Assignment 5 — Theodore

    Consider this Jeopardy question: In 1964, this Emmy winner in Drama starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed. The contestants fall silent, never having heard of The Defenders. Nobody remembers any prize winners from half a century ago — or do they? Next question: This 1964 Nobel laureate in Peace led America’s Civil Rights Movement. Every viewer leaps off their couch, sure of the answer: “Who is Martin Luther King?” Nobel Prize winners stay significant; the Emmys become historical trivia. Yet the Emmys involve so much spectacle because they allow television to pat itself on the back. It doesn’t matter if society focuses on the soon-to-be irrelevant. But the Emmys also divide society.

    Americans must move past partisanship. Informed citizens should care about issues, but America’s politics resembles a zero-sum game: Everyone wants the “other side” to lose at any cost. Unfortunately, the 2017 Emmys reminded everyone of politics, as the show and the White House crossed verbal swords. Viewers could avoid politics. The Nobel Prizes remain nonpartisan, rewarding liberal Paul Krugman but also libertarian Milton Friedman. If Americans paid more attention to the Nobel Prizes, they would notice that the USA, from Teddy Roosevelt to Bob Dylan, dominates the prizes — an overlooked source of national pride.

    Why is it important to emphasize shared national achievements? The ancient Greeks had that opportunity: Archimedes expanded the borders of mathematics, Socrates developed critical philosophy, and Aristotle advanced both rhetoric and science. But the Greeks failed to recognize their accomplishments as a people (Athens executed Socrates for asking inconvenient questions); they instead vied against each other for power. Eventually, this quarreling smashed their web of alliances, pitting Athens against Sparta, exhausting the city-states with war, and allowing Alexander the Great to take over. Greece’s Golden Age ended.

    Let’s pay more attention to the Nobel Prizes; our country needs reason, not politics.