MARTHA BURK --- OPPORTUNIST
For today?s vocabulary lesson today we will deal with the word ?opportunism.? The word comes from the noun ?opportunist.? An opportunist is ?one who takes advantage of any opportunity to achieve an end, often with no regard for principles or consequences.?
Our opportunist of the day is Martha Burk. You remember her, don?t you? Martha Burk is that woman you never heard of, until, that is, she hit on a great plan to thrust her name in front of every unsuspecting man and woman in the United States. Martha Burk is the president of something called the National Council of Woman?s Organizations (NCWO). There are many member organizations of the NCWO that restrict membership to women only. That seems to be OK with Martha Burk. What isn?t OK with Martha Burk is Augusta National Golf Club not having any women members. Never mind that Augusta National is a private organization -- tax-paying private organization. If Martha Burk decides that Augusta National ought to have a woman member, then by God they need to get a woman member.
For a few months Martha Burk was glomming some pretty strong publicity for her cause. That was then. This is now. There?s a war going on. People are concerned with far more than whether or not a private golf club in Georgia with a membership of about 300 has a woman among those numbers.
So .. Martha Burk, publicity hound, becomes Martha Burk, opportunist. Did I say that there was a war going on? Why yes! I did! And Martha Burk has decided that since this war is the number one news story out there today, she will use that war to try to restart her personal quest to become America?s prime feminist voice.
So, how would an opportunist take advantage of the war against Saddam Hussein to further her own end? It was rather simple, really. Martha Burk just abandoned principles, as the definition said, and marched herself to the news mecca of New York to convene with some members of the New York City Council. There Ms. Burk announced that it was just appalling that women who were fighting in Iraq would face discrimination at Augusta National. She takes a shot at CBS saying ?Broadcasting the Masters now and showcasing a club that discriminates against women is an insult to the nearly quarter million women in the U.S. armed forces.?
Wow! Pretty nifty, don?t you think! Since the war is taking all of the attention away from Ms. Burks petty and ridiculous little crusade, why not try to tie in with the men and women fighting in Iraq? Women in combat! Women as prisoners of war! Let?s exploit them to crank up the Burk publicity machine again! They won?t mind!
Martha Burk has become a desperate and unprincipled opportunist because she senses that people have just lost interest in her private cause. She recently made a visit to Atlanta, Georgia where she held a private meeting with Atlanta?s Mayor, Shirley Franklin. Only one reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was allowed to cover that meeting. Burk is depending on Atlanta?s feminist community to help her save face in Augusta. It seems that she hasn?t been all that successful in rounding up bodies to put on the protest lines in Augusta. Her plan is to use Atlanta?s Mayor to fill a few busses with protestors for the two-hour drive to Augusta. It remains to be seen whether or not Franklin will allow her office to be exploited, or if she will support Martha the Opportunist in this matter.
Martha?s next grand move? She?s reported to be looking for a way to exploit women suffering from breast cancer in her personal crusade against Augusta National.