Posted on 08/01/2015 8:06:33 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
Legendary TV producer Norman Lear stopped by the Televisison Critics Associations press tour in Beverly Hills to promote an upcoming PBS documentary covering his carreer thats set to debut next year. But what seemed to most impress reporters was the 93-year-olds opinionated tangents, covering politics, TV, America and mindfullness. Below are seven highlights from a press conference with the creator of hits like All in the Family, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time:
On politics: Everybody knows me to be a progressive or a liberal or lefty or whatever. I think of myself as a bleeding heart conservative. You will not fk with my Bill of Rights, my Constitution, my guarantees of political justice for all. But does my heart bleed for those who need help and arent getting the justice that the country promises them and the equal opportunity the country promises? Yes. Im a bleeding heart, but I think myself to be a total social conservative. The people who are running just dont seem to have America on their minds, not the America I think about. When I was a kid we were in love with America. As early as I can remember, there was a civics class in my public school. And I was in love with those things that guaranteed freedom before I learned that there were people who hated me because I was Jewish. I had a Bill of Rights and a Constitution, those words out of the Declaration that protected me. And I knew about that because we had civics in class. We dont have that much in the country anymore. So before World War II or shortly after, we were in love with America because we understood what it was about and thats what we were in love with. I believe everybodys patriotic today. Everybody loves America. But I dont need their flag plans to prove it. Id like to go back to civics lessons.
On waking up: I want to wake up feeling as I usually do, loving the day. The title of my book is Even This I Get to Experience, and thats the way I basically look at life moment to moment. And now Im looking out at you. I was 93 on Monday. So it took me 93 and 5 days to get here. It took you every split second of each of your lives to get here for me. So Im way ahead of you. It took all your lives to get here, so this moment is the moment. Even this we get to experience.
On the Golden Age of television: I think this is the Golden Age. I understand what the Golden Age was when I was coming into television, and it was those years of Playhouse 90 and Philco Playhouse. But theres great drama and some great comedy on television today. I cant see it all.
On excess: Our greatest export in America is excess. We are so excessive. There is so much to watch, so much to buy, so much theyre selling. I wish they would sell the value of the country as hard as they sell the rest of it.
On living in the moment: Theres two words that are underrecognized, over and next. When something is over, its over. And were always on to next. And the hammock, the imaginary hammock in the middle is what I think is meant by living in the moment. Im living in the moment waiting for next.
On perspective: Ive learned introspectively how much each of us matters and how little we understand how much we matter in the course of our day. Im impressed with the way we all affect each other in small ways and the good we do in terms of relationships that would otherwise seem meaningless, or certainly easy to overlook, that we dont take credit for, each of us, all of us. If I could make anything clear, it would be that.
Who gives a $%&<?
Knowing what a lefty he has always been, I clicked on the thread expecting him to say something really offensive. To my surprise, he didn’t.
If he was a conservative the reporters and the documentary would not be there.
This guys is maybe the biggest reason for our current nadir.
I’d rather listen to him pass gas than have to listen to his opinions about anything American. Liberal DemocRATS hate America.
93 and coming clean.
Move him to the top of your Dead Pool.
Wonder if he’d write the Archie character differently today?
How about Meathead?
I didn’t have any problem with George Jefferson. He was a racist, and everyone knew it.
Few, if any, are more responsible for the “bread and circuses” of our current laptop culture of ABCNNBCBS zombies ...
But theres great drama and some great comedy on television todayReally? Looks more like the vast wasteland gone far beyond what Newton Minow could have conceived a half-century ago, which has resulted in pay TV revenues falling and the rise of TV à la carte/on demand and other such media.
"Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre / mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað." "Thought must be the harder, heart be the keener / mind must be the greater, as our might lessens." |
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On the Golden Age of television: I think this is the Golden Age. I understand what the Golden Age was when I was coming into television, and it was those years of Playhouse 90 and Philco Playhouse. But theres great drama and some great comedy on television today. I cant see it all.
I will admit there are some great shows on cable but do we really need the F bomb said so many times. So Norman, you think this is the Golden Age of television? When we put slop on the air such as “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and “Call Me Cait” I beg to differ.
“Knowing what a lefty he has always been, I clicked on the thread expecting him to say something really offensive. To my surprise, he didnt.”
In the context of the 1970’s, I found him fairly even-handed. For example, on All in the Family, he made fun of The Meathead and liberal causes, also. Maude was the classic “limousine liberal” and this was pointed out repeatedly.
It is interesting to consider that All In The Family would NEVER EVEN MAKE IT TO A PILOT TODAY, because of its “disturbing and offensive content” in this PC world.
don't need it....don't want it...
don’t let these buffoons fool you.....they’re leftist ilk and pull out this “I’m conservative” when it suits them.....
I agree. At the end of the day, Archie, the supposed conservative villain, was the hero. He always tried to do the right thing, and took care of his family, while Meathead, the supposed liberal antidote to Archie’s archaic way of thinking, ended up abandoning his family. All in the family was brilliant and groundbreaking.
It amuses me that they call themselves “progressive,” but everything the libs are chattering and protesting about today was dealt with on “All in the Family” 40 years ago.
Obama is f-king with his Bill of Rights, his Constitution, and he has not uttered a word of protest. Liberal liar (but I repeat myself).
It was a bunch of nuthin’ ! Seems like he knew it ... or not ...
Isn’t there a Freeper with that name?
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