Stardate 20010705.0656 (On Screen): Sometimes political speeches can approach the absurd. I suppose this is no revelation. I remember at least one speech a couple of decades back by a US President trying to rally support for something-or-other and he declared that it was the "moral equivalent of war". The idea being "Hey, let's all go back to those wonderful days of WWII when everyone was willing to make huge sacrifices for the public good; man, wasn't that a fun time?" The speech was a flop (and so was the program). It was, in fact, an act of supreme contempt for the intelligence of voters.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has just taken the political simile to an entirely new level of non-sequiter. In a speech in the US he has declared that the global fight against HIV and AIDS is comparable to the American revolution.
Without commenting on the merits of a global fight against AIDS, this is ludicrous. How, exactly, was a political movement against unfair taxation related to a medical battle to control a horrible disease? Well, it isn't. They may both have been desirable, but they really don't have anything to do with each other. What he's really saying is "Hey, all you Americans, stop thinking and reflexively give me money." Perhaps we should give him money, but not because he hits our patriotic reflex-point with a hammer. (discuss)
