Good Night, and Good Luck.
Nov. 10th, 2005 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kuangning"It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between internal and the external threats of Communism.
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.' "
-- Edward R Murrow.
I wish I could make this one movie required viewing for every single American. Judging from the comments of the rather vacuous pair of girls behind us, at least one teacher has offered extra credit for it, and that, if not their reactions, gives me hope -- but the unspoken parallels between the climate of fear then and the "post 9/11" America of today are hard to miss, and even harder to answer. (Incidentally, let me thank my friends at the Nuke Free Zone -- usually the first place I turn when I'm trying to find links quickly on matters like this.) If you can, please see this movie. Alternately, read the text of the original broadcast upon which the movie's based. I've seen several attacks, unsurprisingly, on the movie, but Murrow's original words still stand, strong and unsullied.
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.' "
-- Edward R Murrow.
I wish I could make this one movie required viewing for every single American. Judging from the comments of the rather vacuous pair of girls behind us, at least one teacher has offered extra credit for it, and that, if not their reactions, gives me hope -- but the unspoken parallels between the climate of fear then and the "post 9/11" America of today are hard to miss, and even harder to answer. (Incidentally, let me thank my friends at the Nuke Free Zone -- usually the first place I turn when I'm trying to find links quickly on matters like this.) If you can, please see this movie. Alternately, read the text of the original broadcast upon which the movie's based. I've seen several attacks, unsurprisingly, on the movie, but Murrow's original words still stand, strong and unsullied.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 07:21 am (UTC)And now, I have a huge journalistic hard-on for Murrow.
Even though I'm a chick.
..yeah. You know what I mean.
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Date: 2005-11-11 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 07:38 pm (UTC)