I’m so glad Bill Moyers is on TV again. Today’s “Bill Moyers
Journal” on PBS featured three thought-provoking segments: The first
was an interview with Jerry Miller who spent twenty-five years in
prison until he was exonerated by DNA analysis provided by the
Innocence Project. He was the 200th inmate proven innocent after
wrongful conviction. This made me wonder how many others have been
wrongfully convicted – even ones who have already died or who have
been executed.
The second part featured Jonathan Miller on “Disbelief,” a
fascinating look at religion by a medical doctor who abandoned medical
practice and became a very successful director of theater, opera, and
film in London and New York. “A Brief History of Disbelief,” his recent
documentary, airs this month on PBS.
Bill Moyers’ last guest on the hour-long program was Carlo Bonini, an
Italian journalist and co-author of “The Collusion” which is about
falsified intelligence documents – “junk intelligence.” He said that
“journalism matters” and that propaganda is harmful, regardless if it’s
from your enemy or from your government; public opinion and democracy
have to be protected from propaganda. This was a look at something about
which I have heard very little. I didn’t even realize that there was
such a thing as “junk intelligence.”
Whether or not I agree with the opinions presented by Bill Moyers’
guests, I do agree with what Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not
worth living.” What better way to examine my life than to consider other
points of view?
