Melamed Leo For Crying Out Loud. From Open Outcry To The Electronic Screen

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.Perhaps my father summed it up best.Prior to his death in 1990, hetold me that even though the horrors of the twentieth century includeda new low in the history of mankind two world wars and the Holo-caust, an indelible blot that can never be expunged he nevertheless felt itwas a most remarkable century.In spite of the atrocities, he watched theworld go from the horse and buggy (the main form of transportation athis birth in 1904), to Apollo Eleven, which in 1963 took Neil Armstrong tothe moon.John Marshall Law School Commencement Address, McCormick Place, Chicago,Illinois, Sunday, June 7, 1998.157P1: OTA/XYZ P2: ABCc17 JWBT139-Melamed June 25, 2009 13:14 Printer Name: Courier Westford158 Messenger from the FuturesIndeed, it is hard to fathom that at the dawn of my father s century,Britannia was still the empire on which the sun never set; the railroadswere in their Golden Age, automobiles were considered nothing but a fad,codeine was touted as an excellent cough syrup, the phonograph was themost popular form of home entertainment, life expectancy for the Americanmale was 48, and the death of Queen Victoria assured that the Victorian agewas in its final act.Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Nietzsche, Giuseppe Verdi died,but Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, and Thomas Wolfewere born.And in Europe, Sigmund Freud published his Interpretation ofDreams, unlocking the mysteries of our subconscious, and Albert Einstein,the foremost thinker of the century, published his famous three papers,which included his special theory of relativity that forever changed thedestiny of mankind.From the beginning of the century, there was extensive testimony ofits message of hate and violence.In France, the Dreyfus Affair (1894) hadreared the ugly head of prejudice; in the U.S., the Supreme Court delayedgenuine civil rights by embracing the separate but equal doctrine in Plessyv.Ferguson (1896); the Spanish-American War (1898) had begun with itscry to Remember the Maine ; President William McKinley was assassinated(1901); and not much later but a continent away, the barbarous two-dayJewish pogrom in Kishinev occurred (1903); the Russo-Japanese War (1904)broke out; followed by the bloody rebellion in St.Petersburg (1905) whichrang the bell on what was to become the Russian Revolution a decadelater (1917).There was evidence also of cultural enlightenment.Emmeline Pankhurstlit the torch on behalf of women s right to vote (1903); the modern version ofthe Greek Olympic Games were reborn after being missing for 3,000 years(1896); and the Boer War finally ended.Then in an unconnected burst ofinnovations whose social value some might question, Picasso entered his Blue Period (1901); Boston defeated Pittsburgh in the first World Seriesgames (1903) ever played; the theory for IQ tests was introduced (1903);the concept of the Boy Scouts was fashioned (1907); and the Count of MonteCristo, the world s first motion picture, was produced in Hollywood (1908).In addition to Einstein, there were other strong signals that science andtechnology would force its way onto center stage.Russia had begun con-struction of its colossal Trans-Siberian railroad (1891); Guglielmo Marconitook out his first patent for the radio (1896); J.J.Thompson detected theelectron (1897), proving the ancient Greek theory that atoms were at thefoundation of matter; Max Planck proposed the quantum theory of light(1900); Gregor Mendel s discovery of how inherited traits are passed wasfinally accepted (1900); Walter Reed conquered yellow fever (1902); andWilbur and Orville Wright changed human transportation forever at KittyHawk (1903).P1: OTA/XYZ P2: ABCc17 JWBT139-Melamed June 25, 2009 13:14 Printer Name: Courier WestfordPain, Progress, and Promise 159That was the stage setting, so to speak, for the production known as thetwentieth century.Looking back, we can see that the playwright providedplenty of clues for what was to come.Accordingly, it is highly instructive tolook around us today for a sneak preview of what we can expect tomorrow.However, one of the most profound events that would direct much of ourpresent century occurred long before it began, back in 1848 smack dabin the middle of the nineteenth century.In that year, Karl Marx and hisassociate, Friedrich Engels, published the Communist Manifesto.Its goalwas novel and even noble: To create a new society where there wouldbe a fair and equitable distribution of wealth, ending the vast disparitiesbetween the rich and the poor. The concept of Marxism, more commonlyknown in practice as communism, would dominate the political thought ofEurope and later Asia for most of the twentieth century.Today, some 150 years after the concept was conceived, we know itto have been an unmitigated failure.The truth was officially flashed to theworld in 1990 at what seemed like another traditional May Day celebration inMoscow Red Square.As usual, all the government top brass were present, asusual there were banners and marches and songs, as usual there was all theexpected pomp and circumstance.But something was drastically different.It was the banner! Communists: have no illusions you are bankrupt, itblatantly proclaimed right there, in the middle of Moscow Red Square, onMay Day 1990!Indeed, those of us, citizens of planet Earth, fortunate enough to bepresent in the final decade of the twentieth century, have been privileged towitness events equal to any celebrated milestone in the history of mankind.In what seemed like a made-for-TV video, we were ringside spectators ata global rebellion.In less than an eye-blink in terms of world history, theBerlin Wall fell, Germany was unified, apartheid ended, Eastern Europe wasliberated, the Cold War ceased, and a doctrine that impaired the freedomof three generations, wrecked the economies of scores of nations, andmisdirected the destiny of the entire planet for seven decades was decisivelyrepudiated.What a magnificent triumph of democracy and freedom.What a gloriousvictory for capitalism and free markets.What a majestic tribute to ThomasJefferson, Adam Smith, Abraham Lincoln, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Fried-man.What a divine time to be alive.Surely these represented the definingmoments of the twentieth century.But let us be clear: What transpired wasnot the result of a single influence but rather of a multitude of forces.Nor didthe wildfire of freedom we witnessed occur by virtue of a random spark.Theunderground flame took years to overpower the forces of tyranny.It was fu-eled by some universal truths: that fundamental human rights cannot foreverbe denied; that totalitarianism is evil; and that an economic system basedon central planning is vastly inferior to a market-driven economic order [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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