60 Minutes Renowned Journalist Scott Pelley delivered a blistering attack on Donald Trump and his designs for a Fascist America, telling graduates at Wake Forest University in North Carolina that “History is Calling You.”
Starting at about two minutes into his remarks (29.00 minutes into the video,) Pelley, after recounting the reporting of legendary journalist Edward R Murrow from Britain during the London Blitz where the “bombs of Fascism” fell and the words of George Orwell, “If Liberty means anything at all, it means telling someone something they don’t want to hear,” said he appreciated the audience members “forbearance” while he exercised “this small act of liberty.”
Continuing, Pelley told the audience of the need for civic activism in this time of Trump, MAGA, and rising Authoritarianism-Fascism, saying:
“Your country needs you. The country that has given you so much Is calling you, the class of 2025. Your country needs you, and it needs you today. As a reporter, I’ve learned to respect opinions. Reasonable people differ about the life of our country and America works well when we listen to those that we disagree with where we listen to those who we disagree with and have common ground and compromise. And one thing we can all agree on. One thing at least. America is at her best when everyone is included. To move forward. We debate not demonize…We discuss. Not destroy…”
Pelley then outlined what Donald Trump and his MAGA band of White Nationalist Authoritarian/Fascists were trying to do to the country, conveying:
“…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. If our government Is In Lincoln’s phrase ‘Of the people By the people For the people.’ Then why are we afraid to speak? The Wake Forest class of 1861. They did not choose their time of calling. The class of 1941 did not choose. The class of 1968 did not choose. History, chose them. And now, history is calling you The class of 2025.“
The 60 Minute’s reporter then addressed possible concerns from the graduates on whether they were the ones meant to rise to history’s moment and challenge, citing Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Nobel Peace Prize winner and writer Nadia Murad, surgeon Dr. Sandeep Samant, poet and educator Maya Angelou, the leaders of Wake Forest University, and Dr. Martin Luther King, as individuals who rose from obscure, and even horrible beginnings, to make a difference in history.
Pelley then described Trump and MAGA’s war on knowledge and why they attack journalists and universities, the beacons of knowledge, stating:
“Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power? First, make the truth seekers live in fear. Sue the journalists and their companies for nothing. Then send masked agents to abduct a college student who wrote an editorial in her college paper, defending Palestinian rights, and send her to a prison in Louisiana, charged with nothing. Then move to destroy the law firms that stand up for the rights of others.”
“With that done, 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’s nothing new in this. George Orwell… warned us about what he called new speak. He understood that ignorance works for power, But then it is ignorance isn’t it that you have repudiated every single day here at Wake Forest University? Who are you? I think we know…”
Calling the students to action, Pelley relayed:
“You are the educated. You are the compassionate. You are the fierce defenders of Democracy, the Seekers of Truth, the Vanguard against Ignorance. You and millions strong across our land… Hard times are going to make you better and going to make you stronger… When our country is in peril, don’t ask the meaning of life. Life is asking, what’s the meaning of you?”
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