By fortune, tonight I watched 60 minutes and the interview with Sully. Yes Cpt. Cool, the Hero of the Hudson, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. Here's the audio from the cockpit, his discussions with the air traffic controllers (BTW, I thought they did an outstanding job even though they got the call sign wrong).
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At the end of his 60 minutes interview he said something really interesting.
More on the flip.
The interesting part starts at 29 minutes into the video where they read a hero worship letter from the son of a holocaust survivor. Then Katie, in perhaps her best interview ever, asks Sully:
K.C.> You have been called a hero by a lot of people. How do you feel about that?
Sully> I don't feel comfortable embracing it but I don't want to deny it. I don't want to diminish their thankful feeling toward me by telling them that they are wrong. I'm beginning to understand why they might feel that way.
C.K.> and why is that?
Sully> Something about this episode has captured peoples imagination. I think they want good news. I think they want to feel hopeful again. If I can help in that way I will.
Here's the video, the interesting part starts at 29:04
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and then I watched "Sicko", Michael Moore's documentary on healthcare once again (it's running on Showtime this month, watch it again if you get the chance). What got me was the interview Michael did with former British Labor Party Member of Parliament Tony Benn.
Tony really get's the big picture!
Tony Benn> Well if you go back it all began with democracy. Before we had the vote, all the power is in the hands of rich people. If you had money you could get health care, education, look after yourself when you were old, and what democracy did was to give the poor the vote. And it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station, from the wallet to the ballot. If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people. I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world. Far more revolutionary than socialist ideas or any body else's ideas. If you have power, you use it! to meet the the needs of you and your community and this idea about choice which capitalism(?) talks about all the time, you've got to have a choice, choice depends upon the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don't have the freedom to choose.
M. Moore> It seems like it benefits the system if the average working person is shackled in debt
Tony Benn> People in debt become hopeless, and hopeless people don't vote. So they will say everyone should vote, but I think if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people who represented their interests it would be a real democratic revolution. So they don't want it to happen. So keeping people hopeless and pessimistic.....see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled: first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them. An educated healthy and confidant nation is harder to govern.
snip
continues> But, they're poor, they're demoralized, they're frightened and therefore they think that perhaps the safest thing to do is take orders and hope for the best.
Having watched this, having studied President Obama's campaign, having lived through the previous eight years, having to listen to Dick Cheney once again last week; it all became crystal clear.
It's fear vs. hope, it's control vs nurture. We need to let the poor, the sick and the down trodden know that they are equals and they have a voice. It's the wallet vs the ballot. Acorn is at the center of this fight in America and now I realize why the republicans were fighting so hard against them. Now I know why we are a debt-based society. Now I understand how the sub-prime mortgage problem happened. Now I know why Dick Cheney surfaced from his 'undisclosed location' to tell us last week about the lurking terrorists with nukes.
It's hope vs. fear, the fear of hope and the hope to not fear. Obama picked the perfect message for his campaign. Lets all work to bolster hope and eliminate fear through education and care of our communities.
Dr. King once said "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."