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Re: Good Night and Good Luck: What does it mean to be an American now?
Posted:
Oct 19, 2005 7:14 PM
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> http://www.evesmag.com/murrow1.jpg
>
> "When this nation was drowning in cowardice and
> demagoguery, it was Murrow who hurled the spear at
> the terror...He regarded the news as a sacred trust.
> Accuracy was everything."
> Edward R. Murrow and the Time of His
> Time
> By Joseph Wershba
> http://www.evesmag.com/murrow.htm
>
>
> I was meeting a prominent Kenyan writer, visiting the
> U.S. courtesy of the State Department for the first
> time, when she suddenly asked me, "So, what does
> it mean to be an American?!" She asked this
> question with what seemed a sense of urgency..as if
> was important for her to find out. After babbling on
> for many minutes, I figured out that I didn't know
> and that this uncertainty might be the only answer I
> have right now.
>
> I think our identity as a nation is in flux. We are
> being buffeted by so many forces and events. When the
> electorate is polarized, when an unpopular war is
> being fought; when disaster srikes at the heart of
> the nation; when cronyism and incompetence bedvil our
> leaders; when a growing majority of the world feels
> the U.S. is more a threat to peace and stability than
> a beacon of hope and, dare I even use the word,
> freedom, than it's no wonder, I'm a little confused
> about what it means to be an American right now.
>
> So, when I sat down to watch Good Night and Good
> Luck, the latest from Warner Independent and
> George Clooney, I felt that the movie brought this
> question of American identity into high relief. and,
> I felt a little shame for not really knowing much
> about Edward R. Murrow and his part in bringing down
> the demagogue Senator McCarthy.
Regg; it kinda is bad manners to start a thread and then run away and not answer the responses to your call.
I know you are paid; but this is not a "Blog" it is a forum; discussion is the rule of the day.
I do believe your bosses would like to see you respect "Bob" enough to answer his response to your words; at least you mom might hink she raised ya rit!!!!
Wetback for Christ
coyote infinity
Because, if Murrow
> had not stood up to McCarthy, I know I'd be living in
> even scarier world. It's an important story because,
> once again, events such as the Victoria Plame affair,
> the WMD story, the aftermath of Katrina and the
> debates about fairness, balance and bias have forced
> us to ask hard questions about the role of the media
> in speaking truth to power and defending civil
> liberties.
>
> Recently, for a few days during the aftermath of
> Katrina, it seemed the gloves had come off and that
> reporters were again ascerting some of the
> independence that charachterized Murrow. And today
> there was a scorching editorial response in the New
> York times to the President's speech rallying
> Americans to support the War on Terror.
>
> During the planning of the screening, Walker film and
> video and education and community programs staff sat
> down and discussed how we could link the film to
> current event and issues of importance to us now.
> And this central question of "What does it mean to
> be an American?" emerged as a kind of touchstone or
> jumping off place for discussion around and related
> to the defense of civil liberties, the role of media
> and its power to shape our opinions of recent
> events, and what we as individual citizens are
> called to do to protect the rights and liberties of
> a democratic system. It is still a topic worthy of
> debate and consideration. We invite you to lend
> your thoughts to this question in this space.
>
> Some additional questions came up for me during the
> film:
>
> What right to we have to hold political opinions that
> may be contrary to the current administration or the
> state?
>
> How do we balance national security and the rights of
> individuals?
>
> How much are we willing to sacrifice to defend our
> civil liberties?
>
> Are fluff and celebrity reporting being used to
> distract us from debating and addressing important
> issues?
>
> How does corporate media ownership affect what is
> reported in the news?
>
> Given, that the Bush administration's creation of
> "news" was recently deemed illegal, how much of what
> we are seeing is really propaganda?
>
> Good Night and Good Luck
> http://wip.warnerbros.com/goodnightgoodluck/
>
> Daniel Schorr remembers Edward R. Murrow
> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9593259/
>
> President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time
> Warp Again
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/07/opinion/07fri1.htm
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