The film is based on Edward Murrow's public attempts to reveal McCarthy's completely ridiculous witch hunt for what it truly was. It wasn't a ploy to reveal potential communists within the US government, but a ploy to shine light on his career. The film was made at an important time in modern US history, the reelection of bush just occurred, and the war in the middle east is still underway, and maybe most importantly, there still has been no discovery of WMD's in the Middle East. The similarities between the film and the events occurring 2005 are clear; should we stand by and accept what our government tells us? As Murrow said, “Our history will be what we make of it”.
“The war on terror” has received plenty of controversy, and very little praise, sense the events of 9/11. It seems as though our government is constantly issuing statements, only later to retract or change them to correct errors. All the while expecting the American people to stand by and mindlessly accept any information given as proof. Murrow's statements then, are just as important to us now, for the issue he was speaking of remains never-ending; no matter how afraid we are, no matter how severe the punishment, the most important thing we can do as people is to always stand up for what is right. The government says there are WMD's in Iraq? Prove it. McCarthy says he knows there are communist ties in our government? Where was his proof? Murrow shows there is no wrong in deciding your government can be wrong. “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.” He is saying do not lose ourselves, not just as individuals, but as a nation. By standing by and letting our government lie to us, to bring terror into our hearts and offer no proof is simply unacceptable. Today, with war still in the Middle East, it is hard to say if Murrow would be heard by Americans. The events of the 1953 Red Scare were so easy to continue because the government was able to instil fear into Americans by creating an enemy, Stalin, Socialist governments. The government said they were going to protect us from the evils of Stalin, so we allowed them to feed us, we accepted their safety without question. In 2005, Americans believed they had a clear idea of who the enemy was, there was no need for the government to paint us a picture. Yet, they did. They told us “these people over here are enemies, and so are these people, they have these weapons and they want to hurt us”. Well again, Americans wanted to feels safe, safer than after 9/11. See, the events of 9/11 changed America, maybe shook us back in time even. It brought us back to a time when we were afraid, and all we wanted was safety. Our government was the source of that safety. America had been pushed back to the state that Murrow had warned us about, just like in 1953. Edward Murrow was a very persistent man in '53, and he would be just as persistent today. He would not accept conviction without evidence then and would not do it today. It's hard to say if he would be heard by American people today however. I mean, he said it then, so why did we stop listening?
Do no use words such as ridiculous, they are loaded and make your presentation seem slanted. McCarthy's techniques were libel, ad hominem, and slippery slopes. Be specific. These were the methods that Murrow attacked. You discussion of 2005 needs to be more specific.
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