book tv just reran last fall's telecast on john friedman's the secret histories: hidden truths that challenged the past and changed the world, but the listing didn't say the show featured a panel with philip gourevitch, mark danner, and morley safer.
the q&a got into issues ranging from abu ghraib to our suspicious election results.
an audience member said what's going on lately isn't really new, and americans seem not to recall history.
gourevitch suddenly went into patriot mode and got a bit worked up—tho he said he doesn't defend everything. his point was that short memories, abuse of power, and bad press coverage aren't unique to america, and almost everywhere else is worse.
even so, it's no excuse. we don't live anywhere else. we're responsible for this country. it's our duty to make sure it does what's right, no matter how bad other places might be.
news media could help a lot by putting current events into historical perspective when present seems to echo past.
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