I was scrolling through Facebook one morning before class and stumbled across a video. My first instinct was to ignore it- there were only fifteen minutes until class started and I was still eating breakfast- but I recognized the display picture of the YouTube video. I had no choice but to press ‘Play’ and let the three-minute monologue fill the silence of the empty room.
Disclaimer: I haven’t seen every episode of The Newsroom. I haven’t even watched an entire season (it’s kind of hard to do when you don’t have HBO). But in the few episodes I did watch, I was always impressed by their determination to show the truth, no matter how uncomfortable that might be. That is especially true in the opening scene of the show, where former news anchor Will McAvoy tells an auditorium full of college students why America isn’t the greatest country in the world anymore.
This episode aired in 2012, and four years later, there are some aspects of this monologue that ring truer than ever. One particular line sticks out: “We didn’t scare so easy.” McAvoy was talking about what used to make this country so great, and this was one of his points.
As a nation, it used to be that we did not back down from a challenge. Not to say that we were fearless- it took two years and an attack on American soil for us to enter World War II- but there would always come a point where we would swallow whatever fear we had and do what was right. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case anymore.
Take a look at the Syrian refugee crisis. It’s no secret just how dangerous it is to be living in Syria right now. These people are trying to get out of a desperate situation and build a life of safety and without fear. That takes an incredible amount of strength and courage- to flee from the only home you’ve ever known and to seek refuge in a place where not only the culture is completely different but also the language- and what do we do? We debate over whether we have a moral obligation to help these people. That shouldn’t even be a question. Of course we do. But people are hesitant because of fear. We’re so blinded by fear over the slim chance that these refugees might have ties to ISIS that we’re pushing them away. That isn’t even un-American; it’s inhumane. We owe it to our fellow human beings to help them out in their time of need. Not push them away.
McAvoy also mentions in this monologue that the American people used to be informed, and that intelligence was something to strive for, not belittle. In the Information Age, we have more media outlets thriving today than have existed at any other point in history. Yet, people are less informed than ever before. They base their opinions and form entire arguments on barely-skimmed headlines, not bothering to fully research and issue. On the other side, people just don’t care about politics anymore. They think it’s too complex of a topic or too tricky to understand. It’s dumbing down our nation when people can’t be bothered to at least attempt to keep up with things going on in Washington D.C. and overseas. Apathy has allowed America to get to how it is at this moment.
2016 is an important year in our country’s history. The Presidential Election that will be taking place in November will change everything, no matter who is elected. With this election, we have a chance to redeem ourselves from the issues that McAvoy pointed out in this monologue. We have the chance to fully educate our students so that they comprehend the material, not just know how to take a test. We can raise the minimum wage and help people actually live on the money they earn instead of looking at people living on the streets and screaming at them to do more. We can reduce the number of incarcerated citizens by decriminalising drugs and steering addicts towards rehab rather than sticking them in a jail cell.
We the American people need to be more informed, and use that knowledge to vote for a candidate that would be the most beneficial to our country as a whole. Only then can we even consider America to be on the path towards being the greatest country in the world again. Who knows- maybe all the negative things McAvoy was saying about this country will become a thing of the past, never to be repeated.
