Good Night, and Good Luck
I just watched Good Night and Good Luck - about 45 seconds ago the credits started rolling on my screen, and I turned to the word processor to start writing about it. Not really about the movie itself - there’s nothing to criticize or discuss about the acting, directing, cinematography, or special effects. But there is a good bit to say about the message of the movie, the historical lessons contained inside, and the relevance to me, as a man, a citizen, and possibly as a journalist in some future.
It seems that when we turn back to the 40’s and 50’s for political and moral lessons, it seems so very black and white. As if people lived their lives in monochrome, easily understood with few ambiguities. That’s the way it’s presented…”life was simpler then”, “we knew who our enemies were”, and my favorite, “we didn’t have all these terrible things that we do today.” Well, frankly, that’s horseshit. And it would be very easy to decry the McCarthy’s, the red-scare mongers, and all the frightened people who let themselves be led into doing un American things for the sake of America. The problem is when we keep those people whom we despise in our heads as history lessons and constructs of their times, and pat ourselves on the back with the knowledge that we are far too sophisticated to ever fall for the same tactics. Advertising was so clumsy, people were so un-sophisticated. Our modern minds would never be swayed by such elementary psychology. People are much the same now as they were fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, two thousand years ago. We shouldn’t persuade ourselves that it’s no longer our duty to care, to be informed, or to act in the pursuit of truth. All the great questions have not been answered, and the race is not over yet.
But there is another responsibility there. And that is not to apply the conflicts of the past with their seemingly clearly labeled sides. Nobody I know can seriously defend McCarthyism as a coherent or desirable policy. Nobody I know is in favor of Congress dragging entertainers, writers, journalists, and activists before closed door hearings to determine their patriotism, and their suitability to retain their jobs. But do you know who I do know? I do know Americans who seriously defend warrantless wiretappings of American citizens. I do know Americans who feel that the Patriot Act doesn’t do enough to contain the insidious spread of terrorism. I do know Americans who say, “Let them come investigate me. I don’t have anything to hide”. People are again believing that the conflicts today are not ones of ideas, of ideologies, and of wills. And unfortunately, people seem willing to believe that we will know Evil when we see it, because the choices will be in clear black and white, like the television told them. “How can anyone think like that?” is an often asked question about extremists. That’s a good question. A really good question. Maybe we should come up with an answer, and a counter argument instead of banning nail clippers from airplanes and putting cameras on the streets.
It’s easy now to watch a movie like Good Night and Good Luck, and wish that I lived in a time like that, with great men who stood for something right against wrongs. It’s easy to read a book about the Revolution, or the Civil Rights Movement, or World War Two, and wish that I lived with such easy choices. It’s a dream. Those men didn’t find their choices any easier than we find ours today, and we should quit kidding ourselves that they did. There is plenty to fight for, to stand up against, to define ourselves with now. Right now. Take these stories of freedom, stories of the little man, stories of individual courage, and use them as examples for tomorrow. Not just as bedtime stories before the television clicks back on and we fall asleep again.
So, can you tell I just watched a really good movie?
It seems that when we turn back to the 40’s and 50’s for political and moral lessons, it seems so very black and white. As if people lived their lives in monochrome, easily understood with few ambiguities. That’s the way it’s presented…”life was simpler then”, “we knew who our enemies were”, and my favorite, “we didn’t have all these terrible things that we do today.” Well, frankly, that’s horseshit. And it would be very easy to decry the McCarthy’s, the red-scare mongers, and all the frightened people who let themselves be led into doing un American things for the sake of America. The problem is when we keep those people whom we despise in our heads as history lessons and constructs of their times, and pat ourselves on the back with the knowledge that we are far too sophisticated to ever fall for the same tactics. Advertising was so clumsy, people were so un-sophisticated. Our modern minds would never be swayed by such elementary psychology. People are much the same now as they were fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, two thousand years ago. We shouldn’t persuade ourselves that it’s no longer our duty to care, to be informed, or to act in the pursuit of truth. All the great questions have not been answered, and the race is not over yet.
But there is another responsibility there. And that is not to apply the conflicts of the past with their seemingly clearly labeled sides. Nobody I know can seriously defend McCarthyism as a coherent or desirable policy. Nobody I know is in favor of Congress dragging entertainers, writers, journalists, and activists before closed door hearings to determine their patriotism, and their suitability to retain their jobs. But do you know who I do know? I do know Americans who seriously defend warrantless wiretappings of American citizens. I do know Americans who feel that the Patriot Act doesn’t do enough to contain the insidious spread of terrorism. I do know Americans who say, “Let them come investigate me. I don’t have anything to hide”. People are again believing that the conflicts today are not ones of ideas, of ideologies, and of wills. And unfortunately, people seem willing to believe that we will know Evil when we see it, because the choices will be in clear black and white, like the television told them. “How can anyone think like that?” is an often asked question about extremists. That’s a good question. A really good question. Maybe we should come up with an answer, and a counter argument instead of banning nail clippers from airplanes and putting cameras on the streets.
It’s easy now to watch a movie like Good Night and Good Luck, and wish that I lived in a time like that, with great men who stood for something right against wrongs. It’s easy to read a book about the Revolution, or the Civil Rights Movement, or World War Two, and wish that I lived with such easy choices. It’s a dream. Those men didn’t find their choices any easier than we find ours today, and we should quit kidding ourselves that they did. There is plenty to fight for, to stand up against, to define ourselves with now. Right now. Take these stories of freedom, stories of the little man, stories of individual courage, and use them as examples for tomorrow. Not just as bedtime stories before the television clicks back on and we fall asleep again.
So, can you tell I just watched a really good movie?
