You can't have it both ways

Every once in a while, you come across something--a book, a movie, a politician--that is both praised and excused for the very same quality. Perhaps my favorite example of this is something fantasy author Pat Rothfuss said to me about the book Eragon, which was written by Christopher Paolini when he was 15. Many people praise the book: "It's such a great book, especially for someone who is only 15." But then, when the book is criticized by the many people who think the book is a poorly written knock-off of Lucas and Tolkien (myself included), those who love the book say, "Give the guy a break, he was only 15."

As Pat aptly pointed out, "You can't have it both ways."

You can either praise someone for being a brilliant author at 15, or you can excuse someone for writing tripe because he's 15. But you can't praise and excuse him. It just doesn't work that way.

I think the same thing can be said about Andrew Speaker, the attorney from Atlanta who recently defied doctor's orders in order to fly home from Italy, even though he is infected with extremely drug-resistant TB, XD-TB for short. This strain of tuberculosis is resistant to all conventional TB treatments, making it quite scary. And airline flights, because of their closed-air systems, are a particularly bad place for someone with this disease to be.

Speaker flew from the US to Greece for his wedding, even though his doctor recommended that he not go. Then, when the CDC wanted to detain him in Rome because they had found out that Speaker had XD-TB, Speaker decided to fly home anyways. But he had to fly through Canada, because he had been put on US "no-fly" lists. Huh.

Speaker recently had an interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning, America, where he "apologized" for what he had done. The best part of the apology was when he said to one of the passengers who was seated next to him, "I'm sorry for your fear." Looks like he's taken a lesson from celebrity apologies...

Anyways, if you watch the interview, Speaker says two things over and over:

1. In the first part of the interview, he says that he didn't think the disease was a big deal, he didn't think it was contagious, he didn't think it was a problem if he traveled or was out of the country.

2. In the second part of the interview, he talks about how scared he was that he would never get back to the United States, and how he thought he was going to die if he didn't get back to the special clinic in Denver for treatment. At first he just said that he thought he was going to die in Rome, but as the interview progressed, he just kept saying that he thought he was going to die.

And this is where I see the problem with what he's saying. Either he knew before he flew that his disease was really awful and needed special treatment--in which case he shouldn't have flown in the first place--OR he didn't know before he flew how bad the disease was, and his knowledge that he needed to immediately return to Denver, whatever the cost, is inexplicable and unjustifiable.

It's not quite the same as those who both praise and excuse Eragon, but it's similar. Speaker is trying both to negate the problem and make us feel sorry for him having this awful disease, but the way I see it, they cancel each other out.

You can't have it both ways.

Don't get me wrong. I think this disease sounds terrible, and it's awful that anyone should have it. I don't want Speaker to die from it (as apparently other bloggers have said)--I hope that doctors find a treatment and are able to cure him. I hope that he and his wife have a wonderful marriage and they have many great years together.

But I do think that he should step up and take responsibility for what he's done. I think that he should realize that right now, this is not about him and how scared he is or how bad he looks in the media. It's about all of the rest of the world, and how scared we are that some stupid action on his part may have put us or our loved ones in danger. I have sympathy for Andrew Speaker because he has this disease, but in no way does that give him an excuse to act without thinking and endanger others.