STEVEN KALAS: TV show sparks debate on whether America is the ‘greatest’

A friend sends me a YouTube clip from Episode One of HBO's new series "The Newsroom." Then a handful of other friends do the same, independent of each other. Suddenly, in conversations with friends and colleagues, it's like a grassfire. Several people ask me if I've seen the clip. You, Good Reader, can see it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqcLUqYqrs. Be forewarned that the clip contains the "F" word.

I've not seen so much as one episode of "The Newsroom," though I'll probably get around to it. The series is created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin, whose work includes "A Few Good Men" and "The West Wing." I am mesmerized by brilliant writers, and I pay Sorkin that tribute.

In "The Newsroom," actor Jeff Daniels plays Will McAvoy, news anchor and journalist. In the clip, he's sitting onstage, apparently between a liberal and a conservative. The panel is taking questions from a roomful of college students. Jennie, a sophomore, comes to the microphone and asks, "Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?"

The liberal says, "Diversity and opportunity." The conservative says, "Freedom, and freedom, so let's keep it that way," drawing an approving applause. Then the moderator turns to McAvoy. He tries a joke answer. He tries repeating his colleagues' answers. He tries admiring the Constitution, our nation's founders and the Declaration of Independence. The moderator won't let him off the hook.

McAvoy explodes: "It's not the greatest country in the world, professor. That's my answer." Then he goes off on a diatribe, softening at the end to lamentation embracing hope. Whatever your politics, I think you'll agree that it's a thought-provoking moment in television theater.

I'm doing something here for which I have more than once made sport of others: I'm going to respond to McAvoy's speech as if it were nonfiction. If the reaction of my friends and colleagues is any indication, it seems important.

He turns to the liberal and calls liberals losers. He turns to the conservative and essentially calls conservatives glib. He then turns on the unsuspecting college student and tells her there is no evidence that America is the greatest country in the world.

"We're seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, No. 4 in labor force and fourth in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies."

Ouch. Yikes. I'm not a sociologist. I assume, I guess, that Sorkin cares enough about his credibility so that he wouldn't pull these numbers out of his nether regions. So, if true, I say again, "Yikes."

Then he tells the student she is "without a doubt a member of the worst generation ever; so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what you're talking about! Yosemite?"

That's unfair, if in some ways accurate. I, too, have my concerns about what is becoming of the collective teens and 20-somethings. I want them to be impassioned by more than tattoos and piercings. I want them to "get" that education matters. That learning to think critically is vital to their freedom and happiness. But any such sweeping indictment of young people is an indictment of all of us. Narcissistic child-rearing patterns predominate our culture. We have built an economy that artificially delays a young person's meaningful participation. We keep lowering the bar of our expectations for children and then reserving the right to be indignant and surprised when the average 25-year-old is still floundering in post-adolescence. Still ordering pizzas in your living room.

Then McAvoy delivers a poignant soliloquy. He says we used to be the greatest country and implies we could be again. On and on he reminisces about a great America, including: "We aspired to intelligence. We didn't belittle it. It didn't make us feel inferior."

That line strikes home to me. When excellence in any form leaves you feeling diminished, then you have a problem. The country I love makes no peace with mediocrity. No peace with evil or injustice.

Watch the clip. I'm curious to know what it stirs in you. How it makes you think. Whether it gives you pause. It did all those things to me.

Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Las Vegas Psychiatry and the author of "Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing" (Stephens Press). His columns also appear on Sundays in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Contact him at 227-4165 or skalas@reviewjournal.com.