In his speech, Pelley dared to correctly tell graduates, faculty and guests that so much of democracy is under attack:
But in this moment – this moment, this morning – our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America!
Not in the clip but in the full transcript, Pelley said that the reason for such attacks is “because ignorance works for power.”
First, make the truth seekers live in fear. Sue the journalists. For nothing. Then send masked agents to abduct a college student, a writer of her college paper who wrote an editorial supporting Palestinian rights, and send her to a prison in Louisiana and charge her with nothing. Then, move to destroy law firms that stand up for the rights of others.
Pelley never mentioned the Trump administration by name. I believe that was not a dodge but a way of stressing that authoritarianism is not new, nor is the importance of fighting against it with truth:
Power can rewrite history with grotesque, false narratives. They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality.
Diversity is now described as illegal, equity is to be shunned, inclusion is a dirty word.
This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this.
Nothing reveals the anti-Americanism of MAGA world like its hysteria over the kind of speech our forefathers would have surely applauded. As Tommy Christopher explained, Pelley made his speech last Monday, but a clip went viral over Memorial Day weekend after a MAGA supporter posted it and wrote “Scott Pelley raged at Trump in angry, unhinged commencement address at Wake Forest…as he speaks openly and freely in America. This self-important, sermonizing propagandist is what passes for a legacy media ‘journalist.'”
I guarantee you that Pelley’s speech will fare much better in history than any MAGA meltdown.
