William Shakespeare dramatized the Tragedy of Othello The Moor of Venice in 1604, basing his play, as he had on most others, on another source. Shakespeare knew what the public liked and he drew his dramas from popular tales, histories and legends.
Legend of Othello the Moorish naval captain of Venice came from a story by Chinthio from 1565 that told the tale of a black man in the service of the Republic of Venice in its wars against the Turks. Othello secretly married Desdemona the daughter of a Venetian Senator, at the same time that he promoted Cassio over his man Iago.
Iago emerged as one of Western Culture's great villains. He is a sneak of some ability and use in the service of a greater man in order to advance his own wormy path to power. Iago whispers in the ear of people who can make difficult for his master, like our contemporary political worms who feed columnists and editorial boards with rumors and hints of scandals and corruptions in order to advance their careers. It works most effectively. Columnists can wait for the phone to ring with hot political meat for the broiling and the worm can always expect a swell column touting his . . .'greatness.'
Politics plays into everything.
Here is the creed of Iago and political worms in every vocation taken from Scene I of Othello. Iago replies to Rodrigo, who was in love with Desdemona and has learned of the secret marriage to Othello:
O, sir, content you.
I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and kneecrooking knave,
That doting on his own obsequious bondage
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For naught but provender; and, when he's old, cashier'd.
( break my own - as this first verse paragraph presents a good servant)
Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,
And throwing but shows of service on their lords
Do well thrive by them; and when they have lined their
Do themselves homage. These fellows have some soul,
And such a one do I profess myself.
(This last is the man of our age - Iago.)
Some men serve their betters even into obscurity, when the great person's powers have diminished and these ar ethe people Iago scorns.
The smart, ambitious and politically skilled modern mover-and- shaker is Iago. His service to a great man is merely his own means of amassing power and riches. . .down the road. . . once people are made to believe and accept anything, of course.
Our age is a sad one. It seems that ever since 'really smart' people began to mock the old Budweiser paintings of Custer' Last Stand as inaccurate and therefore rubbish, that persons who actually did something with their lives became the target of deconstructionists. The deconstructionists are the voices from the sidelines - the Fantasy Football experts - the people outside of the boxing ring - the pundits.
Our media is one endless 24/7 Punk'd.
Walter Payton was a great football player. His memory is befouled by a new book that is burning up all of the oxygen in our American living room.
The purpose of the book is obvious - another Iago who followed a hero, long after his young death, I might add, in order to shatter any and all foundation to a positive memory of this man, who dedicated his life to his profession. Iago thrived with the murder of Desdemona and the suicide of his chief and it mattered not who else was damaged in his deconstruction of a great man. The author of the Payton book embarrasses Payton's widow and sons by making public any and all of the human failings in the great Chicago running back.
Shakespeare's Iago gets his comeuppance and it is implied that he will be dragged off and tortured. Jeff Pearlman will make the TV circuit and millions of dollars from Life's arm-chair quarterbacks and fans of TMZ.
Merit matters not in age that accepts Noam Chomsky as an intellectual pillar, terrorist Bill Ayers as a Distinguished Professor of Education, Cop Killer Mumia as a an authority on Law and Justice, as does the National Lawyers Guild (◦Mumia Abu?-Jamal, National Vice President for Jailhouse Attorneys)
The Walter Payton book by this Iago smears what passes for American culture - the one that debunks American History's heroes with all manner of calumnies - Jefferson raped slaves, though it appears now that might be completely untrue; Custer was a genocidal maniac and not the most skilled light cavalry officer of his age; JFK was a whoremaster and not the man who stared down Communism in October 1963; Ty Cobb was merely a racist hillbilly and not the most determined baseball player of all time who still holds the record for career batting average at .366.
The Walter Payton smear by Jeff Pearlman, like so much of this age, is meant for a people who do not engage in anything, but sneer and dismiss the people who achieve, because that justifies their own sloth. The Walter Payton book smears the people who would by such an item more than the memory of a man who achieved.
Appointment to a job, rather than achievement of a post is what Iago is all about - why stand for an election when one can get appointed? Why be an athlete when one can sneer at the Jocks? Why study, when one can assault and rob, or even murder a nerd?
Iago prefaced his intentions with this -
Preferment ( Appointment)goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation (Achievement), where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself
Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor
That sadly is the summary of the state of our American morality and culture.