you want to say the place smells like sulfur while you're waving, that's OK with me.

Meanwhile, I'm just going to sit back and relax, and watch my column go to Number One.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Garver

By Lloyd Garver