I just saw George Clooney's fantastic new film about Edward R. Murrow, "
Good Night, and Good Luck" last night. To quote the New York Times movie critic
A.O. Scott, "The title evokes Murrow's trademark sign-off, and I can best sum up my own response by recalling the name of his flagship program:
See it now." It really is that good.
The movie, at its most basic level, is about Murrow's role in taking on Sen. Joe McCarthy at the height of the latter's red-baiting scare. But if you see it, I think you'll find yourself, as I did, thinking about at least two other things:
First, the parallels to the present political environment are uncanny to the point of being scary. In the calculus of the red-baiters, if you didn't support McCarthy's crusade, that meant you were a communist or communist sympathizer. So, too, today: If you don't support George Bush's vision of the "war on terror" and with it the war in Iraq, then you are at best unpatriotic, at worst a supporter of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Second, I wish only that there were more Murrows today. Some writers have criticized Clooney for not maintaining pure "historical accuracy." They say he lionizes Murrow and inflates his role in taking down McCarthy. I think these criticisms miss the point. This movie is about a broader issue: finding the courage to, as we often like to say around here, speak truth to power.
Murrow may not have been the first media figure to go after McCarthy, but he was among the most important, and he had a lot to lose by doing so. Yet he did it anyway, because he realized it was the right thing to do. It's a lesson I think we all wish important people in major media outlets would learn. (And I would add that though the movie portrays a very cautious CBS ownership, the network seems to have had more courage then than now.)
Again I say, if you haven't seen it yet, go see this movie. I think it will be of interest to almost everyone who frequents this site.