Quick correction: Tom Morello was not the frontman of Rage Against the Machine, he was the guitarist.
5 Likes
I always loved Bill Moyers’ programs and essays. I will miss him.
RIP, it is well deserved.
5 Likes
THANK YOU! My mother, who held graduate degrees in Rhetoric and Writing, was adamant that we watch it when it came out. I didn’t have a TV (grad school poverty) so it was a project to talk friends into letting me watch it at their place. There are still episodes I haven’t seen, but you know what, I’ll bet it’s available for streaming now.
6 Likes
Thank you for this—it’s the best essay on this very great journalist and human being I’ve read.
9 Likes
I knew TPM was different and what I was looking for soon after I found it. I am not at all surprised that you and the TPM crew are of the Moyers line of descent. He must have been pleased to see your work.
8 Likes
The eight-hour day, the minimum wage, the conservation of natural resources and the protection of our air, water, and land, women’s rights and civil rights, free trade unions, Social Security and a civil service based on merit — all these were launched as citizen’s movements and won the endorsement of the political class only after long struggles and in the face of bitter opposition and sneering attacks.”
“Civilization happens because we don’t leave things to other people. What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it — as if the cause depends on you, because it does.”
Watch Al Franken confronting Bill O’Reilly on Book TV, it wasn’t his natural first choice of how to respond to Bill O’s attempted bullying, but the words just started coming and the next thing you know he’s a brilliant United States Senator, until Gillibrand shivved him.
5 Likes
From his talks with Jos Campbell thru his remarkable Friday evening shows during the Bush years, he saw our dystopic future all too clearly. To his credit, he also featured the then younger Josh Marshall, whom I began to read. RIP Bill
6 Likes
He was a hero of mine. None better. This was an excellent read. He will be missed. RIP.
5 Likes
In those interviews, Campbell offered two observations on the human condition which I’ve never forgotten, and which I believe serve as fitting eulogy:
On life’s beginning:
“Suddenly you’re ripped into being alive, and life is pain, and life is suffering, and life is horror; but – my G-d – you’re alive, and it’s spectacular!”
And on its inevitable end:
"Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.”
Moyers was a true journalist; may his memory forever be a blessing.
13 Likes
What a wonderful eulogy about a truly blessed and gifted man. Bill Moyers was both a true Patriot and a real Christian. Not a white supremist mega-church “Evangelical” who hates colored people with a passion and who unwittingly is doing Mephistopheles dirty work.
He was a student of society with the insight to anticipate just how this great experiment could end up right in the ditch - just like it did in 1860 and later in 1932. Our system is constantly veering off the road to freedom and equality and taking We the People straight into the depravities that unbridled greed and lust inevitably bring.
It is no wonder that democracies are so short-lived. It is human nature. We are not so different than the carnivorous animals we used to flee from 10,000 years ago. The difference today is that we are so inclined to prey on each other and particularly the “haves” against everyone else. This latest round will not end well for anyone.
5 Likes
Perhaps making a colossal, war-fueling mistake provides drive for future redemption.
As a rough parallel, David Frum - cheerleader of lies for George W’s Iraq mess - has been been clear eyed, factual, and persistent in his Trump analysis. Frum is certainly not at Moyer’s stature, but I wonder if both men shared the same need to overcome prior errors.
6 Likes
Maybe but as a 22 yr. old I could have told Bill he was wrong. Younger people can admire him now but he lost me forever.
Nobody’s perfect. The Power of Myth is the Atlas Shrugged of a certain generation of now aging and, hopefully, better informed Lefties. And it didnt do much good for the original Star Wars trilogy either.
2 Likes
Moyers saw it coming:
I’ve mentioned before how a retired academic friend did informal, seat of the pants interviews with political types in Europe going back about 30 yrs or so. It was nothing he could publish, but his gut told him we were getting close to what we see now.
2 Likes
He also writes and sings all the songs. Kinda like a front man.