Don’t know if anyone was aware of this show or if it was posted prior (mea culpa if so)
OT: Ben Franklin Alert for Tom McA
- Thread starter rudedude
- Start date
appreciate the thought. I actually participated in an online event with Ken Burns and some Franklin historians in the past month. There were several such events scheduled by PBS stations and historical groups in the past month -- I assume they were in part a promotion of Burns' upcoming movie.
Alas, I have a previously scheduled event for Monday evening and Tuesday evening, so I'll probably end up streaming the show in a week or two.
Alas, I have a previously scheduled event for Monday evening and Tuesday evening, so I'll probably end up streaming the show in a week or two.
He leads with deeply flawed? What a twit. The founding fathers make the current leaders look like veritable criminals. Oh wait...
We are all deeply flawed, clown. Start with your referring to Burns as a twit.
Franklin was a deeply flawed as what ? Clinton yes and others yes Franklin , ???Burns is better than that
I have come to the conclusion(as everyone else has I am sure), that to reach certain heights of leadership(or whatever else you want to call it), the person is going to have flaws and arrogance or something somebody doesn't like or someone they pissed off or trampled upon on their way there. It is inevitable. I am sure Ken Burns is deeply flawed in some ways as well. He just cheapened his brand by making that statement. Just present the facts and let your viewers decide. This is the problem with the media, they insist on telling us how we should think or feel about someone. Just preset the fecking facts and we can make up our minds about the person or situation.
Why would you focus on that point and not the point that he had a greater capacity for introspection and self-improvement than any of the other founders? I mean, aren’t we all deeply flawed in some fashion? Is really groundbreaking that he thinks the founders were as well?
I'll address since I pointed it out. You lead with the most important point. Not only that, he's profferring his opinion, almost as fact.
Is it opinion that are people are flawed? I don’t think so. Deeply flawed? Sure, that’s obviously subjective but I have no problem with the idea that all people are deeply flawed.
After you get the opportunity to view, I would welcome your thoughts on what, so far, appears to be a veiled episodic opportunity to label him as nothing than a slave-owning racist.
He’s a historian with agendas. His takes on many topics are disingenuously incomplete.
Oh, I think using his rank with the Postal Service to mess with the deliveries of competing newspapers is flawed by any standards. That’s just one. Franklin has been and still is one of my heroes. I’m far from a historian, but I’ve learned enough over the years that his statue in my mind’s eye is not as polished as it once was. Same goes for Lincoln.
He does have nice production value though. Setting aside any commentary, his projects, at best, are little more than edited Cliff's Notes of a topic. It's just the nature of his medium of choice.
As an example, five minutes into this documentary he has a writer on making a statement that he's the only founding father who "evidently" had not only a sense of humor, but was human and had a sex life. Apparently they were all just rigid caricatures.
So I watched the first episode-albeit 10 minutes late. Like all the other works by Burns it was well researched and produced.
I like that Burns didn’t pull punches on BFs foibles and shortcomings -some of which he was aware of. It’s nice to see some balance when discussing one of America’s Founding Farhers.
Too much of the history we are spoon fed growing up is sugar coated.
Good stuff.
I like that Burns didn’t pull punches on BFs foibles and shortcomings -some of which he was aware of. It’s nice to see some balance when discussing one of America’s Founding Farhers.
Too much of the history we are spoon fed growing up is sugar coated.
Good stuff.
I was unaware of the term for Franklin in this case He was human and by todays standards most was child's play He was not deeply flawed but he had his failings as most do I do agree with his time from his wife was wrong ,she didn't want to go the England , but yes he had responsibilities, and failed at some , but overall not deeply flawed just human with some failings
I stand by my original observational comments, complete with the wholly-biased academic-based commenters as proof.
I've read 3 books about Franklin, including his Autobiography, so I was already familiar with much of what I saw in Part 1. Through the years I've read a lot of history and whether it's Franklin, Washington, Grant, or anyone else, I have two rules. I don't accept any one person's view as gospel and I don't judge people from other eras by today's standards. That said, my view of Franklin is one of admiration.
This is sage advice and I would like to see this applied more readily today in many aspects of our current environment.
As I watched Monday, it was evident they were hammering home the point that Franklin was in their view, a racist. They spent a good amount of time highlighting that view.
She's the putz who said none of the founding fathers had senses of humor, among other things.
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