The remains of the day
-
- November
- 6
Perhaps initially lost in TV’s analysis of the selection of Sen. Barack Obama as our next president was what one respondent to a political blog described as the triumph of brilliance over mediocrity.We live in a techno-crazed, gotta-have-it-now society that has in many ways abandoned and even become hostile toward Culture — which, after all, requires time. But on Election Day and in its afterglow, Culture mattered again.
History — the narrative of the past — mattered, as presidential historian (and NBC/PBS consultant) Michael Bechloss noted. Indeed, TV cameras captured long lines of voters who waited with their children so that one day those children could tell their children that their grandparents voted for the first African-American president of the United States.
Words mattered, as the tube panned a sea of beaming, rapt, tear-streaked faces listening to Obama’s speech in Grant Park.
And not just eloquently spoken words: Written words mattered. The next day, the networks and cable reported a strange phenomenon — people lining up for copies of newspapers, many of which were sold-out.
We hear so much about the demise of those newspapers, because readers are getting their information online. But on a day when history mattered, people wanted a tangible, concrete souvenir of the day. That was something no computer could provide.
I have to say that as a newspaper reporter, I wept for our long civil-rights struggle and the transcendence Obama’s presidency offers. But I also wept a little bit for the news business and myself.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 5:05 pm by Georgette Gouveia.
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