Billed on youtube as “The most honest three and a half minutes of TV anywhere,” this little clip from the “The Newsroom” (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame) is being compared to Howard Beale’s speech in the movie “Network” (“we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore”).
But is it really?
Seems to me that what Jeff Daniels, the “truth-speaking” journals,t puts across in this segment is The American Dream that we were programmed to believe during those fabled, famous ’50s when I grew up. Life Magazine told us how glorious America was, how we upheld the highest values and ideals — and yup, we scarfed it right up and felt both superior and entitled.
Sweeping all sorts of stuff under the rug was commonplace back then, including the genocide of American Indians, the slaughter of the buffalo, and the slave trade.
But now? Now do we still believe that the American Dream was true in the ’50s? How can anyone believe that the now fully-militarized, armored, clanking, American Empire sprang fully formed, like Athena from the forehead of Zeus, only after that?
Hogwash. Read your Howard Zinn.
Amen, sister!
Very well said.
Yeah, a friend sent me over that same video a couple days ago.. I looked at the title and saw “honest” and “tv” and just hit delete. ha
Actually, it’s from a movie . . .
Well said, Ann. This ain’t no “People’s History!” I was appalled that the link was posted to a local permie site. Yes, I watched it and was grinding my teeth throughout thinking about how the only way this got past HBO execs is the nearly tearful 2nd part of the rant when Daniels’ character wistfully recalls how “we used to be” the greatest nation in the world. If the scene would have ended after the first part of the rant with everyone sitting in stunned silence, we never would have seen it as it never would have aired!
Exactly!
I have to agree. The first part was great. And I too feel nostalgic for the time when I believed in America, even though as a girl I had no rights, as a weird kid I was alone and psychologically disabled, and that’s in comfortable white middle class suburbs. But during that time we undermined freedom in dozens of nations, routinely allowed African Americans to be lynched, and committed genocide on indigenous people as well as others. While enjoying the fruits of oil before anyone really thought about it running out.