What is the greatest virtue?
I started thinking about this question last week after watching Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s interview with well known female rapper Cardi B.
In the interview, Biden recalled how his mother would often tell him, “Joey, the greatest virtue of all is courage. Because without courage, you couldn’t love with abandon. Without courage, none of the other virtues would exist.”
For whatever reason, this gave me pause.
Later, after much contemplation and after asking my wife how she would answer, it turned out the two of us had the same answer: the greatest virtue is honor.
To me, honor is about who we are, what we stand and fight for, and why we conduct ourselves the way we do.
Courage, on the other hand, is a tool we use to muster the bravery needed to do something.
Said another way, being honorable almost always requires courage. But one can easily be courageous without honor.
The more I thought about Mr. Biden’s interview, the more I started to believe he had missed the opportunity to be both courageous and honorable during his interview. And what a powerful moment that would have been!
You see, after sharing the story about his mother’s call for courage, Mr. Biden gave the following advice to Cardi B: “It’s time for some courage and you’re exercising it. You and the other people of your stature—millions of people who look to you—you’re exercising courage. It’s not easy for you to do this. You’re gonna get a lot of flak for the kinds of things you say, but you have the courage to stand up and say, ‘Now’s the time.’”
How right Mr. Biden was!
Cardi B has tens of millions of followers. Several of her songs and videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times. A few songs have more than 1 billion streams on Spotify! That’s more than 8,000 YEARS of airplay for ONE song! Talk about an incredible platform from which to make an impact.
But what impact is she making with the message her music sends? And does Mr. Biden’s response to it resonate with his purported advocacy for women and his claim that he will effectively help heal our nation’s open wounds?
Consider the lyrics to one of the artist’s recent mega-hits, WAP, which opens by repeating the phrase, “There’s some wh***s in this house. There’s some wh***s in this house.” The rest of the song then depicts graphic sexual acts in a way the artist argues is actually empowering to women, particularly women of color.
For many reasons, that argument falls flat to me. I feel certain its nuance is lost on millions of young women—and young men—who listen to the song and watch its video.
Instead of feeling empowered by WAP, I suspect many—if not most—young people will take away a drastically different perception of the song’s message—one that objectifies women, encourages the acceptance of denigrating terms, and promotes the use of sex as a tool for power instead of an expression of love.
I’ll give Mr. Biden that it likely required some courage to appear on the artist’s show. After all, the differences between the two of them—or between Mr. Biden and Cardi B’s core listeners—could not be more clear.
Yet, in my view, an even greater impact—and definitely a more substantive discussion—could have occurred by Mr. Biden using courage as a tool to uphold his honor.
Imagine, for example, if he had said, “Let me level with you, just as I’ve said I will do for the American people. I’m concerned by some of your lyrics. A lot of Americans are concerned by your lyrics. I understand what you’re trying to do, and I realize edgy art gets attention. As president, I’ll fight to preserve the right of all Americans to exercise free speech, including speech like yours that’s controversial. But speech obviously has consequence, and I have to tell you, I’m concerned about the consequences of the lyrics in your music and the images in your videos, particularly for how young people may interpret or internalize them. Isn’t there a better way to make your point? Aren’t you concerned the subtlety of your message gets lost and misinterpreted amidst its graphicness?”
As a father of a young daughter, Mr. Biden sure would have gotten my attention had he done so. And as an American, I would have seen him as a leader willing to lean in to tough issues.
Instead, Mr. Biden chose to play it safe. He chose to compliment her for her success without engaging her about the content that has made her successful. Doing so required neither courage nor honor. But he did avoid alienating a subset of voters whose support he needs in November.
He also missed a powerful opportunity to showcase to the American people how he can lead us in discussions about controversial topics.
If Mr. Biden won’t engage on topics like art and sexuality and the messages our society sends to its young people, how does he hope to guide our nation through the minefield of open wounds around race and injustice?
Doing so will require both courage and honor.
I believe our nation is craving courage and honor right now.
I believe our nation deserves courage and honor right now.
And perhaps more than anything, I believe our nation stands ready to rally around leaders—and artists—who are willing to exercise courage and honor in all they do.
Korry Franke is a pilot for a major U.S. airline and the author of
3 FEET TO THE LEFT: A NEW CAPTAIN’S JOURNEY FROM PURSUIT TO PERSPECTIVE.
He has been featured aboard Celebrity Cruises and in Condé NastTraveler, AOPA Flight Training Magazine, and other aviation blogs and podcasts.
The thoughts and views expressed in this post are Korry’s alone.