David Simon on America as a Horror Show

[Sunlei]

This week on Moyers & Company, David Simon, journalist and creator of the TV series The Wire and Treme, talks with Bill about the crisis of capitalism in America. After President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address, it’s a reality check from someone who artfully uses television drama to report on the state of America from an entirely different perspective — the bottom up.

“The horror show is we are going to be slaves to profit. Some of us are going to be higher on the pyramid and we’ll count ourselves lucky and many many more will be marginalized and destroyed,” Simon tells Moyers. He blames a “purchased” Congress for failing America’s citizens, leading many of them to give up on politics altogether.

from the video- "I don't think that you can call the American government anything other than broken at this point. And I think the break has come at the legislative level. I mean, that's the part of the government that has been purchased.

You can buy these guys on the cheap. And the capital's been at it a long time and the rules have been relaxed. The Supreme Court has walked away from any sort of responsibility to maintain democracy at that level. That's the aspect of government that's broken."

http://billmoyers.com/episode/david-simon-on-america-as-a-horror-show/

[Scootaloo]

1. There's a big, big difference between a horror movie and the US.

In a horror movie, the black man gets it first.
In the US, black men tend to get it last.

[Sunlei]

2. These days more like the 'lower class' gets it last, if they happen to make it past the barriers

[truth2power]

3. You might also be interested in Simon's talk at

the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, AU. This is linked on Moyers' site...

http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/30/david-simon-at-the-festival-of-dangerous-ideas/

It's lengthy but well worth the time. I watched both of these a few days ago. This is the first I've discovered David Simon.

Thanks for posting.