The Terror Is In This Room

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The events in California are disturbing, and I will write about them tomorrow. What Trump is doing may be the beginning of creating a “crisis” to declare Martial Law. But today I want to share thoughts on something I watched last night.

“The terror is right here in this room.” —Edward R. Murrow

Last night, CNN live-broadcast the Broadway play Goodnight and Good-luck, about CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow. It chronicles when Murrow, who was a popular veteran broadcaster on the network, took on the demagogue Senator Joseph McCarthy, on-air. McCarthy, if you recall, was the mastermind of a searing of anti-communist Congressional hearings that sought to exposed individuals who were presumed to be communists or communist sympathizers in the 1950s. The McCarthy Hearings ruined many people— politicians, artists, filmmakers, journalists; even though what they were accused of were out-right lies, fabrications. And outright wrong to even make the public accusations.

George Clooney plays Murrow, and he is also one of the producers of the play. I wonder if the idea to broadcast it live on CNN was his idea. He has long been critical of Trump, and has spoken publicity about the danger of the times we are in. I had wanted to see the Goodnight and Good Luck, but when I saw the ticket prices, I couldn’t go—the were upwards of $800 a seat and more. I think the producers idea of making it available to everyone for free was genius, and I give a lot of credit to CNN for airing it. The issues in the play are in essence the same ones that concern us now, only I would argue what we have now is more pervasive. The hate and persecution now is not only towards communists and socialists, but immigrants, Blacks, women, trans and LBGTQ people (not to say that the McCarthy era wasn’t similarly broadly hateful, it’s just that the McCarthy Hearings were only about supposed communists).

One of the things Clooney hopes to demonstrate by producing the play is that the US has been through tough times, and we can get through the current time as well. He believes that Trumpism won’t last past Trump’s term, pointing out that we should remember that Trump is a celebrity, pure and simple. But….

One of the most famous lines that Murrow said, and is uttered by Clooney is ‘The terror is right here in this this room.” Murrow was talking to his colleagues in the CBS newsroom, but it can apply to all of us. The kind of environment Trump is creating in the US now is one of fear, and even if we don’t think we’re afraid, it has been internalized so well because of the tactics he is using, that we don’t acknowledge that we are afraid. We just begin acting in ways that we may not recognize: not doing things or not speaking out because of fear.

After the broadcast, CNN had two hours of panel discussions with journalists from a variety of places. They discussed the role of media then and now, and the importance of news outlets standing up for truth. It was really well-done. The panelists and host Anderson Cooper spotlighted what we so often ignore: the utmost importance of journalists in a democracy. Journalists are the only profession who are given protection in the constitution.

Media is changing so fast, legacy media is becoming less and less relevant as people get their news from a variety of sources. It is important to realize that, and, when consuming media, be cognizant of the source; so many of us are not. Unlike when I was growing up, we now don’t have one trusted source, like Walter Cronkite and before my time, Edward R. Murrow. That actually could be a positive change; we don’t get our news from just one place. Because consuming news is more work now, and often it is hard to discern what is fact and what is true, some Americans just don’t try to stay involved. That’s no excuse. We have to keep informed and we have to support honest journalism.

Here is an excerpt from the play, a quote about McCarthy from Murrow:

“His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the 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.”

So: bravo to Clooney and the cast, producers, directors and funders of Goodnight and Good Luck, and kudos to CNN. Sorry I did not see it in person, but so glad it was aired. Let’s keep talking and keeping each other informed and supported. Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow.