As much as I love Elon Musk’s fearless futuristic ideas, I am utterly and totally gobsmacked by Aaron Sorkin. If I ever met him in person, I think I’d be unable to summon words and just drop into a deep curtsy or something equally embarrassing.
The reason for this tangent is simple. I just finished watching “An American President” for about the 100th time and remain awestruck by it and everything else he’s ever written. But THIS:
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.
Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”
So yeah, Happy Independence Day eve, by the way. This was the perfect nightcap to launch the holiday!