A column by Time magazine’s Lance Morrow postulated that if Elian Gonzalez were black or pug-ugly, we wouldn’t be debating his future in the United States because he would have been sent back to Cuba post haste.

This may seem harsh and cynical, but Morrow makes a good point. Americans have got to be the most fickle people on the planet.

Logical discourse is rarely achieved because logic flies out the window when a sweet, little face is involved.

Morrow also speculates that if Elian’s father had been the one to die while his mother waited in Cuba, Americans would be having exactly the opposite reaction they have been. We rarely question a mother’s right to be with her children when no evidence suggests she is unfit.

Elian’s father is rarely mentioned by name. Can you think of it? It is Juan Miguel Gonzalez and no evidence exists to suggest he is unfit.

Yet pundits like Indiana Representative Dan Burton would have us believe that a full inquiry into the father/son relationship is necessary before we send Elian home to Cuba and his father.

Where was Rep. Burton the last time a Cuban child washed up on our shores?

He was right where the rest of us were: not paying any attention.

We oscillate between brutal apathy and irrational attention in this nation. Out rationale is never more than rationalization.

Juan Gonzalez has been demonized for every action, every delay and every request.

He had every right to assume that his son would be returned to him immediately, yet he was criticized for not hopping on a jet immediately to retrieve Elian.

If Cubans could hop on jets to the United States at a moment’s notice, this situation would not have arisen.

We conveniently forget that our countries have even been on speaking terms for over 30 years when it suits us to turn a blind on logic.

The fact is this case has gone on for five months longer than it ever should have. It has brought out the worst in us.

It has made us forget that while we rally around little Elian arguing about his fate in a vane attempt to protect him, we are doing greater and greater damage with every passing day.

As he grows attached to his mother’s family in Miami, how can he help but wonder about the legitimacy of baseless claims against his father?

When the boy finally goes home, he will be traumatized from months of brainwashing, no matter how unintentional.

It is time to end this farce of pantomimed compassion and send Elian home to Havana.

It is the only right thing to do.

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Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.