Take a look at John Ford's "Cheyenne Autumn", in which vengeful
U.S. Cavalry leader, Karl Malden (complete with German accent and
dialogue echoing Goebbels), pursues a forlorn band of Cheyenne Indians
who "refuse to disarm" and flee the reservation on a trek to
their former homelands. Richard Widmark, in the General Shinseki part as
Malden's second-in-command, is disgusted with the proceedings and knows
the Indians pose no real threat.
By the way, there even a Fox News touch, in which a collection of stock
western town types, including James Stewart, work themselves into a
frenzy over the non-existent Indian menace and go charging about with
great noise and no effect, other than wearing out the horses. At the
time, critics wondered why Ford bothered with this bizarre sequence,
which is completely out of touch with the tone of the rest of the
picture. Now we know.
AD BREAK...
Dear Sharper Image,
Can it be that you wish your products to be associated with the vileness
that Michael Savage spews? Since you evidently have, up to this point,
wished to be associated with the tonier, educated crowd who read your
print ads, it amazes me that you should wish to adorn Savage's
broadcasts, for surely, if you are aware where your ads are consorting,
you must anticipate that people like me, who despise Savage's savagery
and consider it a degradation of truth and decency, will refuse to have
anything to do with The Sharper Image from now on.
As long as you advertise on Savage's appalling MSNBC show, I will urge
everyone I know to shy away from your company and its works. You have
blurred yourself, Imagers!
Sincerely,
Todd Gitlin
Professor of Journalism and Sociology
Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism
