Something happened today that reminded me of a scene from a Woody Allen movie. Woody was waiting in line to go into a movie, as I recall, and he gets into a disagreement with another man who is in line as well, but is a stranger. The two men are arguing about the meaning of the work of Marshall McLuhan. In the movie, the real Marshall McLuhan comes walking up to the two men and proclaims that Woody is correct and the other guy does not know what he is talking about. What better authority than McLuhan himself? We all, at some point, wish we had such vindication.
(As an aside, McLuhan had some great insights, including “the media is the message” meaning, that to show an activity on the screen is to advertise for that activity, even if the activity is portrayed in a negative light. So, for example, if you wanted to make an anti-smoking commercial, you would not want to show a person smoking).
Here is my version of what happened to Woody. I had written a letter to the editor in which I had alluded to the role of the CIA in the drug trade in Central-America during the time of the Contras (backed by the U.S.), who were trying to overthrow the government of Nicaragua.
A fellow wrote an opinion piece in which he claimed that my notion of the CIA involved in the drug trade was fanciful. That sent me to the internet, where I was reminded of a newspaper series by journalist Gary Webb. The series, titled “Dark Alliance,” described the movement of cocaine from Central-America to the ghettos of South Los Angeles. In other words, the CIA, in order to raise money for the Contras, inflicted the scourge of crack cocaine on poor African-Americans. I remembered that Webb, himself, had been the target of many a media attack.
I also found, on the internet, that there had been testimony by former Contra officers before senate committees that confirmed illicit drug trade and the involvement of the CIA. I did not respond to the letter writer”s assertion at that time, however.
So, what happened today was that I saw a trailer for a new movie, called “Kill the Messenger,” which describes Webb”s travails and the persecution he endured for breaking the story about the involvement of the CIA in drug trafficking, including from his fellow journalists and their newspapers.
So, delightfully, and deliciously, I must say to the person who called my work fanciful: shoddy work, pal, really, shoddy work.
Nelson Strasser, Lakeport
