"America Rant" from Newsroom...best show on American television?

jbertoglio

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Key rant in the speech given in the first episode of the cable drama, Newsroom. You have to see this show!

http://lybio.net/the-newsroom-what-makes-america-the-greatest-country-in-the-world/television/

Would that it was not true. :( :clap:

[Student]

Hi, my name is Jenny, I’m a sophomore and this for all three of you. Can you say in one sentence or less – what – (laughing in background) you know what I mean: “Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?”

[Will (news anchor) edited]

IT’S NOT

Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money. It costs votes. It costs airtime. And column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so ****in’ smart then how come they lose so ******* always?

And with a straight face, you’re gonna sit there and tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The U.K. France. Italy. Germany. Spain. Australia. BELGIUM has freedom. (laughs) Two hundred and seven sovereign states in the world, like, a hundred and eighty of them have freedom.

And you, Sorority Girl, just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. One of them is there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re seventh in literacy. Twenty-seventh in math. Twenty-second in science. Forty-ninth in life expectancy. A hundred and seventy-eighth in infant mortality. Third in median household income. Number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies.

Now none of this is the fault of a twenty-year-old college student, but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the worst, period, generation, period, ever, period. So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I dunno what the **** you’re talkin’ about. Yosemite?

Sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed. We cared about our neighbors. We put our money where our mouths were. And we never beat our chest.

We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. [pause] We reached for the stars. Acted like men.

We aspired to intelligence. We didn’t belittle it—it didn’t make us feel inferior.

We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t, oh, we didn’t scare so easy. Ha. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men. Men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. [pause] Enough?
 

regularjoe

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Haven't seen it yet, not a huge tv watcher and never really a fan of the shows' creator.
If you like this may I suggest a movie from the 1970's by the name of "Network"? One of my desert island top 5 movies that I suspect may be not dissimilar. If you've ever heard someone say "they're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore" they're referencing this movie.



[video=youtube;WINDtlPXmmE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDtlPXmmE[/video]
 

Glennbo

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Glad I don't have a T.V.

You people who watch it are all idiots.

Sorry for being so harsh, but recently I've had free televisions tried to be forced on me by family and friends. They're desperate for me to have a T.V. They're like drug pushers. The only thing I hate worse than T.V. is people who like T.V. Yeah I know... that's a lot of people.
 
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jbertoglio

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Glad I don't have a T.V.

You people who watch it are all idiots.

Sorry for being so harsh, but recently I've had free televisions tried to be forced on me by family and friends. They're desperate for me to have a T.V. They're like drug pushers. The only thing I hate worse than T.V. is people who like T.V. Yeah I know... that's a lot of people.
Thanks for sharing.
 

Glennbo

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Thanks for sharing.
Oh I've got plenty more to share.

Such as what simpletons think that vapid, shallow, simplistic anti-American propaganda, written and performed by advertising dollar whores, is in any way insightful, clever, or wise? People who watch a lot of television I imagine.

And of course the unanswered question is: what is the greatest nation on earth? Canada? Denmark? Naturally in order to prevent derisive laughter, or reveal the complete lack of intellectual substance no viable alternative to the U.S. is given.

Yeah... the greatest nation on earth is Sweden. That's deep man!
 

jbertoglio

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Oh I've got plenty more to share.

Such as what simpletons think that vapid, shallow, simplistic anti-American propaganda, written and performed by advertising dollar whores, is in any way insightful, clever, or wise? People who watch a lot of television I imagine.

And of course the unanswered question is: what is the greatest nation on earth? Canada? Denmark? Naturally in order to prevent derisive laughter, or reveal the complete lack of intellectual substance no viable alternative to the U.S. is given.

Yeah... the greatest nation on earth is Sweden. That's deep man!
So...anyone who watches television is an idiot. Certainly, Sturgeon's Law applies to television. We get the media quality (and the government) we deserve. As long as we support crap TV and crap politicians we will get more of the same. But there is wisdom in the text I posted. Is it anti-American? Not to me. It talks about the past glory of America and challenges us to once again reach those levels.

I suspect (like most Americans) you feel that this is the greatest country in the world simply because you were born here. What is the greatest country?...who knows but the metrics quoted above show how far we have slipped. Quote metrics that contradict those above. Show that Adam Sorkin was incorrect. I would LOVE for him to be wrong. But he is not. We are nowhere near the top in social mobility...an area we used own. Because of powerful media messages crafted by right-wing think tanks and wimpy and uncertain liberals, working people have become convinced that they have common cause with billionaires. In the process, they are slowly becoming serfs.

Viable alternative...again, not sure. There was a time when we led in almost all metrics. Now, one has to assume that being the only large country with an intact industrial base after WWII gave us an advantage. But for whatever reasons, the entire country participated in a rising standard of living until around 1980. Despite the rhetoric, this process has continued unabated during even the Clinton and Obama administrations. We started down the road of restoring a sort of neo-antebellum aristocracy, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of the few along with a declining standard of living for most others. Personally, I benefit professionally from this situation because it creates more consulting opportunities which keeps me just below the "1%" in household income. If I could get my wife to go back to work...:)

But what is good for me is not good for the country. We still have massive national wealth, a great work ethic and a system that rewards individual effort. I like the way we do things and would not like to live anywhere else...but I (and my peers) had advantages that do not exist today. I paid for the University of California out of my checkbook with earnings from a part time job...I never knew student loans existed. This is virtually impossible today. Like the actor says...we were great once, and can be great again. But not if the current trends continue.

As a political philosopher, you make a great ASL scenario designer. Love the EastSide stuff.

with respect, jb
 

Martin Mayers

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So...anyone who watches television is an idiot. Certainly, Sturgeon's Law applies to television. We get the media quality (and the government) we deserve. As long as we support crap TV and crap politicians we will get more of the same. But there is wisdom in the text I posted. Is it anti-American? Not to me. It talks about the past glory of America and challenges us to once again reach those levels.

I suspect (like most Americans) you feel that this is the greatest country in the world simply because you were born here. What is the greatest country?...who knows but the metrics quoted above show how far we have slipped. Quote metrics that contradict those above. Show that Adam Sorkin was incorrect. I would LOVE for him to be wrong. But he is not. We are nowhere near the top in social mobility...an area we used own. Because of powerful media messages crafted by right-wing think tanks and wimpy and uncertain liberals, working people have become convinced that they have common cause with billionaires. In the process, they are slowly becoming serfs.

Viable alternative...again, not sure. There was a time when we led in almost all metrics. Now, one has to assume that being the only large country with an intact industrial base after WWII gave us an advantage. But for whatever reasons, the entire country participated in a rising standard of living until around 1980. Despite the rhetoric, this process has continued unabated during even the Clinton and Obama administrations. We started down the road of restoring a sort of neo-antebellum aristocracy, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of the few along with a declining standard of living for most others. Personally, I benefit professionally from this situation because it creates more consulting opportunities which keeps me just below the "1%" in household income. If I could get my wife to go back to work...:)

But what is good for me is not good for the country. We still have massive national wealth, a great work ethic and a system that rewards individual effort. I like the way we do things and would not like to live anywhere else...but I (and my peers) had advantages that do not exist today. I paid for the University of California out of my checkbook with earnings from a part time job...I never knew student loans existed. This is virtually impossible today. Like the actor says...we were great once, and can be great again. But not if the current trends continue.

As a political philosopher, you make a great ASL scenario designer. Love the EastSide stuff.

with respect, jb
It's no coincidence that Britain is preceded with Great.
I'd precede it with Greatest County in the World Britain.
America is great to....but given that British settlers founded the USA....then it's a bit QED really isn't it
:)
 

trevpr1

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Oh I've got plenty more to share.

Such as what simpletons think that vapid, shallow, simplistic anti-American propaganda, written and performed by advertising dollar whores, is in any way insightful, clever, or wise? People who watch a lot of television I imagine.

And of course the unanswered question is: what is the greatest nation on earth? Canada? Denmark? Naturally in order to prevent derisive laughter, or reveal the complete lack of intellectual substance no viable alternative to the U.S. is given.

Yeah... the greatest nation on earth is Sweden. That's deep man!
Wooo... Touched a nerve...
 

Kevin Kenneally

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Oh I've got plenty more to share.

Such as what simpletons think that vapid, shallow, simplistic anti-American propaganda, written and performed by advertising dollar whores, is in any way insightful, clever, or wise? People who watch a lot of television I imagine.

And of course the unanswered question is: what is the greatest nation on earth? Canada? Denmark? Naturally in order to prevent derisive laughter, or reveal the complete lack of intellectual substance no viable alternative to the U.S. is given.

Yeah... the greatest nation on earth is Sweden. That's deep man!
I was going to recommend Finland.....

At least they paid back their war debt......
 

trevpr1

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Denmark is supposed to be the happiest. They have Lego.
 

Sparafucil3

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This is why we are great. Because we dare to try. Because we dare to say we can do it.

[video=youtube;Ki_Af_o9Q9s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s[/video]
 

aiabx

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This is why we are great. Because we dare to try. Because we dare to say we can do it.

[video=youtube;Ki_Af_o9Q9s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s[/video]
This stuff is awesomely cool, and it should make you great. I will be staying up until the landing is confirmed tonight, and I will be so pleased if you (Americans)/we (humanity) succeed here.
Then I see all the culture war nonsense going on and suddenly you're a good deal less awesome.
And then I see how hard people are fighting the teaching of evolution is schools, and I see how hard people are fighting the science of climatology and I wonder if Americans are giving up on science and are going with wishful thinking and superstition.
 

regularjoe

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It's not that the people of the US are giving up on science, per se. We got fat & lazy and have rested on our reputation instead of further cultivating it. We used to lead the world in education and now we're ranked somewhere in the 30's for quality of education. This is exacerbated by the fact that schools are facing cuts all across the country and teachers via their unions are portrayed as the enemies of state budgets. The quality of education here has been falling for decades and schools for elementary through colleges have been cutting programs (sadly athletics budgets are sacred cows). College prices are soaring and creating a situation where college is becoming unaffordable for many. The people here are able to tell you all about Joe Paterno or Lady Gaga but are poorly prepared to be citizens whether the stage be local, national or global.
 

JimWhite

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Then I see all the culture war nonsense going on and suddenly you're a good deal less awesome.
Too many people in this country feel entitled to everything for free. But what do you expect? Kids today just need to look around and see half the country living off the government...and they say why not me? So yeah...I agree...we are much less awesome than we used to be.

I guess some other country will have to step up and become the "big bully" on the block. Maybe Canada?

...and I see how hard people are fighting the science of climatology...and are going with wishful thinking and superstition.
Basically the same thing at this point.
 

BattleSchool

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Wars take two (or more) combatants. -- jim
Or a schizophrenic. :)

Canada, and Canadians have profited greatly from having a powerful and prosperous neighbour and ally. Not that very many Canadians like to admit that. We would not enjoy our current standard of living without this lopsided arrangement. Someone has to pay the utility bill for this planet. It is certainly not Canada. What percentage of the UN budget is borne by the US?

We may not have a full-blown culture war in Canada yet. But the storm clouds are on the horizon. The self-appointed intellectual elites in Canada have been pushing this country to the brink since the 1960s with their social agendas. It is slowing tearing the country apart, not that many Canadians are cognizant of the problems. Most are too busy watching reality TV on their iPhones to notice. :nuts:
 

Matt Book

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Or a schizophrenic. :)

Canada, and Canadians have profited greatly from having a powerful and prosperous neighbour and ally. Not that very many Canadians like to admit that. We would not enjoy our current standard of living without this lopsided arrangement. Someone has to pay the utility bill for this planet. It is certainly not Canada. What percentage of the UN budget is borne by the US?

We may not have a full-blown culture war in Canada yet. But the storm clouds are on the horizon. The self-appointed intellectual elites in Canada have been pushing this country to the brink since the 1960s with their social agendas. It is slowing tearing the country apart, not that many Canadians are cognizant of the problems. Most are too busy watching reality TV on their iPhones to notice. :nuts:
Get rid of Shadia Drury and will delay the problem for a century.....
 
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