 |
| Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo by Gage Skidmore |
I know. It's just a pipe dream.
Yet, once again, I want to launch a campaign to confer Sainthood on a secular public figure.
As best I can see it, that title shouldn't just go to goody two shoes, in your face, religious types.
As an old Zennie, I thinks it's a good practice to carry your prayer closet around with you in your heart. I remember reading that Jesus thought so, too. Its seems he was a bit tougher on show-offs and hypocrites than the other sinners.
So, while others may parade their piety while dressed to the nines on Sunday -- men like Moyers simply roll up there sleeves and get the job done. Moyer's service to the world became a form of prayer.
So, here's the Deal:
I suppose it's highly unlikely that an ordained Southern Baptist minister is going to make the cut with the Catholic Crew. (Moyers completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in 1957 and served as a
Baptist pastor before entering the world of politics as a top aide to
Lyndon Johnson in the 1960 Election campaign.) Yet, I think its worth a shot.
I'm hereby nominate the late Bill Moyers for Sainthood!
This brilliant, spirited, principled journalist, who the Washington Monthly characterized as a "Collasus of Public Service and Journalism in an obituary penned by contributing editor, Jonathan Alter was the Real Deal.
Unlike so many broadcast journalists today, this erudite and talented man made a career serving the public. He championed the values of traditional journalism.
Back in those days, News was news. Facts mattered. Truth, not corporate profit, was the bottom line.
In the era before the "fairness doctrine" disappeared from the FCC regulations, at a time that the three commercial networks still made an effort to separate facts from opinion as part of their evening news shows, Moyers. donned the hat of senior news analyst and commentator.
Like Walter Cronkite and others in that era, Moyer's skillfully crafted words mattered to everyday people. That's because everyday people mattered to him. He listened deeply to their concerns and aspirations. He did his research. Then, unflinchingly, with he spoke Truth to Power.
Moyers left CBS, when he saw that their commitment to traditional journalistic standards had eroded. He then briefly joined NBC, where he served as its last "senior news analyst and commentator on the NBC Nightly News in 1995. That feature of the nightly news simply went away.
By then, the game plan first outlined in the infamous Powell Memo in 1971 had gathered a full head of steam. The right wing in this country took tighter control of the media. Network owners no longer had space for Moyers well-crafted progressive opinions on the challenges and promises of the American Democracy. Though Moyers political and cultural commentary was assiduously researched, sound, -- and widely trusted -- it wasn't good for business.
Moyers then moved on to focus his full attention to producing and hosting regular programming and numerous documentaries on PBS. Public broadcasting was, after all, one of the visions he had brought into being decades before.
 |
| Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 photo by Gage Skidmore |
A crucial element of this effort was the creation of public media as an educational and cultural answer to the"vast wasteland"of a radio and television landscape monopolized by huge profit-driven corporations. PBS and NPR were only a gleam in the eye of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 that he helped bring it into law as an essential element of the Great Society. (Moyers was also central in the creation of the Peace Corps.)
It's obvious, no? Bill Moyers was a man that knew that public service wasn't just a career. It was a calling. It was a way of life.
His first PBS offering had been This Week with Bill Moyers in 1971. Nearly four decades later, with a legacy of hundreds and hundreds of productions, he"retired" from PBS as the George W. Bush Administration took aim on the PBS leadership and its "liberal bias. " Although he had prevailed when a Bush appointee on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasted launched an attack on him, Moyers saw the handwriting on the wall.
Bill Moyers being the man he was, acted. That wall wasn't going to silence him.
A journalistic career which began at age 16 when he was a cub reporter for the Marshal (TX) Messenger, had spanned 6 decades. His legacy included
30 Prime Time Emmy's, 8 Peabody's, and an assortment of other prestigious awards.
Though he had plenty of laurels to rest on, Moyers a difficult time staying totally silent, though. At a time that the Trump administration's rapacious capitalists and their cronies were taking a chainsaws to American Democracy, the series of Moyers on Democracy Podcast ensued. The final one was dated August 18, 2022. He was 88 at the time.
Like Saint Paul, Moyers had "fought the good fight. He had finished the race. He had kept his faith."
So, This should be a no-brainer. Bill Moyers had dedicated his brain, heart, and soul to service of his God and the Public Good with courage, integrity, and great skill. Pope Leo XIV and his folks should immediately dub Moyers Saint Billy. (Moyers was born Billy Don Moyers, in Hugo, Choctaw County, Oklahoma.)
In an ideal world, one where sectarian differences don't muddy the living waters of a deep faith based on Love, Bill Moyers would then join his fellow Southern Baptist, President Jimmy Carter, in that circle of notables. (I pitched for Saint Jimmy's sainthood here: Saint Jimmy Gets My Vote.)
These two forces for the Public Good emerged in public service before the Republicans had successfully turned the Old South crimson Red through fanning the flames of racism and a pseudo-class war against federal government and a demonized liberal elite. Their Democratic Party, the Party that FDR had championed to forceably bend the moral arc of history toward justice. had not yet been completely co-opted by the seemingly unlimited $$$ of Wealth and Corporate Coffers.
Both of these men, of course, had their flaws. If I were to make it past the pearly gates myself, I'd definitely find myself quibbling with them about some of the stuff they did. Yet, their hearts were in the right place. As Pope Francis once said, "Who am I to judge?" I only wish we had more public figures around these days that had their heart, courage, -- and, most importantly, moral vision to do what needs to be done.
Perhaps, though, seeing and hearing Bill Moyers in action makes the best case for his Sainthood. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! memorialized Moyers and included an interview with him she conducted with co-host Juan Gonzalez in 2012.
Moyers' critique of the corruption of the media and government by wealth and corporate power was clear and compelling. His passionate call for a resurgence of democratic public institutions stirred my soul. (12 minutes)
No comments:
Post a Comment