I’m talking about the closing statement that Boston Legal’s Alan Shore made at the trial of a young woman who didn’t pay her taxes because she’s “embarrassed” by and objects to Bush’s war on the Iraqi people.
This is the part I love:
….And now it’s been discovered the executive branch has been conducting massive, illegal, domestic surveillance on its own citizens. You and me. And I at least consoled myself that finally, finally the American people will have had enough. Evidentally, we haven’t.
In fact, if the peole of this country have spoken, the message is we’re okaywith it all. Torture, warrantless search and seizure, illegal wiretappings, prison without a fair trial – or any trial – war on false pretenses. We, as a citizenry, are apparently not offended.
There are no demonstrations on college campuses. In fact, there’s no clear indication that young people seem to notice.
Well, Melissa Hughes noticed. Now, you might think, instead of withholding her taxes, she could have protested the old fashioned way. Made a placard and demonstrated at a Presidential or Vice-Presidential appearance, but we’ve lost the right to that as well. The Secret Service can now declare free speech zones to contain, control and, in effect, criminalize protest…..
[snip]
This, in the United States of America. This in the United States of America. Is Melissa Hughes the only one embarassed?….
With subtly intense acting, James Spader gives Alan Shore’s words a terrifying vibrancy that reading his words on paper can’t possible convey. If you missed the episode, you can hear and see it here; if you don’t have the technical ability to do so, go to the Boston Legal site and read the whole thing.
There aren’t very many television programs worth watching these days. Boston Legal is one of the very few — for its cleverly courageous writing, its pointedly peculiar characters, and a cast of actors that know how to make you believe.
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in the words of archy the cockroach:
now look at it
the human race never would
take my advice
and now just look at it
planning more wars which mean
more debts more trouble and still more wars
well if it wants to commit suicide
why should a little insect such as i
worry about it
a suicide is a person who has
considered his own case and decided
that he is worthless and who acts
as his own judge jury and executioner
and he probably knows better
than anyone else whether there is justice
in the verdict
i am sorry to see the human race go
for it was in some respects almost as interesting
as several species of insects
but if it wants to die off
I shall not worry about it
i shall merely conclude it knows what it wants
(from the lives and times of archy and mehitabel)