In Sidney Lumet's great 1976 movie Network, television news personality Howard Beale (Peter Finch) tells his audience to turn off their television sets:
. . . But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds... We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even *think* like the tube! This is mass madness, you maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing! *WE* are the illusion! So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I'm speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF...
Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District representative--who chairs the House Ag Committee--told citizens in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, something along those lines at an area League of Women Voters Legislative Town Hall at a local coffee spot, Vicki Gerdes reports in 'Turn off your TV's — I'm serious': Peterson says people should forgo Fox News, MSNBC at DL.Online:
There was barely an empty seat to be had at La Barista Monday night, as area residents packed the local restaurant to hear District 4 State Sen. Kent Eken (DFL-Twin Valley) and District 4B Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) — along with U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Detroit Lakes), who was a surprise guest at the Legislative Town Hall hosted by the Detroit Lakes Area League of Women Voters. . . .
Local residents' questions at the forum included how constituents might help foster bipartisanship, and combat the atmosphere of hyper-partisanship that has taken over the political landscape — particularly in Washington, D.C.
Congressman Peterson's response was short and to the point: "Turn off your TVs."
When that statement brought a few chuckles from the audience, he added, "I'm serious."
Peterson explained that he felt it was important not to watch television news programs like those produced by Fox News, MSNBC and similar media outlets.
"It's propaganda," he said, adding that those networks were making money by "saying what you want to hear" — i.e., reinforcing listeners' opinions and ramping up their outrage, rather than offering a truly objective point of view.
"My advice is to turn them off," he said. "Don't listen to them."
We're surprised that the former accountant is showing this sort of cultural acuity at local event. Wikipedia tells us:
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin wrote that "no predictor of the future—not even Orwell—has ever been as right as Chayefsky was when he wrote Network."[31] The film ranks at number 100 in Empire magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time.
It's unfortunate that although they were invited, local Republican leaders didn't show up. Gerdes reports:
Republican legislators Sen. Paul Utke and Rep. Steve Green both declined invitations to attend the Detroit Lakes event; forum moderator Deanna Sinclair noted that each had received "multiple requests" to attend.
Peterson was a spontaneous addition to the evening. Gerdes notes:
"I wanted to see what these guys (Eken and Marquart) were up to," Peterson said when asked to address the audience briefly at the start of the evening. He then decided to join the state legislators in answering audience questions during the 90-minute forum.
Will Peterson run again for the seat he's held since January 3, 1991, after beating Arlen Stangland in 1990? It's not like he told the public to get mad as hell and not take it anymore.
Screenshot: Peter Finch as Howard Beale.
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Or another option -- change the channel to the BBC News. :-)
Posted by: Mike Worcester | Apr 17, 2019 at 12:55 PM