Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Good Night and Good Luck

I am really anxious to see this movie about Edward R. Murrow.
I seem to vaguely remember him from my childhood. He was extent in the early fifties and didn't leave newscasting until the 1960's (he was a chain smoker and died from lung cancer in 1965 at the age of 57). Mr. Murrow was about a straight a man as you can imagine and pulled no punches. While he was not solely responsible for the eventual demise of Joseph McCarthy, and the hysteria that that man created, he was certainly instrumental in it. As I said, I can't wait to see the movie. We need more men like him today.

One of the things that McCarthy did was compose lists of "commies." This was similar to a list of enemies that Richard Nixon created. Once you were black listed, you were through. If you were an actor, you had trouble getting a job. Ronald Reagan liked those black lists too.
he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on Communist influence in Hollywood. He also kept tabs on actors he considered disloyal and informed on them to the FBI under the code name "Agent T-10," but he would not denounce them publicly. He supported the practice of blacklisting in Hollywood.
It is hard for us to imagine the atmosphere of that day, but the fact that everyone in my high school was given a copy of J. Edgar Hoover's "Masters of Deceit" gives you some idea of the level of tolerence. Zero. Yes, we were all brainwashed.

Now we have a new list that is being created by Bill O'Reilly of those who are critical of his remarks about San Francisco (thanks to Kos). I referred to this earlier.

Well, I want to be on this list. Where do I sign up? Kos suggests emailing Bill O'Reilly at: oreilly@foxnews.com

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