It's a quandry.
And one we found ourselves reflecting on repeatedly last week.
In Amy Goodman and David Goodman's Exception to the Rulers, the siblings take on daytime TV, the media and much more. "Things Get Messy With Sally Jessy!" (chapter 15) is a chapter Democracy Sometimes! consumers should be paying attention after last week's broadcasts. After tearing into Sally Jessy (we have no opinion), they then hold Lesley Stahl and Tom Brokaw (among others) accountable leading into this on page 290:
I am not a fan of partying with the powerful. We shouldn't be sipping champagne with Henry Kissinger, Richard Holbrooke, and Donald Rumsfeld. We should be holding those in power accountable.
"I"? We assume it's Amy but, as we noted when reviewing the Donnie & Marie of the Faux Left's latest 'book,' the brother-sister duo likes to use that "I" and "me" a lot in their joint-writing.
Goody's not a fan of partying with the powerful . . . except when she is. And last week, she was.
And she was, was, was . . . To be Talking Heads about it.
Last week, the same Goody that did a segment on protesters demonstrating against the Aspen Institute ("Protest at Aspen Insitute," August 21, 2000) was, in fact, attending the Aspen Institute. (See Kat's "Amy Goodman, selling it for the Aspen Institute.") She lied to her audience and repeatedly referred to it as the "Aspen Ideals Festival." That's an event put on by the Aspen Institute which explains, "For more than 50 years, the Aspen Institute has been the nation’s premier gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times." Why Goody couldn't be honest with her audience and say "Aspen Institute" all last week may be a question that goes to her efforts to avoid the hypocrite she sees reflected in the mirror these days.
Though she wasn't happy to note on air what she was really doing in Aspen, she was happy to supply the Institute with a bio sketch:
Amy Goodman is principal host and executive producer of Pacifica’s Radio Democracy Now! Program. Democracy Now! A national, daily, independent, and award-winning news program airing on more than 700 TV and radio stations in North America. Goodman is the co-author of three New York Times bestsellers: Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times (2008), Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back (2006), and The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them (2004). She writes a weekly column syndicated by King Features, for which she was recognized in 2007 with the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Reporting.
For the record, the award was did not recognize her columns, it was a "Career Achievement award." (Check the academy, we holler in our best Bette Davis!). For the record, Aronson ran the Communist periodical The National Guardian. (Don't bore us with trash about how it was 'independent' from the Communist Party. It was 'independent' in the same way that The Nation today is 'independent' of the Democratic Party -- a few skirmishes but always repeating the larger party lines.) Remember when the report ran here on The Nation's affinity for Communists during the period that they supposedly had banned Communists? (They were happy to run pieces by Communists who stayed in the closet with the greater public, they just wouldn't run pieces by any Communist who refused to be closeted)? Well The National Guardian was a weekly paper, out of NYC of course, and was 'tight' with PM which was a daily newspaper and one that The Nation executives (and spy Otto) worked on publishing (also a Communist paper). That's not, "Oh the shame!" That's being honest about the historical record. All those involved in the early years are dead or old enough to come out of the closet. In another piece, we'll be happy to document the hotel where The Nation held their meetings with Otto (those in charge of The Nation magazine including Lady F) and we may even include minutes from some of those 'strategy' sessions. (Yes, they do exist. And, yes, we do have copies.)
The sketch contains other lies as well. We'll just laugh at the notion that the Goodys' third 'book' is a best-seller and move on to "principal host." As we noted so long ago, Juan Gonzalez is a co-host in name only. (And we are not attacking Juan with that statement. Juan's the only reason we check out the show when we bother to check it out anymore.) On air (especially when she needs to address a Latino issue), Goody trots out Juan and dubs him her "co-host" but, notice, in the bio she supplied the institute with, "co-host" wasn't good for her ever increasing ego: She is "principal host."
What she isn't is honest. More and more she lies. She promoted the Aspen Institute non-stop on her program last week and our only surprise was that she didn't bring on fellow Festival-goer Austan Goolsbe who not only argues for the privatization of Social Security but is one of Barack's economic gurus. July 2nd, she made time for Joseph Cirincione who was also a Festival-goer. She, of course, failed to point the Aspen Institute connection. More interesting was her intro of him, "I'm joined now by one of the country's foremost researchers and authors on nuclear weapons and disarmament. Joseph Cirincione joined the Ploughshares Fund as President this spring. " Oh, wow, the Berrigan brothers! The good movement against nuclear proliferation! Should be a good guest. But wait . . . that's the Plowshares Movement. It's an easy mistake to leap too, they sound alike and, certainly, Goody did nothing to clear up that she had a War Hawk on and not anyone from a peace group.
Speaking of nuclear energy (not really his field of expertise, but he does love to jawbone), Cirincione informed Goody (who didn't question), that with nuclear energy, "It's not the reactor you're worried about . . ." Oh really? Was Three Mile Island in 1979 just a coke high that got misrecorded as an actual event? This is the same man who told Jeffrey D. McCausland (Carnegie Council, December 5, 2006) that nuclear energy was "the energy supply of the future." It sure is nice of Goody to bring people like Cirincione onto her program (and to refuse to challenge them) because, goodness knows, the nuclear power lobby is one of the most underfunded, shoe-string operations in the country. What's that? They are highly funded? Well why does Goody keep finding a way to invite them to the table (and never question them)?
And wasn't it cute how she avoided asking him about Charless Bennett or Homeland Insecurity Czar Tommy Ridge -- both of whom Cirincione served in Congress? In fact, Cirincione wrote Bennett's press release praising the Patriot missle (January 30, 1991) and was listed on the release as the "Contact" ("Joe Cirinicione 202-225-5971"). "We can all be proud of the Patriot system," Cirinicione quoted Bennett stating. That's the same Congress member Bennett who put forward the legislation that slapped "In God We Trust" on US currency. But Goody wasn't interested in that either.
The July 2nd program was a nightmare. She provided the Aspen Institute's first "artist in residence" (2006) Anna Deavere Smith (failed actress, bad 'playwright' -- like Goody's 'books,' Smith's 'plays' are nothing but copy-and-paste clip-jobs) whom Goody found so delightful, she needed to play a clip of African-American Smith in stereotype (don't call it "in character") as a Korean-American with a thick, insulting accent. (See this edition's "Stop the racism.")
If you thought that had to be the all-time low point, you don't realize that Jim Wallis was on the program. Wallis continues to pack on the pounds and elude reality. He was aided in that feat -- with gusto -- by Goody. Wallis was allowed to minimize his comments on abortion (he wants to end it) and what he had told ABC News, he was allowed to misrepresent throughout and never was it more clear than when and Goody 'discussed' Barack's increased support for Bully Boy's 'faith-based' programs.
Any real discussion would have addressed the issue of hiring and firing. For those who've forgotten, Bully Boy's program was troubling not only because it erodes the wall between church and state that is supposed to exist in the US (whether Wallis hates the wall or not is no concern for an 'exploration') but also because tax payer money was being turned over to churches and many were seen as racists, sexists or homophobic. Barack's expansion, AP reported, would include allowing them to hire and fire as they saw fit -- something Bully Boy had to back off of because Americans (and Congress) were outraged at the thought that churches could do with tax payer money what no one else could: discriminate on the basis of race, gender or sexual identity.
A push-back would try to say AP got it wrong. That was an issue. It was an issue Goody didn't bring up and Wallis knew not to. Wallis couldn't stop name-dropping "Barack" and chattering on about his long, long friendship with him. It was as though Ava Gabor was being interviewed about Merv Griffin and Goody hit about as hard as anyone would in that interview.
She offered more propaganda passed off as 'information.'
We were complaining about the program all week to everyone and a friend at NBC asked were we going to review Fear Itself or not?
That's the new program that is airing on Thursday's last hour of primetime. (However, it's on a two-week hiatus. Episodes can be viewed online.) We're not much on anthology shows -- hosted by Loretta Young or anyone. The quality goes up and down. There's no regular cast. It's really hard to view an anthology show, we argued.
We were begged. To the point that we finally agreed we'd watch Thursday's show.
Imagine our surprise when we witnessed a solid and compelling hour of television.
The show started with a prisoner being taken to a jail cell. His back was to the camera as police officers warned he was a dangerous customer. When his face was finally shown, it was obscured with hair hanging it -- so much so we thought for a moment Johnny Depp might be slumming as a favor. Also obscured was what sort of building (multi-level, with a police locker room) he was being held in because he appeared to be the only prisoner and the only police working there were supposed to be guarding him.
There were four main police characters (Elizabeth Moss, Russell Hornsby, Stephen Lee and Pablo Schreiber), the police captain and three serving under him. The episode was entitled "The Eater" (directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Richard Chizmar and Johnathon Schaech) or as we like to think of Democratic Party Campaign 2008. Did we mention the prisoner was a cannible?
Moss played the main character who they called Danni Bannerman, but we saw her as Hillary. Apparently, the two males under the captain have never had to work with a woman before and think spewing hatred is the obvious workplace choice to make? After what went down in the Democratic primary, we'd be the last to say, "I don't think that kind of sexism could exist so openly." And we might object to the fact that -- whether Danni's property's being stolen, she's being hit, grabbed or verbally insulted -- the captain never calls it off. But we saw the media not only refuse to call out the sexism in the primaries, we saw them openly participate in it. So the captain has at least one more 'moral' than does the media.
For reasons not explained, the three under the captain are left in the apparent police headquarters by themselves with the prisoner. They are supposed to guard the prisoner -- that's not in question. What's in question is where everyone else is? How do you have a multi-storied police headquarters and so few police officers staffing it?
Danni asks for the file on the eater and goes to the locker room to change her shirt (one pig has smeared food on her shirt -- in front of the captain with no objection from the captain). That scene explained what might have happened to the other officers: They were laid off due to the budget overruns on mood lighting.
Danni ignores the low lighting until it starts flickering as she encounters a sex doll left in her locker. She eventually opens the case file and begins reading. After which, she'll encounter the overweight of the two men serving under the captain. He's sitting at a desk in the squad room. We quickly decided he was Mike Gravel due to his propensity to make attention getting statements regardless of whether they were true or not (his parents were not dead) and his obvious hatred towards Hillary, er Dani.
She'll grow tired of his crap around the time he's yelling about coffee and go into the holding area where she'll encounter the attractive pig serving under the captain. We thought of him as John Edwards and not just because he had nicer hair. He also repeated every attack line uttered at Dani previously in the episode. It was like watching one of the Democratic debates.
Dani will notice that he sounds just like the other police officer and also note that the prisoner is not moving. John Edwards will storm off in a snit and Dani find out that the door to the holding cell is open.
Ripping out pages in our best Frank Sinatra, we'll explain that neither police officer is the police officer. They are both the prisoner. He is not just a cannibal, he has magic powers (the script 'helpfully' explains he's Cajun). He eats the hearts out of his victims and then can become them. And apparently shift back and forth. Dani will realize that when she finds Mike Gravel dead under a desk and goes running through multiple stories of the police station attempting to find a way out. (Sadly The Nation, Truthout, The Progressive and so many others do not show up to instruct Dani on how she can just drop out.)
She'll finally bump into the captain who came back to check on things. Dani will explain what's happened after he takes her gun away. Returning her gun, he'll tell her he doesn't believe her but he believes she believes what she's saying. With the already low lights flickering non-stop, they'll head up stairs. Where Dani will find out . . .
The police captain was killed earlier and it's "the eater" assuming the form of the police captain. He will then begin shifting through the three victims whose hearts he's eaten while Dani attempts to get help and get out.
Numerous physical fights will ensue. Dani will realize that she can't let him escape. (Like Hillary, she has concern for the safety of others.) Finally, she will end up in an equipment closet and he will track her by following the blood. He will pull the injured Dani out (one arm is already broken and he's eaten from her head) of the closet and tell her that fun and games are over. He'll get ready to pounce on her and begin eating when she handcuffs him to herself (which he doesn't notice). The eater will devour her heart and then foam at the mouth and begin screaming before dying. To save others, Dani consumed rat poison in the equipment closet.
We saw "the eater" as Barack since he was repeatedly able to trick people. We saw the real victim as the Democratic process since Barack appears to have stolen the nomination. The episode ended with the eater's death but we like to think that in TV world, Dani's sacrifice was appreciated because it's too depressing to think TV can't improve on real life.
Scripted TV, unlike real life, could and did acknowledge the non-stop sexism Dani suffered. Scripted TV could encourage you to root for her. "News" and "public affairs"? Goodman spent a week in Aspen at the Aspen Institute and couldn't even tell her audience that. Kept hiding being a 'festival' of 'ideas' that was, by chance, being held in Aspen. Brought on all her fellow travelers as guests and couldn't explain -- even when she had the Institute's 2006 'artist in residence' for an interview -- what was going on? Mood lighting aside, there was more honesty in the scripted drama.