Emily and I had a correspondence this weekend that I thought everyone might be interested in reading. With her permission, I reproduce it below.
Emily: "Chayefsky believes that TV and new programs are purely used for entertainment. So does he think there is any place he (or anyone else) can get the truth about news or history? I don't know if you know for sure but I just thought I'd ask."
me: "I am not a Chayefsky scholar, so I don't know much more about his views than you do, having seen NETWORK and this talk show clip. But from what I know, here's what I imagine he would say: it may or may not be possible ever to really know the truth about history (and the news, as one form of history). Truth is such a personal concept (Howard Beale: "go to G-d, go to your gurus, go to yourselves") that it's hard to see how it could ever be transparently knowable in something so big and universal as history. BUT: to the extent that we can know the truth about history -- and we can, to some extent -- you get it from those people whose goal is to tell you the truth. It is not the goal of TV to tell you the truth: the goal of TV is to make you watch it (to increase their ratings and share, so the network can charge more for advertising). The problem is, whose goal is it to tell you the truth? Professional historians? Perhaps -- or is their goal to produce the most work possible, on the trendiest topics with the trendiest conclusions, so they can get tenure and raises and better faculty positions? Non-academic history writers? Nope: their goal is to sell books. Within a corporate-capitalist system, I think Chayefsky would argue, you can't trust anything you read or hear.
That, I think, is what Chayefsky would say. And in large part, I think he's right. There may, however, be a few more cracks in the system than he suggests."
Thoughts? Feel free to comment below (but then also go and comment on a Tea Party post, please!). What do you make of Chayefsky's view of (historical) truth?
And while we're here, check this out: Godwin's law rocks the Chicago race for mayor!
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