Maggie Shnayerson

“We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.”

In some ways, I’m awfully glad Murrow didn’t live long enough to see all his predictions keep coming true.

You should watch this, all the way to the end. You can do it.  And not just because it's a 14-minute video that nonetheless was the #2 featured clip on YouTube today, or because my talented friend Jesse Ruben sings in it. There's a quadriplegic discussing the details of his sex life!  Always awesome!  Oh, and there are some fairly stirring and profound moments that might just make you rethink your Monday, if not your year. [ZackWeinstein.org]