Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
fleshy mouth, he vociferously denied the rumors. “Not true, not true,
none of the missing are spies.” He then cleverly praised those who
did serve as peacemaking watchdogs, particularly in countries, such
as Burma, with atrocious human rights records, and he was proud
that a member of Free to Speak was among the missing. He added in
dramatic fashion that “this person has now joined the tens of thou­
sands of people now missing in Burma,” and he hoped his friend
would not wind up like the rest of them—with an “unspeakable
fate.” Naturally, this led to a flurry of guesses as to who this activist
was, and the curious and concerned were not simply the international
viewers of GNN, my friends’ families, and the U.S. government, but
the military regime of Myanmar as well. Who was this troublemaker,
they wanted to know. And on whose watch had this person slipped
in? The punishment for spies in Myanmar was similar to that for
people who were caught smuggling drugs: death.
Wendy may have been an immature nitwit, but that did not mean
she deserved to have her head lopped off simply because her former
housemate seized any opportunity to promote his cause. I don’t take
issue with people who work to improve human rights, not at all. It’s
admirable and essential. But Gutman’s entire proviso was geared
to garner headlines. He favored the news-catching denunciations,
demonstrations, and demands. He never negotiated quietly behind
the scenes like some other activists. Gutman would sit on stories of
abuse until it was most advantageous for getting the biggest head­
lines, usually around the time he had scheduled a fund-raising cam­
paign. Alas, in every community that proposes to do good, there are
always a few who do good mostly for themselves.
By the evening news hour, GNN knew they had on their lucky
hands the news sensation of the week in the United States—one that
beat out the pre–Super Bowl hoopla, the sex scandal involving a con­
gressman and his biggest campaign contributor, the movie star who
had been arrested for pedophilia. The scoop was the heart-rending,
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