Day, as Metaphor

A day in the sun only lasts as long as... well, as long as a day. That's probably where the expression comes from. And speaking of expressive, I'm wondering what ever happened to Zell Miller? He was the guy, a "Dixie Democrat," who delivered a fire-breathing speech at the 2004 Republican convention. His face was red, his scowl was deep, and his words dripped scorn. "What's he going to defend us with?" he asked, "spitballs?"

That, right there, was a memorable moment, probably memorable for different reasons on my side of the street. But what was even more fun was later on, when people began to ask Miller about the venom in his speech, about the phrases he used. "That was a meta-fur," he explained. "Haven't you ever heard of a meta-fur?"

Now, if you go back and analyze Miller's speech, you'll find out that just about everything he said was either untrue or a gross mischaracterization of the truth. But he delivered the speech at the top of his lungs, in full fury, and that somehow leads people to believe that he's telling the truth. This is, of course, one of the great failings of politics. We're presented, usually, with two people from different parties seeking the same position. While it would make sense for each of them to step forward and tell us their beliefs, principles, plans, and visions, they rarely do that. Instead, they tell us what's wrong with their opponent.

My daughter came home from a haircut the other day, showed me her lovely hair, and then headed off to her bedroom, loudly proclaiming that "Dove sucks!" She was talking about the shampoo, not the bird. When I asked why she held that opinion, she told me that the woman who cut her hair had informed her that Dove was ruining it. The woman recommended that she switch to a brand that the hair salon just happened to sell.

This is how we form opinions. Friends tell us things, people in hair salons tell us things, politicians tell us things, commercials tell us things. In the case of my daughter, a woman who may or may not have graduated high school had sat her down, had examined her wet hair -- probably freshly shampooed, since she loves to have her hair shampooed -- and had carried out a complex chemical analysis that allowed her to inspect each hair shaft, each follicle, to determine whether the interaction between shampoo and hair had been beneficial or adverse. And after this analysis, all done without the benefit of spectography or micrography, she just happened to recommend a product her store sold, on which she made a commission.

It seems to me that politics is not terribly different. There was Zell Miller, back in '04, standing behind that podium, towering over the party faithful, delivering his complex analysis of a competing politician. And at the end of this analysis, done without much -- if any -- reliance on fact or prescience or telepathy, Miller just happened to recommend a product (candidate, actually) on which he was getting a commission.

Not an actual commission, mind you. In this case, "commission" is used as a metaphor. You know what a metaphor is, don't you? But I wonder these days what ever happened to Zell Miller. I guess a day in the sun doesn't last as long as it used to.