PBS Changed Our Lives

Here is what needs to be understood: The Conservatives want to dumb-down the American people even more than they already are. That is the only way they are going to succeed in creating the plutocratic utopia they long for. An institution like PBS stands in the way of that goal. Without public broadcasting, you won't see the hard-hitting documentaries that will remind you of what life was like in this country prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. A few nights ago they aired a documentary called "Triangle Fire." A little synopsis:

On March 25, 1911 -- a century ago this month -- 146 human beings, most of them women, perished when a dropped match sparked a fire that would end up as the worst industrial accident in the history of New York City. These poor "girls" (most of them were barely out of childhood) were trapped in an eighth floor sweat shop. The two owners of the establishment had locked them in for fear of their walking off the job and going on strike in the middle of a work day. This was at a time when the Labor Movement, still in its infancy, was just learning how to walk.

Conservative politicians would rather you and I not watch "Triangle Fire." They don't want us to be reminded what life was like for regular people before workplace laws and regulations were put firmly into place -- the same regulations they are now so desperate to have abolished. They don't want us to understand how unionization was critical in correcting this hideous situation. They don't want us to see how deregulation -- be it of the workplace or the marketplace -- is such an insanely bad idea. They want to keep us stupid. These are only a few of the thousands of reasons why PBS is so valuable.

By the way, if you missed this important documentary when it aired last week, it is available on DVD from PBS video. Everyone should see it. It is an invaluable history lesson.

Where else on television are you going to see grand opera? Where else will you find something like Masterpiece Theater? Or Frontline? Or Ken Burns' excellent series of documentaries? And how could I forget Monty Python? We Yanks across the pond would never have been exposed to their brilliant lunacy had it not been for PBS!

 

The forces of darkness would have us believe that these programs are nothing more than video caviar, produced solely for the amusement of an isolated cabal of elite, latte-swirling intellectuals. Nonsense. It's programing for all the people. You don't have to be rich -- or college educated -- to enjoy the beauty of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet, or Louis Armstrong's West End Blues, or George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. That music was meant for everyone to enjoy! Why do you think they call it Public Broadcasting?

The taxpayer funding of PBS amounts to less than five percent of its annual budget. Nonetheless, it is a crucial part of that budget, without which they could go under. Hopefully the bill to end its funding will be defeated in the senate. I sincerely hope so. America needs the Public Broadcasting System like it needs air. It's a lot more than mere "wires and lights in a box."

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