The Past and the Present

Walter Cronkite was an anchor before I was born. I am struck by his face here, a face which would not be seen on television today despite the sonorous voice which is obviously the basis for many similar ones throughout the era. I'm reminded of a quote of a comment on the Freakanomics blog: "Now that there are so many voices you have to shout louder and harder to be heard", discussing the uprising of the screaming pundit. Cronkite was the antithesis of these red-faced men, a fact I have heard casually mentioned in several sources so far.

In this video I can actually feel the nation's panic. I can feel would it would be like if our respected, loved president was shot, the weight of the announcement. I could feel myself trying to hope, even though I already knew how the story ended.



He had to report on some horrifically sad stories. It has been a long time since I've seen footage of Martin Luther King. His last speech..watching him as an obviously intelligent and angry man showing his roots as a pastor. I've almost never thought of Dr. King as a man, even after reading about his life.

I know Cronkite was reading what was written for him, but hearing "negro" used without any humor behind it sends shivers up my spine. It scares me that my parents were teenagers when this happened. I can't imagine a world without MLK, or at least don't want to. So short ago without him I would have been another "coloured" person.

Warren Ellis linked the first episode of a British series called "Quartermass". I haven't watched all of it, but here is a quote from the professor:

"The union of a corrupt Democracy(America) and a bloated tyranny(Soviet Union)...their diseases are too strong for us small countries. When we catch them we sicken and we die."

I also really agree with this Jezebel article:

"It's a very strange cycle, when one thinks about it: Marilyn Monroe didn't even exist, she was a construct of the studios, a costume worn by Norma Jean Baker in order to navigate the strange waters of celebrity and sex. Every time we hold Marilyn up as an ideal, we're holding up the notion that a woman has to reinvent herself to the point of losing herself completely, hiding under layers of beauty and glitz as a means to hide a very real sense of pain and fear beneath. Though her unabashed sexuality has been celebrated, she was also objectified and used by those around her; she became, and remains, a product used to sell tickets and t-shirts and magazines. She was a victim many times over, but it seems that young actresses choose to latch on to her exterior as opposed to the person below the surface, and where a cautionary tale should be, an idolization is instead.

Perhaps it's time for Lindsay Lohan, and for everyone else, to stop parading around in Marilyn Monroe costumes and acting as if it's glamorous or fun. If Marilyn Monroe taught us anything, it's that there's no real happiness in being someone you're not."