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Terrorist attack in Paris; Final BCS Championship game; Borat steals the show; President Johnson’s vision for the future; and President Wilson’s 1916 bid

 

⇒ What You Were Talking About This Week: “Je Suis Charlie”

This seemed like one of those weeks where everyone talked about the same thing: gunmen who attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people before sparking a massive manhunt that led to a shootout in an industrial park near Charles de Gaulle airport. Among those killed were the satirical magazine’s editor Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier, along with his police bodyguard, and famous cartoonists Jean Cabut (known as Cabu), Bernard Verlhac, and Georges Wolinski.

These events brought to the surface the ever-present culture clash between radicalism and free expression. On several occasions, Charlie Hebdo published inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad—not unlike other European newspapers, such as Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten. While the majority of people may consider these images offensive or having gone too far, these same people may argue such satire is an important element of a healthy society. From David Brooks’ latest column (a great read): “Healthy societies. . .don’t suppress speech, but they do grant different standing to different sorts of people. Wise and considerate scholars are heard with high respect. Satirists are heard with bemused semirespect. Racists and anti-Semites are heard through a filter of opprobrium and disrespect.” Moreover, there’s a rich history of satire, specifically French satire cited for its “radical anticlericalism” as detailed by Caroline Weber.

Attacks like what happened in Paris this week, Sydney in December, and Ottawa in October often become introspective exercises where societies look in the mirror and question how they got here. Such uncertain times also have a way of uniting people, hence the trending phrase “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) or, perhaps more appropriate, Je Suis Ahmed.

⇒ Last Year: Bowls on Bowls

Last year the Florida State Seminoles beat the Auburn Tigers in the BCS National Championship game 34-31. With 79 seconds left on the clock, Heisman Trophy-winner Jameis Winston drove the team down the field, throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to win the game.

When compared with Notre Dame’s shellacking at the hands of Alabama the previous year, many consider this “one of the best title games” in the 16-year history of the BCS championship. This was also the first time a non-SEC team won the championship after seven consecutive years of domination.

This makes for a nice segue into this year’s title run: the College Football Playoffs. The official website (hilariously) describes the new format as “the biggest innovation in the sport in decades.” The simple format has a governing body select the best four teams to play two semifinal bowl games, with the winners playing in a championship game. The ‘Noles didn’t have as much luck this year against the 2014 Heisman winner “Super Mariota” and the Oregon Ducks. But, perhaps more surprising, is Ohio State’s victory over Alabama—meaning that in the first College Football Playoff there is no SEC team. Could this be the end of SEC domination? Selfishly, this Big 10 fan hopes so.

⇒ 10 Years Ago: “My Name a Borat”

A Roanoke Times report from January 9, 2005 details a weird encounter at a rodeo in Salem, West Virginia. A “Middle Eastern man in an American flag shirt and a cowboy hat” introduced himself as Borat Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan and wanted to sing the national anthem as a sign of his appreciation, adding to cheers from the crowd “We support your war on terror.” According to Brett Sharp of Star Country WSLC, Borat told the decidedly pro-American crowd “I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards. And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq.” After a butchered version of the Star-Spangled Banner, he was quickly ushered out of the rodeo. According to one observer, “If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him.”

This event is a key scene in the movie “Borat,” a sort of mockumentary starring Sacha Baron Cohen. But what exactly is it mocking? According to Rolling Stones’ Peter Travers, Cohen—in the company of other comic revolutionaries—is “exposing the ignorant, racist, misogynist, gay-bashing, Jew-hating, gun-loving, warmongering heart of America.” This movie was highly offensive to a lot of people, including the government of Kazakhstan, which was none too happy with the depiction of its country. But Cohen has firmly established himself as a provocateur, which (as noted above) a healthy society needs.

⇒ 50 Years Ago: LBJ’s “Great Society”       

On January 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a State of the Union address wherein he outlined the goals of the “Great Society.” However, this was not the first time the president used this phrase. He first introduced his vision for a “great society” in a commencement speech delivered at the University of Michigan (a Big 10 school!) on May 22, 1964. In that speech he said, “The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning.”

Johnson’s “Great Society” platform became a vehicle for education and social welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, as well as critical legislation including passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Voting Rights Act of 1968. From President Johnson’s State of the Union:

The Great Society asks not how much, but how good; not only how to create wealth but how to use it; not only how fast we are going, but where we are headed. . . It will require of every American, for many generations, both faith in the destination and the fortitude to make the journey. And like freedom itself, it will always be challenge and not fulfillment.

While the Vietnam War overtook the president’s plans, he also understood the “Great Society” was not something to be achieved in five or 10 years. In an in-depth report on the 50th anniversary for The Washington Post, reporter Karen Tumulty wrote, “Virtually every political battle that rages today has roots in the federal expansion and experimentation that began in the 1960s.”

In sum, President Johnson—who was the first to use an “electrically operated prompter” for the address—asserted: “This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope.”

⇒ 100 Years Ago: Wilson Announces Candidacy 

During a speech in Indianapolis on January 9, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson “flung down the gauntlet to his enemies” and announced he would seek reelection in 1916. A Washington Herald report states the president’s speech “is regarded in all quarters as by far the most important utterance of his political career” and a “signal” for his supporters to rally behind him.

Not unlike the barbs tossed today, President Wilson took some time to attack the Republican Party, forcefully stating, “The trouble with the Republican Party is that it has not had a new idea for thirty years.”

Apparently it’s never too early to start talking about the next presidential race. Over the past few weeks, there have been some interesting developments on the 2016 front. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (yes, those Bushes) announced he would “actively explore the possibility” of a presidential bid and formed a leadership PAC to do so. Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton tapped some high-profile campaign strategists this week to build a team ahead of a potential spring announcement. The fun with presidential races is that they are, indeed, full of grandiose ideas for the future (see “Great Society”). To use Wilson’s words, let’s see which camp has the new ideas this time around.