Thirty Years of Treason by Eric Bentley - week 7::
"Mr. Reagan: ...I believe that, as Thomas Jefferson put it, if all the American people know all of the facts they will never make a mistake...Mr. Chairman: There is one thing that you said that interested me very much. That was the quotation from Jefferson. That is just why this Committee was created by the House of Representatives: to acquaint the American people with the facts. Once the American people are acquainted with the facts there is no question but what the American people will do the kind of a job that they want done: that is, to make America just as pure as we can possibly make it. We want to thank you very much for coming here today.
Mr. Reagan: Sir, I detest, I abhor their philosophy, but I detest more than that their tactics, which are those of the fifth column, and are dishonest, but at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group [the Communists], that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment. I still think that democracy can do it." (146)
Wow. Uh, I didn't fully understand all of this but what I did get from it is that talk is a whole lot different than actions. Well, I don't really mean that. I think sometimes people may not want to know all the facts. No wait, I think the facts should be open for people to find, but not slammed in their faces. Nothing should be hidden, but at the same time it shouldn't scare citizens... well or should it? Do some people need to be scared to do something about the bad things going on in the world? And you don't want it to seem like the world is perfect. Definitely not. I wouldn't want to be hidden from what's going on in the world, but I have to admit, sometimes I don't want to know the horrible stuff going on. I don't want it to be going on. I think this is a way I'm a total optimist, I want there to be peace! : ) But back to this, obviously it's made me think. I've gone off in a bunch of totally separate tangents. I think that people should have all the facts available to them, but not pushed on them. Or should the (sometimes scary) facts be pushed? Will that make some people finally wake up?? Perhaps I'm talking more about the events happening currently than those of the late 40's and 50's but I bet if I lived in that time period I would be thinking along the same terms because I know there was hiding of facts, lies, and everything that happens in governments.
I didn't find much in this reading, Thirty Years of Treason written, well edited I guess, by Eric Bentley, but I guess this part really made me think and let my mind go off.
Here's another piece I noted as important:
This is transcript is with Gary Cooper, an actor born in 1901.
"Mr. Smith [I guess he is one of the Committee members?]: Can you tell us some of the statements that you may have heard at these gatherings that you believe are Communistic?
Mr. Cooper: Well, I have heard quite a few, I think, from time to time over the years. Well, I have heard tossed around such statements as 'Don't you think the Constitution of the United States is about a hundred and fifty years out of date?' and--oh, I don't know--I have heard people mention that, well, 'Perhaps this would be a more efficient Government without the Congress'--which statements I think are very un-American."(148)
un-American, unpatriotic!
posted by Cassie @ 5:55 PM
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