Underexposed

I just read in the Smithsonian Magazine about the game of Monopoly being exposed as a cheap copyright infringement.  The guy who got rich off of the game pretty much stole it.  It was not his original idea.  The actual inventor was a woman whom—I am led to believe—died penniless.  Wow.  One more American institution is rotten to the core—or so the liberal establishment would have us believe. 

Rotten, rotten, rotten.  Wall Street.  The banking system.  The insurance companies.  The auto industry.  The military.  The Central Intelligence Agency.  Pharmaceuticals.  The tea party.  Police departments everywhere.  The Catholic Church.  Major League Baseball.  The National Football League. 

Isn’t it strange, isn’t it absolutely the weirdest thing that the big, social movements or organizations, or their friends, NEVER come under scrutiny?  Planned Parenthood manages to escape the media’s searchlight.  Teachers’ Unions, public service unions and other unions come and go as they please without arousing the slightest curiosity.  Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and even the good old IRS seem to stay largely in the background. 

And, when such egregious crimes take place that cannot be ignored, the media launches a very controlled, almost surgical strike that targets the most obvious offenders.  One or two fall guys are identified to take the hit, and then—poof!—it’s all over!  (Think Jonathan Gruber.)  The driving strategy with the liberal media is to circle the wagons and provide cover for those organizations with whom they identify or, at least, have their sympathy.  If that doesn’t work, then it is the hard work of deflection, that is, calling attention to other venues around the world that are plagued with scandal.  For example, try googling “political scandals.”  The first hits are foreign nations, like France and New Zealand.  When the USA is mentioned, guess what comes up?  Watergate, of course! 

In the old days of photography, when insufficient light existed for a picture, we called it underexposure.  Now, in these days of technical sophistication, most of these factors are handled automatically, so the lay photographer doesn’t have to worry about film speed, shutter speed or f-stops (apertures).  What a great idea!  Wouldn’t it also be great if every irregularity in an organization’s operations would automatically trigger an impartial investigation?  Wouldn’t it be great if what one did was a more important factor than who he or she was who did it?