The state of American society and social consciousness...
It might just be me or the 20th century historian in me trying to get out, but it seems rather a sad commentary on American society with the amount of coverage given to a recent death of a prominent person...
While some may think I am referring to the recent passing of Johnny Cochran, the man I am actually referring to the death of George Kennan on 24 March 2005, a man who left his imprint (both purposefully and inadvertently) on American foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of you may not have heard about his passing, I myself barely heard anything outside of a quick little blurb on CNN headline news...Part of the reason behind this rant (if you may call it such) is that I couldn't help comparing the coverage of the death of Johnny Cochran with that of George Kennan...Both "big" news television companies (FoxNews and CNN) had several hours dedicated to the life and cases of Johnny Cochran (I do find it somewhat sad that Cochran will forever be linked with O.J. Simpson through his "trial of the century" when Cochran undoubtably tried more important cases) but, as I stated earlier, Kennan seemed to have barely deserved a mention in Headline news. This is a man who outlived not only the post-WWII Cold War, but the entire Cold War itself (starting in 1917). How often can the ideas of one man shape the foreign policy of a nation for a 30 year period (Detente under Kissinger and Nixon, while part of the Cold War, is a decided break from the bastardized version of Containment implimented in the preceding 30 yrs)?
While some may think I am referring to the recent passing of Johnny Cochran, the man I am actually referring to the death of George Kennan on 24 March 2005, a man who left his imprint (both purposefully and inadvertently) on American foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of you may not have heard about his passing, I myself barely heard anything outside of a quick little blurb on CNN headline news...Part of the reason behind this rant (if you may call it such) is that I couldn't help comparing the coverage of the death of Johnny Cochran with that of George Kennan...Both "big" news television companies (FoxNews and CNN) had several hours dedicated to the life and cases of Johnny Cochran (I do find it somewhat sad that Cochran will forever be linked with O.J. Simpson through his "trial of the century" when Cochran undoubtably tried more important cases) but, as I stated earlier, Kennan seemed to have barely deserved a mention in Headline news. This is a man who outlived not only the post-WWII Cold War, but the entire Cold War itself (starting in 1917). How often can the ideas of one man shape the foreign policy of a nation for a 30 year period (Detente under Kissinger and Nixon, while part of the Cold War, is a decided break from the bastardized version of Containment implimented in the preceding 30 yrs)?