On the firing of Scott Pelley

The firing of Scott Pelley from CBS News reveals two things at least. Pelley had been at CBS since 1989 and though I am not an interested viewer of CBS or “60 Minutes” he has apparently during his long tenure produced exemplary work. On Monday at a meeting run by newly-hired Nick Bilton, Pelley strongly objected to the management of “60 Minutes” for which he has been a correspondent since 2004 and to the evisceration of not only the show’s correspondents but the entire news department by Bari Weiss and company. Pelley also objected to her hiring of Nick Bilton who had little or no experience in Tnetworkd broadcasting. The New York Times reports, “The firing of Mr. Pelley is among the most consequential moves of Ms. Weiss’s rocky tenure at CBS. And it is almost certain to spike tensions that have coursed through the network for months. [The firing] also raises the stakes of Ms. Weiss’s surprising decision to replace the entire leadership team at “60 Minutes,” CBS News’s most successful franchise, and hire Mr. Bilton, who has had very little or no experience in broadcast TV to oversee the show.” The Times’ notes that ironically, the program’s viewership was up 9 percent this past season from a year prior, and the show is routinely among the nation’s highest-rated weekly broadcasts, according to Nielsen. It seems to me another very sad day for the United States.
            I think the first thing I have learned, as if I didn’t already know this from the agenda of Trump and his administration, that during this dangerous second term dissent in any form or legitimate outlet is forbidden. To disagree means to be disappeared. To express any disagreement with orders from above will result in serious and threatening consequences. This is, of course, the technique of a fascist regime where obedience to authority is paramount and dissent is met with harsh consequences and usually accompanied by vicious and often obscene calumny. Trump’s obscenity-laced rhetoric denigrates the office of the president and demeans its audience, makes mockery of dignity, decorum and civility. Such speech belongs in the gutter and explodes out of the mouths of children. And yet, there are people, cruel and coarse themselves, to whom these obscenities are cheerfully received and even welcomed; the level of public discourse has become trampled in the dirt. 
            But the second thing I have learned is that there are still principled individuals who refuse to bow to authority and who are prepared to stand up to naked power and to suffer the consequences. In this time of abject sycophancy from so-called leaders and of an alarming ignorance of Trump supporters who  have little concern for the imperial and corrupt presidency and its incompetent and often illegal behaviors of their leaders, it comforts me to hear a man like Scott Pelley refuse to keep silent when injustice and incompetence threaten to overturn the democratic governance of the United States and bring suffering to those least able to get relief. The country is at war despite the deceitful campaign promises that there would be no foreign war; the populace is suffering, except of course the billionaires, despite Trump’s boast that he will make affordability his goal. But his scowling face on a new $250.00 bill that only he and his billionaire friends can carry; his name everywhere on buildings with which he has no relationship and for which he can claim no responsibility for its existence; for his usurpation of ownership of public buildings despite the unconstitutionality of his greedy grasp seems to be foremost in his limited attention span and uncertain mental capacity.  But Scott Pelley reminds me there are principled people still willing to confront stupidity and power grabbing greed; Pelley’s action reminds me of Howard Beale in “Network,” who tosses the television out of the window crying, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” I am safe here in Lotus Land, I hope. 
            Daniel Webster’s support of the Compromise of 1850 which affirmed fugitive slave laws was excoriated by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Pho! Let Mr Webster for decency’s sake shut his lip once & forever on this world. The word liberty in the mouth of Mr Webster sounds like the word love in the mouth of a courtesan.” Where are these voices now? Thoreau wrote in “Civil Disobedience,” “What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity.” Alas, we have so few of them now.