Look Now, Pay Later
I recently ranted about television, with the argument that it's not the medium but the message. Today I saw Good Night, and Good Luck, which reminded me of that rant. The film is bookended with a speech Edward R. Murrow made to the Radio-Television News Directors Association in 1958. I highly recommend reading the entire speech. He was a great orator. A lost art in today's world of sound bites.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.