Let us boldly re-imagine, in the spirit of Richard Rorty, this maxim of the great Donne as, any persons death diminishes me, for I am human and cannot ignore my stake in the world of my fellow creatures. How would this apply to the death of Mr. Richard Holbrooke the American diplomat? His death will be old news by next week, hardly a startling observation. So, the question is when do we have an honest forthright discussion of his record as public man and American advocate? Do we engage in the un-reflective hagiography dictated by our homage to custom? For an antidote to this politically respectable chatter, this trivializing chatter, I have provided a link to Professor Stephen Zunes’ enlightening article at the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/richard-holbrooke-represe_b_796447.html