I just reread Margaret Sullivan’s article after getting disgusted by the coverage of the primary elections. Political journalists are covering them as if they are just an indicator of Trump’s power. I watched in frustration Tuesday night as Steve Kornacki’s coverage of the NC results which completely ignored all of the Democratic races to focus just on Madison Cawthorn’s race in one NC district. NC Democrats had just overwhelmingly voted for a very impressive black woman — Cheri Beasely — to be our candidate to replace Senator Richard Burr. Beasely was the Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court but Kornacki wasn’t interested because her race wasn’t about Trump, just our democracy.
That coverage is typical of the coverage the rest of the mainstream media is giving to the primaries. All they care about is whether candidates endorsed by Trump win.
Yes, it is a pity that more people aren’t aware of the fact that history doesn’t repeat itself but rhymes as Mark Twain said. Perhaps too many quotes here.
Perhaps I should not have been surprised that you had never seen this film. This post plus your review of "Uncertain Ground" (that I'll check out asap...) triggered many personal memories while reviving the experiences of my father as a first-generation Jewish-American in the 30's and 40's (esp. as a wartime officer in Airborne Command in the Deep South...). I had often considered that the overt bigotry he faced had evolved into a more naive ignorance that I encountered more sporadically some 40 years later.
I prefer to believe that the bitterly prejudiced represent a much smaller portion of the citizenry than was the case 50 years ago, but our sharply fragmented zietgeist amplifies the crassly divisive while limiting the reach of thoughtful reflection. I cannot but wonder whether we delude ourselves when we envision that shared experiences such as those tied to military conscription or collective hardship or even "community" college are paths to durably mutual appreciation among the multitudes around a plentiful well of empathy.
For what it's worth, I was pleased that Chuck Schumer refused the invitation because I would prefer to see Tucker Carlson debate Ta Nehisi Coates...
A quarter century before Black Like Me, white Pittsburgh columnist Ray Sprigle spent a month traveling in the South masquerading as a light-skinned Black man, escorted by John Wesley Dobbs, an Atlanta civil rights leader and associate of Martin Luther King Sr. Sprigle wrote it up in a series of articles with headlines like "I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days!" Latter-day Pittsburgh newspaperman Bill Steigerwald, known for having busted John Steinbeck for egregiously faking his nonfiction bestseller Travels with Charley (see his terrific 2010 book Dogging Steinbeck and a 2011 NYT write-up by Charles McGrath), followed up that feat with a second book rescuing Sprigle from obscurity, titled 30 Days a Black Man.
Always one of my favorite movies, even more now that I live 20 minutes from its CT setting in Darien. By information and belief, the town still makes it very hard for a Jew to buy a house. So some of "Gentleman's Agreement" is not how it used to be. Of course there's also that famous line in "Auntie Mame," when Rosalind Russell disappointed in how the banker has raised her trust fund nephew, exclaims, "I didn't expect you to become an Ari-yan from Dari-yan."
And then there's real life, not just movies reflecting it. About 35 years ago, I was friends with RI's youngest state senator. French Canadian Norman Jacques was dark and Jewish looking. I thought so, too. Whenever a constituent or anyone asked him if he was Jewish, he loved replying, "I am, if you're antisemitic." He was not re-elected.
Thank you for this article. I thought of "Black Like Me" (which I read in 6th grade and which had a sharp impact on me) as I was reading this piece. I want to watch the movie. I also wonder how it fits in the post-WW II genre of film noire (there might be some similarity but does nobody go to jail and what about the femme fatale?). On gun violence in the US, I think of an article of some years ago ("there will be another gun tragedy in the US"), as this country is incapable of fixing its own disease.
Buffalo: Racist killings are terrible. Here comes the President. Waukesha: Racist killings? What racist killings? Let’s set a consistent standard and stick by it.
May 18, 2022·edited May 18, 2022Liked by James Fallows
Well done. The one point I increasingly wonder, though: Is Carlson "just putting on an act for ratings" any more, or has he been marinating in this toxic soup long enough that he's become a believer. He seems like he's giving more than a performance.
But he's lesser than an actor, in the sense that I think he's one of those folks of weak character who has never truly known - or owned - his own moral center. Ambition comes first, and the price may well be that he's so committed to the bit that it's turned him.
I just reread Margaret Sullivan’s article after getting disgusted by the coverage of the primary elections. Political journalists are covering them as if they are just an indicator of Trump’s power. I watched in frustration Tuesday night as Steve Kornacki’s coverage of the NC results which completely ignored all of the Democratic races to focus just on Madison Cawthorn’s race in one NC district. NC Democrats had just overwhelmingly voted for a very impressive black woman — Cheri Beasely — to be our candidate to replace Senator Richard Burr. Beasely was the Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court but Kornacki wasn’t interested because her race wasn’t about Trump, just our democracy.
That coverage is typical of the coverage the rest of the mainstream media is giving to the primaries. All they care about is whether candidates endorsed by Trump win.
Yes, it is a pity that more people aren’t aware of the fact that history doesn’t repeat itself but rhymes as Mark Twain said. Perhaps too many quotes here.
Dear Jim, you make an excellent point, which reminds me of Faulkner’s observation that the past is never dead; it’s not even past.
Perhaps I should not have been surprised that you had never seen this film. This post plus your review of "Uncertain Ground" (that I'll check out asap...) triggered many personal memories while reviving the experiences of my father as a first-generation Jewish-American in the 30's and 40's (esp. as a wartime officer in Airborne Command in the Deep South...). I had often considered that the overt bigotry he faced had evolved into a more naive ignorance that I encountered more sporadically some 40 years later.
I prefer to believe that the bitterly prejudiced represent a much smaller portion of the citizenry than was the case 50 years ago, but our sharply fragmented zietgeist amplifies the crassly divisive while limiting the reach of thoughtful reflection. I cannot but wonder whether we delude ourselves when we envision that shared experiences such as those tied to military conscription or collective hardship or even "community" college are paths to durably mutual appreciation among the multitudes around a plentiful well of empathy.
For what it's worth, I was pleased that Chuck Schumer refused the invitation because I would prefer to see Tucker Carlson debate Ta Nehisi Coates...
A powerful piece. Like some other readers who haven't seen the movie, I will rent it, too.
A quarter century before Black Like Me, white Pittsburgh columnist Ray Sprigle spent a month traveling in the South masquerading as a light-skinned Black man, escorted by John Wesley Dobbs, an Atlanta civil rights leader and associate of Martin Luther King Sr. Sprigle wrote it up in a series of articles with headlines like "I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days!" Latter-day Pittsburgh newspaperman Bill Steigerwald, known for having busted John Steinbeck for egregiously faking his nonfiction bestseller Travels with Charley (see his terrific 2010 book Dogging Steinbeck and a 2011 NYT write-up by Charles McGrath), followed up that feat with a second book rescuing Sprigle from obscurity, titled 30 Days a Black Man.
Always one of my favorite movies, even more now that I live 20 minutes from its CT setting in Darien. By information and belief, the town still makes it very hard for a Jew to buy a house. So some of "Gentleman's Agreement" is not how it used to be. Of course there's also that famous line in "Auntie Mame," when Rosalind Russell disappointed in how the banker has raised her trust fund nephew, exclaims, "I didn't expect you to become an Ari-yan from Dari-yan."
And then there's real life, not just movies reflecting it. About 35 years ago, I was friends with RI's youngest state senator. French Canadian Norman Jacques was dark and Jewish looking. I thought so, too. Whenever a constituent or anyone asked him if he was Jewish, he loved replying, "I am, if you're antisemitic." He was not re-elected.
great writing,thank you! "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
Thank you for this article. I thought of "Black Like Me" (which I read in 6th grade and which had a sharp impact on me) as I was reading this piece. I want to watch the movie. I also wonder how it fits in the post-WW II genre of film noire (there might be some similarity but does nobody go to jail and what about the femme fatale?). On gun violence in the US, I think of an article of some years ago ("there will be another gun tragedy in the US"), as this country is incapable of fixing its own disease.
Buffalo: Racist killings are terrible. Here comes the President. Waukesha: Racist killings? What racist killings? Let’s set a consistent standard and stick by it.
Well done. The one point I increasingly wonder, though: Is Carlson "just putting on an act for ratings" any more, or has he been marinating in this toxic soup long enough that he's become a believer. He seems like he's giving more than a performance.
But he's lesser than an actor, in the sense that I think he's one of those folks of weak character who has never truly known - or owned - his own moral center. Ambition comes first, and the price may well be that he's so committed to the bit that it's turned him.
Thank you for this post. I will think of it often and plan to rent the movie tomorrow.
I recall a line from Song of the Red Ruby by Agnar Mykle: Sometimes silence is not golden — just yellow.