by Brent Baker
Louis Rukeyser opened Friday night's Wall Street Week on PBS with compelling commentary on the past week's tragic events. About halfway through his observations about the meaning of the terrorist attacks, Rukeyser recalled:
Exactly 40 years ago this year, my friends, I first stared
into the face of evil when I covered the trial of Adolph Eichmann.
Not only do we see that same face of cruelty and hatred today in Osama Bin Laden, but many of the world's reactions are eerily similar, right down to those who would justify and appease the new genocide as they did the old — throwing Israel to the wolves as we did Czechoslovakia. A country that, to paraphrase Britain's
pre-war Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, seems far away and remote from our practical interests and understanding.Happily, that is not the typical American reaction today. But we are not a country renowned for our patience or for our memory. And the fervor we feel today must be set against the uncomfortable reality, that despite similar fervor in the past, Fidel Castro still rules in Havana and Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
To keep our economy strong, and truly to eradicate the new terrorist threat, as our leaders have promised us this week, will take not only anger, but sustained dedication. Do we have it? Let
us hope for our sake and the world's that we truly do.And let me add one encouraging personal observation. Yesterday, in the streets of mid-town Manhattan, as well as all over our nation, stores were selling out of American flags. And one street vendor's sign said it all: “These colors,” it read, “do not run.”
To watch Rukeyser's commentary via RealPlayer or to listen to it via RealAudio: http://www.pbs.org/mpt/rukeyser/video.html.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
