FBI Considered “It’s A Wonderful Life” Communist Propaganda
I love It’s a Wonderful Life because it teaches us that family, friendship, and virtue are the true definitions of wealth.
In 1947, however, the FBI considered this anti-consumerist message as subversive Communist propaganda (read original FBI memo).
According to Professor John Noakes of Franklin and Marshall College, the FBI thought Life smeared American values such as wealth and free enterprise while glorifying anti-American values such as the triumph of the common man.
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Selective media…
As an off-shoot of a side conversation Dan and I have been having here on this post, I got to thinking about the main drawback (in my eyes) of the new “subscription” culture (for lack of a better term) that RSS and the internet in general a…
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Crazy.
I just saw this on digg.com too. I know you hate it but I wonder where you got it.
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/FBI_Memo_It_s_a_Wonderful_Life_is_communist_propaganda
Like the last time you made a similar comment, I saw the link to the original article on Boing Boing, not Digg. It’s not surprising though, since from what I can tell most of the interesting content on Boing Boing gets dugg pretty quickly.
So I guess that goes to show that interesting stories get around either way, but it also goes to show why I generally avoid digg and slashdot. I’d rather just subscribe to sites & blogs that I perceive as having interesting content, since that way (IMHO) there’s a lower crap ratio.
That’s funny because I think the opposite. There are so many sites like Boing Boing that I don’t read because digg seems to filter out the crappy posts. But either way there will always be crappy posts I just like how digg is easier to filter and scan.
And that cray was for the story not the digg thing.
Yeah, I get where you’re coming from. RSS is pretty easy for me (much easier than looking at a separate web site), and the way I see the filtering is that if I subscribe to the blog feeds of enough people I’m interested in reading that I will see all the stories that are going to interest me, and I’d rather put my “crap filter” trust into the hands of people I select as opposed to the digg masses, who, in my experience, don’t seem to be very discriminating.
But yes, (not to get too far off topic) that story was pretty darn crazy. I think we’d do well to keep that stuff in mind throughout history as people in power continue to use those kinds of tactics to intimidate and / or discredit people with opinions that they feel challenge their positions of power. It’s easy to see the ridiculousness of the red scare now, in hindsight - I just wish that would give us a clearer perspective on the new “red / orange / yellow scare“.
Isn’t triumph of the common man practically the definition of the American Dream?
I think it depends on whose “dream” it is - sometimes I’ve heard it described in those terms, but more commonly I’ve heard the standard “white picket fence” description that seems to be based entirely on material possessions and achieving a certain social status.
The American dream is opportunity. An opportunity for an individual’s ideas and hard work to compete on a level playing field. While the actual triumph of the common man is a part of the American dream, I don’t think it completely captures it, because there will always be a dark side of the dream. There are just to many ifs involved. If you work hard, if you have ingenuity, if you’re in the right place at the right time, and so on. Those ifs imply that possibility for failure. So the American dream, to some extent, has an element of failure as well.
That’s why there will always be some who have lost hope, become cynical, and want to belittle the American dream. They want to turn into something dirty and materialistic or better yet, a fraud created by the powerful to enshrine their power. They reject the American dream because it is not inclusive, does not guarantee a comfortable life, and is not fair. But I don’t think that’s fair to the millions who have given their life protecting the dream nor the enumerable who have given everything and traveled to a foreign land to let their children participate in the dream.
To be sure, failing to be succeed in America is too common and the consequences immoral. The dark side is too dark. But those who still hope in America–maybe the same ones who have no faith in the digg masses ;)–see the American dream as a work in progress. Things need to be better, as they always will, but the dream can’t be abandoned. Honestly, I think a lot of the lack of civility in politics these days stems from a conflict between those who have lost hope in the American dream, those who don’t get it, those who worship it, and those who cautiously respect it. Our country is in dire need, regardless of world view, of men and women who cautiously respect the American dream.
I meant to say “maybe the same ones who have faith in the digg masses.”