Stealth: How Evil Creeps In As Everyone Watches

Stealth: How Evil Creeps
In As Everyone Watches

By

Leonard Zwelling

         Two stories this morning exhibit an important constant of
current life.

1.Evil
and danger can creep into one’s life gradually and undetected.

2.
Even when it is detected, evil will be ignored by most people if it does not
affect them.

 A 61-year old mailman named Doug Hughes from
Florida flew a gyrocopter across the National Mall after having taken off 80
miles away in Pennsylvania. His plan was to deliver 535 letters (after all, he
is a mailman), one to each member of Congress, about the need for campaign
finance reform. Good intentions, bad delivery—an inside corner fast ball of
political protest, that, like the pitch, got away from the pitcher and hit the
batter. Apparently he was investigated by the Secret Service in the past and
journalists in Florida were aware of his plan, but felt no obligation to warn
authorities in Washington, despite the fact that Mr. Hughes could have easily
been shot down by our military had his incursion been detected or his
gyrocopter could have crashed into cars crossing the Mall. Worse, he was headed
for the Speaker of the House’s balcony, a place I have been, that looks down
the Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument beyond.

Are
you kidding me?

Why
wasn’t this guy shot out of the sky before getting near 16th Street
and the White House to the north? He landed unmolested on the Capitol grounds.
That’s two errors by security: where he landed and that he did so unscathed.
Not only did this plan hatch over a year ago; not only did several people know
about it; not only did Mr. Hughes pull it off surreptitiously; but also if he
had had a bomb on the seat next to him, he could have taken out half of the
Capitol. So here comes evil down the National Mall and everyone (the Secret
Service, the Capitol Police, the DC Police and the US military) is just
watching as if it has nothing to do with them.

Then
we learn, also from Florida (and you thought the country tilted left and all
the nuts rolled to California), that three spring breakers raped an unconscious
19-year old on a populated beach in the middle of the day and no one did a thing
to stop them. Of course, someone managed to record the incident on a cell phone
video, but save the girl? Not a chance.

So
MD Anderson, what do these two incidents have to do with you?

Everything.

I
have watched from the sidelines now for almost 4 years as true evil has
permeated the very culture of the place that was once the greatest cancer
fighting institution in the world and no one has done a damned thing about it.
A few (and it is a VERY few) have tried only to find their bodies and heads in
separate rooms, but that’s no excuse for the rest of the 19,000 people who work
there to put up with this nonsense.

I
don’t work there any more so I don’t have to deal with it, but you do. Is this
where you want to spend even one more day?

Demand
that the Faculty Senate take a formal vote of “no-confidence” on the DePinho
administration. A simple majority of the senators will suffice. Do that and you
won’t have to initiate a work stoppage or leave Houston to get what you want.

It’s
up to you really. You can continue to wallow in an atmosphere of moral
relativism and groupthink as King Ron rolls over a greater and greater number
of faculty leaders once admired and now demoted or gone in a criminally
irresponsible mixture of poor appointments and frank hooliganism, or you can
dump the guy through collective, responsible civil disobedience and start over.

The
next gyrocopter could be coming for you and spring break is over! And other
than the 15 people with cell phones taking videos while you are guillotined,
expect no help. That’s what it has come to, unless YOU say otherwise.

2 thoughts on “Stealth: How Evil Creeps In As Everyone Watches”

  1. As a former MD Anderson (non-faculty) employee, who has followed your blog for several years now, I think it's high time that you peeked into realty. The institution has been a well-run plantation for many many years. It's almost comical to see faculty whining, because their cupcake party has been invaded by a yankee who doesn't play Texas style. Boo-woo, they might actually have to put in a full day's work in exchange for the perks they receive. . Regular employees have always had to deal with the gestapo-like practices that make superstars from other TMC institutions high tail it back home or anywhere else after only a short time at Anderson. It' s a great place to work, until one steps outside the Stepford lines drawn by the powers that be and your beloved fellow faculty who often abuse employees—policies be damned. And you wonder why the other 19,000 employees don't join your cause and speak up? There are a few die-hard clinicians and many more tireless employees, who deserve the credit for Anderson's prestigious reputation. To the rest (including you), I say that the DePinho debacle is simply an example of 'chickens coming home to roost'. Finally, get off President Obama's case. I don’t recall hearing any outrage from you when Bush and Cheney were running this country into the ground. Try looking at the man in the mirror and reflect upon his days on the plantation and how he helped to bake the succulent comeuppance pie that Anderson faculty are finally tasting.

    1. First: it is most difficult to respond when you do not know to whom you are responding, especially when aspersions are being cast. Nonetheless, I shall try.

      I believe that I have reality firmly in my sights and that is why I am so upset.

      I am not sure what a cupcake party is having never been to one, but if you are telling me that northeastern rudeness, an affliction with which I was imbued when I got here in 1984, trumps Texas' welcoming style, well that's just bull.

      I am not sure to what you are referring with your comment re: the Gestapo.

      If faculty abuse anyone, each other or non-faculty, this is intolerable, of course.

      Anderson's reputation came from the collective efforts of everyone. It was only when score started to be kept that the cohesion broke down, rivalries set in and this is what has ensued. It did not start with the coming of DePinho. He just took it to high art.

      I wasn't blogging until I got back from DC which was 2009 so that is why I had no comments re: Bush and Cheney.

      Not sure to what you are attributing my contribution, but if you mean what I did to assist the President I served when I helped him recover from his severe bout of conflict of interest, I assure you it is my deepest regret as a professional and I should have resigned right then. My bad.

      Happy to discuss further, but not anonymously.

      Len Z

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