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Thursday, May 27, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL
Portland man
becomes prey
in overzealous
war on terror
Three weeks ago today, a well-educated man woke up,
dressed himself in a collared shirt and tie, and prepared for
another day in the Portland area.
Brandon Mayfield probably kissed his wife goodbye be
fore driving from his modest Aloha home to his nearby of
fice, where he defends those accused of various offenses.
On that day, Mayfield was himself arrested but charged
with no crime. I le was taken from his Beaverton law office
in a Ford Explorer and placed in custody as a material wit
ness in the March 11 train bombing, an act of terror that
killed 191 people in Madrid, Spain.
Mayfield was guilty of no offense — is guilty of no mis
deed — except being the latest victim in the U.S. govern
ment's attempts to rid the world of terror, one Muslim at
a time.
On Monday the FBI apologized to Mayfield for jailing
him. The fingerprint that had been found on a bag of det
onators halfway around the world wasn't his, the bureau
conceded. In the next few weeks it will be determined
how such an error was made, but it's becoming starkly
clear that more than forensics were at play.
Three weeks before Mayfield's arrest — sometime in
mid-April — Spanish authorities began questioning the
FBI's conclusion that Mayfield's print was an exart match
to the one found in Madrid. Yet it took five more weeks be
fore FBI officials went to Spain to inspect the actual print.
Human error may have caused Mayfield to become a
suspect, but lackadaisical government allowed his persecu
tion. lire government has said it arrested Mayfield because
of media leaks and fear that he would run, should he real
ize his suspect status.
The truth of the matter is that the FBI had evidence it
failed to properly evaluate, but it had a ton of ammunition
it thought led to a smoking gun.
Aside from the fingerprint, Mayfield is a Muslim convert.
According to The Oregonian, which reviewed an affidavit
filed by prosecutors, Mayfield had ties to a group arrested
for plotting against the country; Mayfield handled a child
custody case for one of the Po rtland Seven defendants. Ad
ditionally, on Sept. 11, 2002, Mayfield called a man who is
now on the federal terror watch list. Mayfield also has been
seen going to a mosque, and his law firm was listed in a
business directory of a Portland man who was a business
associate ofWadih el-Hage, a man convicted of bombing
two U.S. embassies in Africa.
Even though Mayfield hadn't traveled outside the coun
try and has an expired passport, the possibility existed, gov
ernment officials suggested, that he could have traveled to
Spain using another name.
Mayfield was taken into custody May 6.
Once in jail, Mayfield had his stay extended — investi
gators found $ 10,000 in his safe deposit box, which also
contained passports for his family. In the meantime, the
FBI took about a quarter of Mayfield's client files, includ
ing those of clients 'who have Arabic- or Muslim-sound
ing surnames."
The government instead of double-checking and ques
tioning its own results, put the burden of proof on May
field, all the while building up its case against him.
While it's legally true that justice has been achieved —
Mayfield was released and exonerated — the man's life will
never be the same. His face was in TIME magazine. And,
simply by the nature of the case, his patriotism is forever
unjustly tainted.
This could have happened to another man, but it proba
bly wouldn't
America's war on terror carries a simple premise:
Guilty until proven innocent especially if the suspect has
skin, ideological or religious differences than that of the
status quo.
The George W. Bush look-alike/think-alike would have
made it home three weeks ago after a long day at work.
He would have loosened his tie as he walked in the front
door to his house. He would have greeted his wife with a
kiss.
Mayfield should have gotten the same treatment.
He should have been treated like the innocent American
he is.
The end of the sitcom
I am old enough to know that sitcom is
short for situation comedy, and recently
two powerhouses in the genre, "Friends"
and "Frasier," made their exits, stage left.
Next year another hit, "Everybody Loves
Raymond," will meet its maker and be sent
to comedy heaven: non-stop syndication.
Although these three series had long
ago become stale caricatures of them
selves, they were responsible for keeping
the genre of the sitcom — a genre I grew
up on and still love — clinging to life.
Now that they are gone forever, the sur
vival of the situation comedy depends
on an infusion of fresh blood in next sea
son's fall pilots.
Well, last week the television networks
unveiled their fall lineups for the first
time to anxious advertisers, and I am pre
pared to mark the sitcom's official time
of death.
Sitcoms will be absent from primetime
in the fall at a level not seen since the early
1980s. Instead of scripted comedy, the net
works will be cramming unscripted "reali
ty" shows down our throats, as many as
their conscience will allow, and these are
television executives, so...
For example, the unwatchable ABC
will feature another new British reality
show rip-off called "Wife Swap" (it is not
what you think), as well as "The Benefac
tor," an "Apprentice" rip-off from Mark
Cuban. They will be dropping sitcoms
such as "I'm with Her," "It's all Relative,"
and "The Big House," although they are
renewing "Hope and Faith" (God only
knows why).
This same trend is happening up and
down the dial. NBC will feature only four
comedies next fall; at one point in the late
1990s, NBC had 16 sitcoms in its lineup,
according to The New York Times.
Comedy writers are already in mourn
ing. They are desperately asking the same
question I am: Why are the networks run
ning away from the sitcom? The first an
swer is obvious: Dead presidents. It costs
hundreds of thousands of dollars more to
produce a scripted comedy than to drive
Paris Hilton into the boondocks or boat a
dozen-or-so retards onto an island.
David Jagernauth
Critical mass
The second reason is that young view
ers, the most coveted demographic, are
increasingly turning away from sitcoms
and tuning into reality shows. As Bill
Carter from Hie New York Times puts it:
"Viewers, especially those under 35,
seem to be bored with the entire conceit
of setup/joke and four-to-six characters
sitting around a sofa on a Hollywood
sound stage."
They would much rather see the Os
bournes or Anna Nicole Smith sitting
around a sofa in their real homes, swear
ing, which seems to me to be infinitely
more boring. The Sitcom Generation, my
generation, is being outmusded by Gener
ation Unscripted in television land. And
the consequences will be disastrous.
When sitcoms are at their best they do
the work of a great piece of art and shine a
spotlight on the human condition. While
dramas show us humanity at its most ex
treme, sitcoms show us humanity at its
most mundane, as we operate day-to-day,
at home and at work, as we seek food,
shelter, companionship and happiness.
Reality shows offer us none of this in
sight. They are empty and meaningless.
The pleasure comes merely from being a
voyeur. It is indicative of the slow,
painful death of art itself in this country.
So many young people today seem unin
terested in delving creative (and therefore,
created) work for deeper meanings. They
are unimpressed by the creative process.
They're only interested and impressed in
the surface of things, in the gimmick, and
the raw reactions that result.
They don't want the comedy of a care
fully crafted joke; they want the comedy
of a ball to the crotch or a woman eating
the balls of a rhinoceros. Rather than see
the highs and lows of dating through
scripted reenactment, they want to see a
supermodel date a bunch of ugly guys,
or a midget date average-sized girls.
Rather than see fictional characters liv
ing normal lives, they want either to see
celebrities living normal lives or ordi
nary people living extraordinary lives,
because both satisfy our fame-lust,
which seems to be the guiding human
principle these days.
I am still holding out hope for the sit
com, however. "Seinfeld" reruns are the
best thing on television these days, and
they are a constant reminder of the
power of the sitcom. "The Simpsons" is
still going strong and another brilliant
adult cartoon sitcom, "Family Guy," is
back in production. If only they would
do the same thing for "The Critic" and
"Duckman."
And speaking of Jason Alexander, he
will return to the boob tube this fall as a
sportscaster in "Listen Up." Conan's hi
larious sidekick Andy Richter will star in
the sitcom "Quintuplets' on FOX. And
maybe the "Friends" spin-off "Joey"
won't be as bad as everyone is assuming.
The Sitcom Generation is left with
only hope, and, unfortunately, "Hope
and Faith."
Contact the columnist
at davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.