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Ken Burns, Faux "Storyteller"


The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect to the Rescue

Burns in his interviews makes a point of saying his work could only be done on public television, because a commercial sponsor would object to certain things, and he holds up HBO, Discovery, and History Channel as bad examples. The 1924 Democratic convention was a standoff between the wets (Al Smith) and the dries (William McAdoo), requiring 103 ballots before a compromise candidate was finally chosen. When a profession that claims to thrive on new ideas and debate instead ostracizes those who challenge certain orthodoxies, it deprives students of access to serious thought and encourages the rest of society to ignore it.

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Ken Burns

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Faux Storyteller