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The Most Hated Man In America?

By Ben Garvey

Is Saddam Hussein a human or just a figment of our mediated imagination? CNN tapes of him and his doubles beg the question that perhaps Saddam does not even exist, but is just a figure created by our government. Think about it for just one second. When the different tapes of Saddam are examined he’s got more styles than Brad Pitt. He looks fat, then slender, then pale, then dark. The common similarity between the different Saddams is a thick bushy mustache and an Arab dude. Maybe our government just picks a different Iraqi, tells him he can have riches … if they read a script for the camera, and disappear to be a victim of “Saddam.” Our government now has a videotape of “Saddam” saying whatever they want without the actual leader ever existing. The videotapes all seem to come from our government. His existence is not verifiable. With the power of Hollywood make-up artists, the corruption of the past wars of our government and the inconsistencies of Saddam himself, this situation is at least imaginable. The only way that any certainty about Saddam's existence can be verified is to find out what makes him human.

This leads to one fact that can be determined about Saddam: either this crazy conspiracy theory is true, or Saddam Hussein is a human. In fact, Saddam’s existence is a little more verifiable than the first paragraph portrayed. There have been stories about his troubled childhood and life, and pictures of him with world leaders, including a 1983 shot of Hussein and Rumsfeld shaking hands. It must then be said: Saddam Hussein is a human. A bad human, but a human none the less. This simple fact leads to a question: How could a human possibly do what Saddam Hussein has done?

Perhaps it was his environment. His father left him before Saddam even knew his name. He lived a nomadic life of poverty traveled around the country with his mother until he finally settled in a major city at age 12.His mother ignored him growing up because she had issues of drug addiction. She lived a promiscuous life constantly sleeping with men and scamming them out of their money. His first friend was his uncle, who was his same age. His uncle encouraged him to pursue a career in music. This encouragement stopped when his uncle committed suicide. He was able to attend school, but was constantly beat up by his classmates. He slowly withdrew from his peers, never able to finish his primary education because of the ridicule and abuse.

But wait a minute, that isn't Saddam’s childhood; this is Saddam's childhood: He was born into a world of poverty and humiliation. His father left his family when he was born. He moved three times before he was ten, which never gave him a chance to make any real friends. His mother remarried. To the shock of Saddam, his stepfather regularly beat him. He would wake Saddam before dawn to work like a slave for the family tending sheep. He was forced to steal from neighbors, and was never allowed to attend school. The first person to ever show any compassion to Saddam was his uncle, a convicted criminal. When Saddam was 10, he went to live with his uncle where he was enrolled in school and educated in the ways of violence and thievery by his uncle and classmates. Saddam was ostracized from the rest of his class because he had no father and was older than the boys since he did not start school until he was 10. So he turned to a life of cruel practical jokes and violent self-defense, carrying a lead pipe with him everywhere he went.

Which one of these stories is about Saddam, and which one is not? While these stories are strikingly similar only the second is about Saddam. So who was the first story about?
“Crazy insane or insane crazy, when I say Hussein, you say Shady.” That's right, the first story is the troubled childhood of Eminem. Eminem grew up in an environment very similar to Saddam Hussein's. One man is the most hated man in America, the other … the most hated man in America. What is the difference? In the eyes of Americans, the answer is not that much.

Eminem is also a figure of our mediated imagination. From MTV videos to DVDs of “8 Mile,” Eminem is not really human in the eyes of most Americans. He is merely a figure in the media. Both Eminem and Saddam are stars of two different cable stations: MTV and CNN. One man talks about violence, murder, and hatred while the other commits acts of violence, murder, and hatred. To the audience, however, both forms of violence are mediated. Neither is real. Americans do not go to Iraq to see the destruction, and the destruction portrayed by Eminem is fictitious. They are both imaginable, however, and this gives them an edge of realism. Saddam's violence is imaginable because it is really occurring in Iraq. Eminem's violence is imaginable because it is evident here in America.

Eminem sings about violence in schools. It calls to mind a scary reality where high school students bring guns to class and smoke their classmates. Remember Columbine?

He sings about hatred of gays and minorities. It calls to mind a world where homosexuals are discriminated against and racism is rampant. Remember the KKK?

He sings about murder in violent details. It calls to mind a reality where people drive around in cars shooting at each other. Remember the ghetto?

His lyrics, when examined in the context of Americana, take on a very real flavor. Eminem is blamed for the violence in this country simply because he talks about it.

“Hate is taught. Eminem teaches it,” somebody wrote on www.shame.org. “When adults endorse that teacher, they too are teaching their kids to hate.” Eminem acts as the bad guy for all the problems in this country. However, he is merely a mediated representation of all that is wrong in America. The stories Eminem tell are not totally fictitious. While the names and events are not real, the violence represents a part of America that is all too real, and often masked by suburban smiles and church services. Eminem remembers three key words in hip-hop that Americans often forget: Shit is real.

Not only is it real, but it is in our schoolyards, television sets and history books. It does not take a trip around the world to Iraq to see the terrible side of humanity. It only takes a walk around the block to see real problems happening to real people that nobody is doing anything to fix. Eminem represents this terrible side of America. He does not say that side is acceptable or a good idea, he merely represents it. Saddam represents the same idea in the minds of people – hatred, murder and violence. He actually acts on it.

This answers our question about why a human being like Saddam could commit such terrible atrocities. The difference between Eminem and Saddam is that Eminem channels this feeling of hatred into music and Saddam channels it by killing innocent civilians. If the terrible things that happen in people's lives, are not dealt with properly, then they will find unhealthy ways to deal with them. Eminem raps about the shit, Saddam is knee deep in it.
In this sense Saddam deserves to be punished, and in fact that is taking place right now in Iraq. The problem, however, is that we are not doing enough to hold people accountable for their actions in America. Police brutality encourages gang violence, hate groups breed counter hate groups, and racism from whites has led to a system where a quota is needed to work toward equality.

Our policies and fears in this country are broadcasted on CNN about Iraq. Our biggest threats, however, are expressed in Eminem's lyrics on MTV about American people. Eminem is not advocating the violence in his lyrics, he is exposing the problems so our leaders will take a second out of their busy schedule of regime change and pay attention to the shit going on at home.

Eminem represents a scary reality, but shit is real. Maybe it's time to stop worrying about the world Saddam represents and start fixing the one Eminem represents. Slim Shady put it best: “So tell Saddam not to bother making another bomb, because I'm crushing the whole world in my palm.” If America continues on its path we will crush the entire world in our hand. We need to take care of our problems at home, then worry about everybody else. If we can't help ourselves we can't help anyone.

Ben Garvey is a senior speech communication major. Email him at bgarvey1@ithaca.edu.