Since the Baseball Hall of Fame cancelled a 15th anniversary celebration of the film Bull Durham because of his antiwar criticism, Tim Robbins has been making the rounds, speaking Tuesday at the National Press Club, yesterday on Democracy Now!, and even getting a minute last night on Jennings' World News Tonight.
Robbins is probably best known for his roles in Bull Durham and Shawshank Redemption, but his best work is the script he penned for Bob Roberts (1992), the story of a right-wing folk singer running for U.S. Senate. Roberts' opponent is Senator Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal), a Ted Kennedy-esqe character with some timeless insights on the importance of enemies:
It's the "enemy of the month" club again. Saddam Hussein, I believe, what is he, the most evil man, what did the president say, since Adolph Hitler? Before that there was Noriega, he was the most evil man since Fu Man Chu. And there was Quadaffi, and there was Castro, and these figures are thrown out through the media and made into great monsters. Why? Because we must justify the military budget. In order to do that you must have enemies. So we blow up these local thugs into these huge Hitler-like figures and pretend it's World War II all over again.
I haven't followed much of the hubbub over Eason Jordan's op-ed in last Friday's Times, but he's been getting airtime this week taking calls (Real Video | 24:49) on CSPAN, and on PBS calmly dismantling The New Republic's Franklin Foer, author of the "devastating" Wall Street Journal op-ed critical of CNN's actions in Iraq.
posted by dackBob Roberts is a must-see. My favorite line, from Bob to a young girl:
"Don't do crack, it's a ghetto drug."
Posted by: Jake on April 17, 2003 11:10 AMPersonally, I cannot even see the CNN logo anymore without feeling a bit of nausea.
The bigger story here, of course, is found between the lines. Inasmuch as CNN had sold out to Sahaf for access, they have been the tool of the US government for decades, for the same reasons.
Posted by: KS on April 17, 2003 11:48 PM