URL: https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/6119
Collection Structure Firing Line broadcast records >  Episode guide >  Dissent and Society
Item Title Dissent and Society
Collection Title Firing Line broadcast records
Guest Boorstin, Daniel J. (Daniel Joseph) (1914-2004)
Host Buckley, William F., Jr. (1925-2008)
Date Created January 06, 1970
Description Mr. Boorstin, as WFB introduces him, is "superbly documented as a scholar ... but he is also adamant in his denunciation of what one loosely calls the New Left. Indeed one might call him the Spiro Agnew of the Highbrows." What follows is a splendid discussion, rich in detail, of how a community coheres, how America had changed in its perceptions of minorities, and how individuals now feel free "to bollix up the works" in pressing their own demands. One sample from Mr. Boorstin: "I think that if we start with the idea of community then we can easily make a distinction between dissent and disagreement. I define disagreement as the exchange of views over how to obtain the common ends of the community. Dissent I identify ..., through its Latin origin, with a feeling of separateness, the emphasis on that which separates rather than that which unites people. And I think that there has been a tendency to create a cliche, a new cliche in America, which is that it's good for people to feel and emphasize their separateness from all other people; and I think that much of what is glorified under the name of dissent is really the exclamatory expression of the self..."
Subject(s) United States Protest movements Dissenters Alienation (Social psychology)
Language(s) English
Country of Origin United States
Place Recorded Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Dimensions Duration: 50 minutes
Format Text
Medium television programs
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Color color
Color color
Soundtrack sound
Soundtrack sound
Hoover ID Program 185
Record Number 80040.185
Notes Video available through special order.
Collection Guide https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6m3nc88c
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