Professor J,
Let me start off by providing the link to the article you referenced in your last post: The Myth of America's Decline, which the reader can also find on our Facebook page.
When I read the article I could only imagine the author's response to
the opening speech from episode 1 of The Newsroom (Sundays, 10 PM EST) since he was so
incensed by a quip from The Office. Fortunately for him he missed it by a
couple of months. You have so carefully critiqued the article I can add little to it.
The population growth issue is, as you pointed out, a
mixed bag. China panicked in 1979 and now is rethinking that policy as
the ramifications are beginning to be seen in full. Fareed Zakaria had a
very good piece about this on his show on Sunday morning. Could China's One Child Policy Change?
He makes several interesting points but the one that caught my
attention was the male/female ratio and his quote "Remember, countries
with male youth bulges have historically seen civil wars and
revolutions." He also point out that this is a good example of the
problems with "centralized authoritarian regimes." The video is worth
watching
I found this quote from The American Legion article interesting:
"Speaking of foreign lands, the U.S. military provides a security
umbrella to about half the world’s landmass, polices the world’s
toughest neighborhoods, and serves as the world’s first responder and
last line of defense. No other military could attempt such a feat of
global multitasking."
When did that become our job?
Back to Hedges:
"Individualism is touted as the core value of American culture,
and yet most of us meekly submit, as we are supposed to to the tyranny
of the corporate state. We define ourselves as a democracy, and
meanwhile voting rates in national elections are tepid, and voting on
local issues is often in the single digits. Our elected officials base
their decisions not on the public good but on the possibility of
campaign contributions and lucrative employment on leaving office. Our
corporate elite tell us government is part of the problem and the
markets should regulate themselves--and then that same elite plunders
the U.S. Treasury when they trash the economy. We insist that we are a
market economy, based on the principles of capitalism and free trade,
and yet the single largest sectors of international trade are armaments
and weapons systems. There is a vast and growing disconnect between what
we say and what we believe and what we do. We are blinded, enchanted,
and finally enslaved by illusion."
Here's a quote from a 2002 piece of writing by Ron Paul:
"Jefferson summed up the noninterventionist
foreign policy position perfectly in his 1801 inaugural address: "Peace,
commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling
alliances with none." How many times have we all heard these
wise words without taking them to heart?
How many champion Jefferson and the Constitution, but conveniently ignore both when it comes to American foreign policy? Washington similarly urged that the US must "Act for ourselves and not for others," by forming an "American character wholly free of foreign attachments." Since so many on Capitol Hill apparently now believe Washington was wrong, they should at least have the intellectual honesty to admit it next time his name is being celebrated."
How many champion Jefferson and the Constitution, but conveniently ignore both when it comes to American foreign policy? Washington similarly urged that the US must "Act for ourselves and not for others," by forming an "American character wholly free of foreign attachments." Since so many on Capitol Hill apparently now believe Washington was wrong, they should at least have the intellectual honesty to admit it next time his name is being celebrated."
Those crazy founding fathers. They had no idea how much money there was to be made. Ah, but then of course they were students of history who hoped some mistakes made by others would be avoided by us...if only we would keep paying attention.
Our readers might remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted a video, quoted, and in general raved about HBO's new series, The Newsroom. Dan Rather agrees with me. Here's his review. Dan Rather: The Newsroom’s Third Episode Is Something ‘Every American Should See and Ponder’ Yes, as a conservative it makes me cringe at times. Unfortunately often I realize I'm having a negative reaction to some truth being presented. And that's okay! Sometimes I cringe as a woman because Sorkin does a miserable job writing women. That's not okay. Can someone please have executive producer Makenzie MacHale, who is supposedly just back from two years covering the Iraqi and Afghan wars, stop behaving like a teenaged girl who can't get over her crush on the quarterback? Is it so hard for Sorkin to write her some adult female dialogue when she's engaging with Will?
He may need to consult a real woman with questions such
as "Would you ever say this?" (Call me Aaron, I'd be glad to help you
out. It's okay not to be good at everything.)
But as I've said before the show tackles what has happened to the news since we decided that selling advertising is more important than informing the electorate. In what I thought was an especially telling moment from episode 3 (in the clip above) the owner of the fictional network is worried about anyone being too hard on members of Congress because she has business before them.
The opening speech, following a clip of Richard Clark's apology, was not to be missed. Here's the text:
“Good evening, I’m Will McAvoy, this is News Night and that was a clip of Richard Clark, former counter terrorism chief to President George W. Bush, testifying before Congress on March 24, 2004.
Americans like that moment. I like that moment. Adults should hold themselves accountable for failure. And so tonight, I’m beginning this newscast by joining Mr. Clark and apologizing to the American people for our failure – the failure of this program during the time I’ve been in charge of it to successfully inform and educate the American electorate.
Let me be clear that I don’t apologize on behalf of all broadcast journalists, nor do all broadcast journalists owe an apology. I speak for myself. I was an accomplice to a slow and repeated and unacknowledged and unamended train wreck of failures that have brought us to now. I’m a leader in an industry that miscalled election results, hyped up terror scares, ginned up controversy and failed to report on tectonic shifts in our country, from the collapse of the financial system to the truths about how strong we are to the dangers we actually face. I’m a leader in an industry that misdirected your attention with the dexterity of Harry Houdini, while sending hundreds of thousands of our bravest young men and women off to war without due diligence.
The reason we failed isn’t a mystery – we took a dive for the ratings.
In the infancy of mass communication, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress. Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of airtime set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news.
Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better – Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say the taxpayers will give you the airwaves for free and for 23 hours a day, you should make a profit, but for one hour a night, you work for us.
And now those network newscasts, anchored through history by honest-to-God newsmen with names like Murrow and Reasoner and Huntley and Brinkley and Buckley and Cronkite and Rather and Russert…now, they have to compete with the likes of me, a cable anchor who’s in the exact same business as the producers of “Jersey Shore.”
And that business was good to us. But News Night is quitting that business right now. It might come as a surprise to you that some of history’s greatest American journalists are working right now. Exceptional minds with years of experience and an unshakable devotion to reporting the news. But these voices are a small minority now and they don’t stand a chance against the circus when the circus comes to town. They’re over matched. I’m quitting the circus, switching teams. I’m going with the guys who are getting creamed. I’m moved. They still think they can win and I hope they can teach me a thing or two.
From this moment on, we’ll be deciding what goes on our air and how it’s presented to you based on the simple truth that nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate. We’ll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire.
We’ll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole and nonsense. We’re not waiters in a restaurant, serving you the stories you asked for, just the way you like them prepared. Nor are we computers, dispensing only the facts because news is only useful in the context of humanity. I’ll make no effort to subdue my personal opinions. I will make every effort to expose you to informed opinions that are different from my own.
You may ask who are we to make these decisions. We are MacKenzie McHale and myself. Ms. McHale is our executive producer. She marshals the resources of over 100 reporters, producers, analysts and technicians and her credentials are readily available. I’m News Night’s managing editor and make the final decision on everything seen and heard on this program.
Who are we to make these decisions? We are the media elite.
We’ll be back after this with the news…”
Our readers might remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted a video, quoted, and in general raved about HBO's new series, The Newsroom. Dan Rather agrees with me. Here's his review. Dan Rather: The Newsroom’s Third Episode Is Something ‘Every American Should See and Ponder’ Yes, as a conservative it makes me cringe at times. Unfortunately often I realize I'm having a negative reaction to some truth being presented. And that's okay! Sometimes I cringe as a woman because Sorkin does a miserable job writing women. That's not okay. Can someone please have executive producer Makenzie MacHale, who is supposedly just back from two years covering the Iraqi and Afghan wars, stop behaving like a teenaged girl who can't get over her crush on the quarterback? Is it so hard for Sorkin to write her some adult female dialogue when she's engaging with Will?
But as I've said before the show tackles what has happened to the news since we decided that selling advertising is more important than informing the electorate. In what I thought was an especially telling moment from episode 3 (in the clip above) the owner of the fictional network is worried about anyone being too hard on members of Congress because she has business before them.
The opening speech, following a clip of Richard Clark's apology, was not to be missed. Here's the text:
“Good evening, I’m Will McAvoy, this is News Night and that was a clip of Richard Clark, former counter terrorism chief to President George W. Bush, testifying before Congress on March 24, 2004.
Americans like that moment. I like that moment. Adults should hold themselves accountable for failure. And so tonight, I’m beginning this newscast by joining Mr. Clark and apologizing to the American people for our failure – the failure of this program during the time I’ve been in charge of it to successfully inform and educate the American electorate.
Let me be clear that I don’t apologize on behalf of all broadcast journalists, nor do all broadcast journalists owe an apology. I speak for myself. I was an accomplice to a slow and repeated and unacknowledged and unamended train wreck of failures that have brought us to now. I’m a leader in an industry that miscalled election results, hyped up terror scares, ginned up controversy and failed to report on tectonic shifts in our country, from the collapse of the financial system to the truths about how strong we are to the dangers we actually face. I’m a leader in an industry that misdirected your attention with the dexterity of Harry Houdini, while sending hundreds of thousands of our bravest young men and women off to war without due diligence.
The reason we failed isn’t a mystery – we took a dive for the ratings.
In the infancy of mass communication, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress. Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of airtime set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news.
Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better – Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say the taxpayers will give you the airwaves for free and for 23 hours a day, you should make a profit, but for one hour a night, you work for us.
And now those network newscasts, anchored through history by honest-to-God newsmen with names like Murrow and Reasoner and Huntley and Brinkley and Buckley and Cronkite and Rather and Russert…now, they have to compete with the likes of me, a cable anchor who’s in the exact same business as the producers of “Jersey Shore.”
And that business was good to us. But News Night is quitting that business right now. It might come as a surprise to you that some of history’s greatest American journalists are working right now. Exceptional minds with years of experience and an unshakable devotion to reporting the news. But these voices are a small minority now and they don’t stand a chance against the circus when the circus comes to town. They’re over matched. I’m quitting the circus, switching teams. I’m going with the guys who are getting creamed. I’m moved. They still think they can win and I hope they can teach me a thing or two.
From this moment on, we’ll be deciding what goes on our air and how it’s presented to you based on the simple truth that nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate. We’ll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire.
We’ll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole and nonsense. We’re not waiters in a restaurant, serving you the stories you asked for, just the way you like them prepared. Nor are we computers, dispensing only the facts because news is only useful in the context of humanity. I’ll make no effort to subdue my personal opinions. I will make every effort to expose you to informed opinions that are different from my own.
You may ask who are we to make these decisions. We are MacKenzie McHale and myself. Ms. McHale is our executive producer. She marshals the resources of over 100 reporters, producers, analysts and technicians and her credentials are readily available. I’m News Night’s managing editor and make the final decision on everything seen and heard on this program.
Who are we to make these decisions? We are the media elite.
We’ll be back after this with the news…”
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