In Praise of Allegheny College, Clinton High, Oak Ridge High

Sat. Feb. 25, 2012:

Ever noticed how, after days & days of Television as the wasteland that Marshall McLuhan had predicted,
suddenly comes a windfall of worthwhiles?
 
Well, it finally happened last night, within the space of about 120 minutes:
1.  At about 7:35 pm E.S.T., David Brooks & Mark Shields got congratulations from PBS News Hour's Judy Woodruff for being awarded Allegheny College's "civility in public discourse" award. 
For a fleeting moment, this viewer felt restored faith, that other folks -- like Allegheny College -- are out there wishing that the Bill O'Reillys, Sean Hannitys, Rush Limbaughs, Keith Olbermans, and Rupert Murdochs, would dry up & blow away.
Even better, when Judy Woodruff announced the award & looked at Brooks & Shields,
Mark Shields replied:  Allegheny College's honor is gratefully received, but the credit should go to the Gold Standard of civility in public discourse, the News Hour's founding fathers Robert MacNeil & Jim Lehrer and the expectations one feels when one walks in the newsroom of PBS. 
It tells you all you need to know, when trying to assess anyone who labels such broadcast journalists
"lamestream media" and "liberal elite media."
Nobody needs to be "elite" or "liberal" to appreciate last night's Allegheny College moment.

2.  A little after 9:15 pm, surf to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.  She is interviewing guest Karen Tumulty, another admired PBS reporter.   Maddow tries to goad Tumulty into ridiculing another set of apparent gaffes by the Romney campaign:
First, staging Mitt's "major economic speech" in Detroit's cavernous 65,000-capacity Ford Field, which naturally miniaturized (and swallowed whole!) Romney's respectable audience of 1,200 listeners.  [For those of us old enough to remember Watergate revelations of 1973, the "dirty tricks" of guys like Dick Tuck and Donald Segretti come to mind -- such as, arranging for your political enemy's major campaign event to be held in a venue way too big for your audience.]
Second, Mitt's reassuring Michigan voters that his wife drives 2 GM Cadillacs of their 4 cars in 2 of their several residences -- so don't worry about those Massachusetts rumors that Governor Romney kept his foreign-bought BMW out of sight back then.
Don't get me wrong.  As lefty as Maddow usually is, she frequently says so, and admits errors occasionally.
But this time, even Republicans have to be asking Maddow's question:  "Is candidate Mitt Romney bad at his job?"  And, to Karen Tumulty's credit, she quietly kept her PBS clothes on, and refused to ridicule Romney during her guest gig on partisan MSNBC.  Candidates make missteps, she agreed.  But she would not pile on.

3.  Finally, c. 9:31 pm, "World Network" aired an inspirational, obscure story, "the Clinton 12," about the 1956 self-integration of schools in Clinton, Tennessee.  Black & white folks of tiny Clinton did it themselves, with virtually no help from the Feds or from state protection.  "The Clinton 12," USA's first black students braving 1954 Brown v. Board implementation anywhere, were of course courageous beyond anything that any people of any race can fathom today in 2012 -- especially in the face of determined resistence led by the local White Citizens Council who burned Clinton High School to the ground.  But black students got help from unexpected sources.  One of several white sympathizers was a local white Christian minister -- cheered on by none other by Billy Graham -- who did do what Jesus would do.  The white Clinton minister got severely beaten for protecting as many of "the Clinton 12" as he could.
And Clinton High's bitter sports rival Oak Ridge High, welcomed Clinton's school-less students, arriving by bus, to Oak Ridge facilities.  Before a huge crowd of Oak Ridge parents & students, its marching band played Clinton's alma mater, right after the Clinton kids got off their buses.  [Youtube may have the aerial photograph.]

Walt Kelly's "Pogo" comic strip was right:  "We have met the enemy, and they are Us."
The good news is, amidst our Fear & Ignorance, there is also the Better Angels of our Us -- even on TV. 
Long Live Allegheny College, the Clinton 12-plus, and Oak Ridge High!