You Mean What You Do

Sometimes a serendipitous juxtaposition of two otherwise random events seems to click them in place, and a revelation occurs. In my world, these events, rightly or wrongly, yield truths—sudden insight into the morass of data.

Take for instance Jon Stewart’s interview of former white House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and the Broadway hit musical Wicked.

I just happened to see both yesterday.

I appreciate Jon Stewart’s needling the former press secretary who was trying to have his cake and eat it too. Although McClellan repeated the phrases “culture of Washington” and “basically good people” to sum up his conclusions after leaving the White House, Stewart wouldn’t be placated by these tidy, contradictory conclusions. As McClellan admits, there was a conscious, calculated decision to “obfuscate” the truth about the financial cost of the war (to say nothing of the irrevocable human cost). While Stewart tried again and again to get McClellan to admit the obvious— that that kind of calculation is tantamount to lying—McClellan balked. “They’re basically good people,” he insisted. And said “I have great affection for the president…it’s the culture of Washington…”

Nine hours later, I am watching the musical that explores the question “Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?”

In the first hour of the musical, it is clear that Galinda (who eventually becomes known as the good witch) is really an opportunist (whose mispronunciation of common words is reminiscent of another self-righteous opportunist). Her supposedly “good” acts are really calculated moves made to give her what she wants and cast her in beatific light. The truly good deeds are practiced by Elphaba. Her putrid green coloring and intelligence, make her an easy scapegoat; thus, she eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. The play redeems her. Even as legends malign her, it is evident she is a true revolutionary motivated by love.

Forgive the oversimplification here: That the willful ignorance of the Munchkins in a fictitious musical can be compared to McClellan’s revelations. But his insistence that the men who organized the Iraq War (using propaganda, post-9-11 fervor, and false intelligence reports) are “basically good” proves the impotence of his ideas. How much are we to allow “good intentions” to excuse? And what does it mean to be “basically good”?

What is obvious from the Jon Stewart interview and the musical is how easy it is to deceive the masses. Even if your main goal is not deception itself, if deception is what you use to reach your goal (even if it is done unwillingly), you are not good.  And yet, if you juxtapose The Wizard of Oz with Wicked, you see how slippery terms like good and bad are.

The play seems to side with the Aristotelian definition that a person with questionable motives, imitating a good person’s act, must then also be good. Glenda in the end uses her popularity to champion the ideas of  Elphaba. The true revolutionary must die while her disciple rules in her stead.  Or, seeing the good witch and the wicked witch  side-by-side on stage, it is clear that the play is saying the moralistic split between good and evil is insupportable.  Each needs the other to co-exist.

My husband likes to say “you mean what you do.” It’s comfortable to think that the amorphous soul can harbour some truth, even if that truth never manifests itself in action. But, the easiest way to check what you believe is to see what you do. That is who you are, despite how “good” others may feel you may want or try to be.