“I decided I could lose nothing by trying the soft approach. If that didn't produce for me—and I didn't think it would—nature could take its course and we could bust up the furniture.”
Phillip Marlowe character from Raymond Chandler's – The Lady In The Lake
Posted by Danny Hammond during late night TV
From: "Newsroom" The Popular TV Series 1st Episode on 24 June 2012, HBO Starring Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy the highest-rated television newscaster in the country.
Will McAvoy sits onstage with two other journalists and he is an outspoken man. He is obviously holding in a lot more than the others guess.
A question and answer period begins with a young female college student from the attendees walks to the microphone and says, "this question is, can you tell me in two sentences why America is the greatest country in the world"?
One of the panelists quickly answers, "Freedom".
The girl turns to Will, "Mr. McAvoy"?
Will answers sharply with a forced smile, "The New York Mets".
The Moderator mildly berates him as Will holds his hand over his eyes to block the sun coming through a high window. He is trying to read two small signs that someone in the crowd is holding in succession. The first one reads, "America is not the greatest country in the world.", and the second one, "But it could be".
Will can't see who is handling the two signs, but he slowly gets the message that someone is telling him the answer he knows is what he believes.
The Moderator: Come on Will, I can't let you get away without answering better than that.
Will: Ok, fine. It's not.
The Moderator: Are you saying...
Will: It's not the greatest country in the world, professor, that's my answer.
Moderator: [pause] You are saying...
Will: Yes.
Moderator: Let's talk about...
Will: Fine.
Will: [to the liberal panelist] Sharon, the NEA (National Education Association) is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he [gesturing to the conservative panelist] gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches.
You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS!
And [to the conservative panelist] with a straight face, you're going to tell these students that America's so star-spangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom?
Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, and like 180 of them have freedom.
And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world.
We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force, and number 4 in exports.
We lead the world in only three categories: the number of incarcerated citizens per capita, the number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies.
None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about?! Yosemite?!!!
Will calms considerably and draws a breath.
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons. We passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest.
We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men.
We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men. Men who were revered.
The first step, in solving any problem, is recognizing that there is one. —America is not the greatest country in the world... anymore.
Will: [to moderator] "Enough"?
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