"Have you no sense of decency?" Can a few words make a difference today?

[NYCGirl]

Fine editorial from Brian Williams (yes, that Brian Williams).

Full article here:
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-williams10oct10,0,5419689.story?track=widget

On the afternoon of June 9, 1954, Army counsel Joseph Welch uttered the words that marked the beginning of the end of an era in American politics and public life, when he said to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

If you were an adult in America at the time, you knew about it. You saw it, heard it, read about it, debated it — and kept talking about it for days.

Because Welch, in all his bald, black-and-white splendor, plays a significant supporting role in George Clooney's superb new film, "Good Night, and Good Luck," and because many younger filmgoers will learn of his role in history, maybe it's an appropriate time to ask if, in our current media climate, the words of any individual could have anything approaching the impact of Welch's words on that day.

After all, Clooney's work has many of us thinking about politics, our past and the power of words.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Not strong enough for me

but then he IS an anchor.

[NYCGirl]

8. True,

I was surprised to see even that from Williams.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. I've been asking on DU for a couple years now, when are we going to

have our "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" moment?

I'm glad Clooney knows this history and is asking it on the big screen. Probably going to see this today.

:thumbsup:

[jobycom]

3. "Mr. President, you are a liar."

Every one of us has said something like that, but it gets no attention. Now, imagine (whether it's going to happen or not) that Fitzgerald indicts Rove, and names Bush an inindicted co-conspirator. Imagine Bush defending himself, and then imagine someone--Fitzgerald, Kerry, Reid, Hillary--laying out the evidence against him and declaring those words on live television, so that everyone knows it to be true.

Those words, or some words like that, would go down in history to mark the moment.

It isn't the words, in other words. It's the moment. Lots of people accused McCarthy of having no shame, but no one else had been able to do it in a moment that made the words have meaning.

Words are still powerful, but there are so many of them thrown around today that they have to be anchored to something to make them stick.

[JAbuchan08]

4. You gave me a great image

of a string of figures, Democratic and Republican rising up reading a Bush (or who have you) quote back to the person who had issued it then stating "we now know that this is not true and that you had no reason to believe it was true. Mr Bush you are a liar."

[kenny blankenship]

5. I don't think so--not today

the country has to have a shared sense of decency for such an appeal to register and have the intended stop-em-in-their-tracks effect. That sense is deeply confused and largely absent today.
And to be honest, the only reason why that tactic worked back then in that case was because McCarthy was now going after THE ARMY. Any other institution--the State Dept., Hollywood, anything at all not in uniform--and the attempt to shame McCarthy probably would have fallen to the floor instantly and the frenzied witchhunt would continue without a pause.
But the ARMY. Can't question the values of anyone in uniform now can you? (Only many people here do it everyday) That would be downright un-fas-- er I mean it would be un-American! Not even a Senator can ask questions impugning the patriotism of a uniform wearing officer. Ask Ollie North how that match-up works out.

McCarthy was at that moment attacking one of Welch's aides, and by extension undermining Welch, who was himself trying to repel the HUAAC investigation of commies under the bed in the old War dept. and the uniformed services. In a real way, what Welch did was merely to turn McCarthy's own tactic against him: he appealed irrationally to the audience's sense of patriotism and unquestioning obedience to the flag and military uniforms. McCarthy relied constantly on the presumption of superior patriotism that accrues to someone making accusations of Un-American activities. Because he was making astounding accusations against apparently reputable people, it appeared that A) he was supremely interested in the patriotic purity of our govt. and cultural institutions and therefore must be a super-patriot, and B) the sensational effect of accusing public persons with secret misdeeds created a roaring media spectacle that amplified the sense of his special access to hidden information. He was on the trail of vast networks of commies! He was not to be questioned because the sheer magnitude of the task he set for himself proved his All-American super-patriotism! It was a bubble of ideological credit he was blowing up, and he overrelied on it. Welch simply brought the Senator up short, pricking that bubble, with a rejoinder that relies on the audience accepting that the superior patriotism and superior Americanism and superior credibility is all on the side of people in uniforms. Can't question the Army!

After all, there've never been spies in the military, right? Ask ex-Col. Larry Franklin. He'd tell you no, not now or anytime in the past. Right before he pleaded guilty.

It helped that McCarthy was indecent and overreaching. He was a drunk and had staked his whole spree on the tactic of making sensational, usually unsubstantiated accusations. He had only that one trick of waving a piece of paper around claiming that it bore the names of 200 or 300 commies in some sensitive branch of govt. But had it been any other institution--any civilian institution-- under the gun at that moment, the public executions would have just rolled on and rolled right over that "decency" remark.

[Toots]

6. Of course they have no decency

Most are even suggesting McCarthy was a national hero. They do not even know the meaning of the word decency. KKKarl Rove is a shining example of GOP decency..

[Coexist]

7. that movie is not being shown in my area yet

I am soooo looking forward to edjumacting my teens by making them watch it.

[NYCGirl]

9. You'll love it. And I hope your teens will feel the same way. NT