In a commencement address to the University of Mississippi last Saturday, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw lectured that “more guns” “will mean more homegrown acts of terror.” The veteran journalist, who worked for years with the unreliable Brian Williams, also dismissed websites that say “to heck with the truth.”
On guns, Brokaw chided, “I'm appalled by the determination of organizations and individuals to arm more people without any appreciation of the consequence of ever more lethal weapons in our midst.” He added, “More guns and more firearm tolerance will mean more homegrown acts of terror.”
Brokaw added this caveat: “I believe strongly in the Second Amendment, but with that right comes the personal obligation to be on guard against the promiscuous use of guns.” However, in 2013, the former anchor compared failure to pass gun control to not opposing segregation in the ‘60s:
TOM BROKAW: It reminds me a lot of what happened in the South in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Good people stayed in their houses and didn't speak up when there was carnage in the streets and the total violation of a fundamental rights of African-Americans as they marched in Selma, and they let Bull Connor and the redneck elements of the South and the Klan take over their culture
The sprawling commencement speech included an attack on internet reliability.
BROKAW: Too much of what we get these days does not have a filtration process. That's our obligation. Too much is the work of a twisted mind. I always think of that mythical figure sitting somewhere in his basement in his underwear, drinking Jagermeister and rum shots, still ticked off he couldn't get a date to the prom in high school. And he was going to get even on his blog. To heck with the truth or veracity of what he was saying.
Not mentioned in his address was colleague Brian Williams whose reporting often seemed to say “to heck with the truth.”
A partial transcript of the commencement:
Tom Brokaw
University of Mississippi
5/14/16
14 minutes inTOM BROKAW: All shades of the American palate matter. In your time, at this university, there have been unconscionable acts of violent deaths initiated by police officers and demented racists. But so to have there been too many violent deaths, African Americans dying at the hands of other African Americans in their neighborhoods. So, as you leave here today, remember this: All lives matter, whatever the color. And while some political figures exploit the understandable fear— while some political figures will exploit the understandable fear that arises from a single terrorist attack here or the tragedies recently in Europe, too few of those same public figures, far too few acknowledge the epidemic of violent massive gun deaths in America.
An elementary school in Connecticut, a junior college in Oregon, a Virginia college, a South Carolina church and so many other places across the country, inner cities that are ablaze with gunfire. Just today, there were news items coming out of Memphis about the record number of homicides in that community. I’m a long time gun owner. I have a closet full of guns. I got my first one when I was ten years of age. I’m still active in sports shooting. But I’m appalled by the determination of organizations and individuals to arm more people without any appreciation of the consequence of ever-more lethal weapons in our midst. More guns and more firearm tolerance will mean more homegrown acts of terror. Yes, we have a constitutional right to own guns. I believe strongly in the Second Amendment, but with that right comes the personal obligation to be on guard against the promiscuous use of guns, not to pretend that no limits means no trouble. No one is going to take my guns away. The Second Amendment is here to stay. But common sense and prudent use are marks of an enlightened people, with or without that Constitutional Amendment.
...
On the internet:
BROKAW: Too much of what we get these days does not have a filtration process. That’s our obligation. Too much is the work of a twisted mind. I always think of that mythical figure sitting somewhere in his basement in his underwear, drinking Jagermeister and rum shots, still ticked off he couldn’t get a date to the prom in high school. And he was going to get even on his blog. To heck with the truth or veracity of what he was saying.
