Richard Dreyfuss loves America. He may or may not have a flag on his car, which may or may not be an S.U.V. He may be liberal or conservative, or somewhere in between, or perpendicular to both. I couldn't quite tell. But from his words, and the passion in his voice, I could feel his love for our country, and from that, his terrible sadness at how far it has fallen. How dark and dangerous - and unprecedented - a time we live in. And yet, at the end of his lecture, I found a reason to have hope.
Dreyfuss is an accomplished actor, having appeared in films like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and is an activist for privacy, democracy, and individual participation in democracy - the latter of which includes proper self-education about the issues. Yesterday, Dreyfuss gave a talk at the University about the health of American democracy.
With his first words, he heaped praise on the accomplishments of our country. He listed them with both pride and humility, acknowledging our sins, such as the slavery and the "murder of the Indian nations." Despite our dark moments, he described America (and as I understood it, democracy in general) as the best answer thus far to the 13,000 year-old question of civilization: How can people best live together in peace and freedom? How do we protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority? My eyes moistened as he described the great, American contribution to the world of social mobility. As he put it, in Europe, your grandparents were a serf, your parents were a serf, and you were destined to be a serf. People flocked to Ellis Island to escape such oppression.
Dreyfuss then expressed his sadness, his outrage, at how that has changed. How our congressmen serve special interests and their reelection campaigns instead of the people. He questioned how our leaders can commit illegal acts without anybody raising an eyebrow - whether they be senators, journalists, or ordinary citizens. He remarked how politics has degenerated to a partisan shouting match rather than civil, intellectual debate. How our country, once a beacon of hope for oppressed people of the world, has tarnished its image in the last fifteen years with human rights abuses and breaches of international law.
He heaped blame on American education - how an ignorant, complacent electorate does not elect good leaders, nor hold them accountable. He noted that we are taught in civics class the three branches and how a bill goes through congress (if that hasn't been cut from the curriculum, as one audience member quipped), but not how to question. And he spoke about how we have lost the art of eloquent and passionate, yet civil, debate and thus don't demand to see it on TV. We are ignorant of our rights, and thus don't notice when those rights are taken, and don't feel entitled to speak up if we do. Summing it up, he referenced the oft-quoted phrase: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
The media didn't escape his wrath either. Dreyfuss savaged the current journalistic profession and how modern reporters have forgotten the legacy of great American muckrackers. He missed a time when journalists asked politicians hard questions and when they served the public, not themselves. He recalled when journalistic integrity - fighting offenses against free speech, uncovering the truth no matter what - mattered more than getting a front seat at the White House press conference.
I asked Dreyfuss what he thought of the Internet: "What is your opinion, sir, of the amateur journalists with opportunity and a camera-phone, or bloggers with passion and an opinion, so well-written, that their work meanders from anonymous corners of the web to the Washington Post and SlashDot.com?" I asked if, in light of the corruption of mainstream journalism, does the internet give you hope?
Dreyfuss expressed his approval. He was quick to emphasize that the internet is a first in history. How many pages are out there? The rhetorical answer: infinitely many! We, citizens of the world, have a tool of unprecedented scope at our fingertips - all those opinions and all that evidence of misdeeds. At one point during his response, Dreyfuss performed a quick poll. He asked the audience, "How many of you get your information from television?" A smattering of hands raised, most belonging to the older audience members. He then asked the audience "How many of you get your information from the internet?" All over the auditorium, hands shot up.
In a lecture with such a dreary tone and frightening message, seeing all those hands gave me hope.
Boone J. Adkins is a fourth-year in the Engineering School.
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