David Simon: "The Audacity of Despair"

David Simon presented his lecture as part of the Townsend Center for the Humanities' Forum on the Humanities and the Public World. Simon is a Baltimore-based author, journalist and writer-producer of television, specializing in criminal justice and urban issues. He is the creator, executive producer and head writer of the critically acclaimed original HBO series "The Wire."

Пікірлер: 153

  • @chalkeygas93
    @chalkeygas933 жыл бұрын

    Pretty scary watching this in 2020 and realising that everything he said in relation to the internet and journalism has come to roost.

  • @vokoaxecer

    @vokoaxecer

    3 жыл бұрын

    He 'makes more sense' than sam harris. Just like david said internet is good for clout but not for good journalism.

  • @RaoulDuke74
    @RaoulDuke7411 жыл бұрын

    The world needs more David Simons.

  • @fubball58

    @fubball58

    4 жыл бұрын

    Sanctimonious he is. :(

  • @robert4123

    @robert4123

    Жыл бұрын

    Then BE David Simon!

  • @Onigirli
    @Onigirli5 жыл бұрын

    I'll never get tired of listening to this man talk

  • @-----Disciple-----------
    @-----Disciple-----------9 жыл бұрын

    I worked for this man and with him for 4 years as an actor on The Wire. I grew up the way we depicted it, succinctly. It's never a surprise. Like Da Vinci, Plato, Gayor Cantor, and others who weren't appreciated in their time for foresight and insight. We understand the truth isn't appreciated in it's time. We don't expect it. We expect people to look back centuries from now and laud us for our insight. Once they catch up. At least, that's how I see it. I don't speak for HBO or him. I believe every man answers for themselves. I answer for me. I have lived it. I know the stories. I still write mine. That makes lecturing, easy. It's all the lessons learned from the hardships earned.

  • @eoghancassidy3485

    @eoghancassidy3485

    8 жыл бұрын

    What character did you play

  • @-----Disciple-----------

    @-----Disciple-----------

    8 жыл бұрын

    Major Norm Thurston. I was Burrell's aid. I also had other cop roles and civilian roles. If you look at my channel, I have some photos on my photo page of myself in uniform. I started first in season 3 in Moral Midigetry and then in Final Grades. plus.google.com/u/0/+TonyWilisDisicple/photos

  • @eoghancassidy3485

    @eoghancassidy3485

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Christs' disciple man that's awesome can't believe I talked to an actor on the wire!!

  • @-----Disciple-----------

    @-----Disciple-----------

    8 жыл бұрын

    eoghan cassidy I'm no celebrity. But thanks. I had a blast doing the show and I grew up living just like they did. Only it wasn't as bad. I never saw dead bodies but I did have friends shot and killed. I grew up in the street.

  • @eoghancassidy3485

    @eoghancassidy3485

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Christs' disciple wow man that's actually crazy I could never imagine that, and if your on the wire ( the greatest tv show ever made) that's an amazing accomplishment.

  • @KedzieAvnoo
    @KedzieAvnoo10 жыл бұрын

    This video continues to enrich my life tremendously.

  • @marceloronchini7355
    @marceloronchini73559 жыл бұрын

    Amazing quote and so true. But unfortunately most people are living one paycheck at a time and have so much fear of speaking up, of rocking the boat that they stay frozen. "Albert Camus, a great humanist and existentialist voice, pointed out that to commit to a just cause with no hope of success is absurd. But then, he also noted that not committing to a just cause is equally absurd. But only one choice offers the possibility for dignity. And dignity matters. Dignity matters"

  • @alekhs718

    @alekhs718

    3 жыл бұрын

    yeah buddy pq

  • @zippoboyshaneshank8954
    @zippoboyshaneshank89545 жыл бұрын

    Wow! David Simon said his favorite show is NO RESERVATIONS... And Anthony Bourdain has said that his favorite show is THE WIRE. I hope Tony saw this before he died. RIP Anthony, everyday you are greatly missed!

  • @TheDuesy
    @TheDuesy11 жыл бұрын

    He hit the nail on the head when he said "I thought it was an ethnography."

  • @coreycox2345
    @coreycox23457 жыл бұрын

    I once had an officer lying on the stand in a court case about my dog. He said my dog bit him when it had not. He looked right at me as he spoke. As a legal matter, it was minor. It changed my thinking on the police. I began to wonder if this was common. I knew it was wrong but that nobody I told believed me or cared. It was an eye opener. I have less confidence in the police. It must be horrible for people to encounter dishonest officers in more critical situations.

  • @newnotification30

    @newnotification30

    5 жыл бұрын

    coreycox2345 the way to help stop bad policing is to draft people that dont want to be cops. Yeah like draft citezens for 4 yrs of law enforcement. If you enjoy it you get fired. The same practice would work Wonderful when hiring and seeking volunteers to take children on camping trips. Only allow the parents that hate kids to take the kids. Do not take the parents that are too quick to volunteer every camping trip.

  • @cod5testaccount

    @cod5testaccount

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@newnotification30 Yo that's some truth right there.

  • @chrisbarnett5303

    @chrisbarnett5303

    3 жыл бұрын

    acab

  • @ms042364

    @ms042364

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@newnotification30 Huh? I am not understanding how this would resolve the problem.

  • @lewisfilms
    @lewisfilms11 жыл бұрын

    he doesn't have anything against the medium of the web, he just doesn't want professional journalists to be replaced by amateur or citizen "journalists"

  • @abrahamlincoln7169

    @abrahamlincoln7169

    4 жыл бұрын

    Which they now have been, to devastating effect.

  • @themanwithnoname5325

    @themanwithnoname5325

    3 жыл бұрын

    And here we are...

  • @jnagarya519

    @jnagarya519

    2 жыл бұрын

    And the junk on the internet increased exponentially.

  • @mrlevinielsen

    @mrlevinielsen

    4 ай бұрын

    Welp, look where we’re at now

  • @theAraAra
    @theAraAra9 жыл бұрын

    I could almost feel the McNulty in him five minutes into the video. Interesting guy.

  • @MrAndrewdamon
    @MrAndrewdamon12 жыл бұрын

    long live David Simon !

  • @lewisfilms
    @lewisfilms11 жыл бұрын

    I love this guy!

  • @COODALOVEYA
    @COODALOVEYA11 жыл бұрын

    We need,the wire the best show ever made

  • @ToneMeloTV
    @ToneMeloTV4 жыл бұрын

    One of the greatest men on earth 🌎

  • @NahyanChowdhury
    @NahyanChowdhury12 жыл бұрын

    brilliant

  • @Holymolypatoly
    @Holymolypatoly10 жыл бұрын

    "We're researching a show down there." True Detective!

  • @sChilllz

    @sChilllz

    10 жыл бұрын

    Nope. Treme actually.

  • @nunya1738

    @nunya1738

    10 жыл бұрын

    Oh, man. I only have seen the first four of that, but McConnahey's character is fantastic, dark and troubled and smart and figured the ugly truth of life out and hilarious and honorable all in one. Woody Harrelson is also great in it. Woody: Is your mother still alive? Mathew: Mebbe.

  • @lizannewhitlow1085

    @lizannewhitlow1085

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@nunya1738 I actually liked Season 2 better.

  • @eddieobrien1411
    @eddieobrien141111 ай бұрын

    David Simon,Bernie Sanders,Gabor Mate,Christopher Hitchens. These men inform me about American culture. They speak for the voiceless and care deeply about systemic,institutional injustice. I get hard truths from them;I’d never get that from any bought and paid for politician

  • @kcl84
    @kcl849 жыл бұрын

    It is not just journalism that is suffering from amnesia. Scientific publication is starting to show the same sign too. The problem is always time and money. It doesn't pay in dollars and in statistics to do things correctly and accurately.

  • @theunpossiblefile
    @theunpossiblefile8 жыл бұрын

    I don't have a TV, never saw The Wire, I read David Simon's old blog last year and said to myself, self, who is this guy? I hear he's now working with Oscar Isaac on a series. I might now even get a TV. Oscar Isaac is another one. He knows stuff outside his field. I totally agree with Simon about Chomsky, Moore, Mailer and realistic non-fiction narrative. Let's hope that TV doesn't kill Simon and that he does something in politics. And here I am raving and blogging on YT.

  • @basedcostanza5145

    @basedcostanza5145

    8 жыл бұрын

    David Simon would never go into politics. He's smart enough to understand that political systems corrupt everyone foolish enough to participate in them.

  • @theunpossiblefile

    @theunpossiblefile

    8 жыл бұрын

    RU that sure about Simon? Corruption is a fact of life when things aren't black and white. When things get complicated and aren't pure and nice. (In a rhyming Simon kinda way) Simon was a reporter & they sometimes get angry about what they see that doesn't fit in a script. Your position about politics is very popular on YT which doesn't mean it's wrong. "Hillary's sooo corrupt." "Obama promised change, where's the change?" (To quote Bruce Willis) And other deep deep thoughts that David Simon would **very likely** not take. Or, "both parties are sooo corrupt." That you might take. This one is like mantra, "I'm so past artificial cultural divides of left and right...they're just trying to divide and conquer." I'm not assuming you take those positions I'm just talking generally about the feedback I get.

  • @Burlak4
    @Burlak412 жыл бұрын

    So cool to see this again! I remember skipping my favourite class to go see this. The wire was so brilliant! It's nuts! Gen Kill and Treme turned out truly great to.

  • @DrTune
    @DrTune7 жыл бұрын

    Vid could really use (a) recording with properly wired mic, or (b) post-processing with a 60hz notch filter. ...But terrific content

  • @rjn8001
    @rjn80018 жыл бұрын

    AAAAnnnd that Governor/Mayor he speaks about is now running for President.

  • @Bakkland

    @Bakkland

    8 жыл бұрын

    +R JN not anymore!

  • @rjn8001

    @rjn8001

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Dingus Flotbottom Guess O'Malley won't wind up sleeping with his campaign manager after all, lol.

  • @Lewis_Clark
    @Lewis_Clark11 жыл бұрын

    Hear, hear!

  • @PMOHGUILD
    @PMOHGUILD11 жыл бұрын

    Free David Simon!

  • @terrencemilton5088
    @terrencemilton50885 жыл бұрын

    Got every single season.

  • @theryanbard
    @theryanbard10 жыл бұрын

    The fact that this video's comment section is filled with such frothy arguments is really sad.

  • @MechaJutaro

    @MechaJutaro

    8 жыл бұрын

    +theryanbard The fact that this video's comment section is filled with such frothy arguments is really sad. Even more so when one heed's Simon's counsel and proceeds with his own investigation, rather than simply taking the word of a much fawned over(near universal genuflection by TV critics, academia and damn near everyone else who fancied themselves "in the know". This pattern of unabashed groveling at DS's feet goes all the way back to Homicide's equally ratings bereft yet prolonged run on NBC), handsomely paid TV creator who remains eager to fill us in on how stymied his every attempt to expose "the elite"'s collective chicanery has been: www.counterpunch.org/2008/03/15/faking-the-hood/ scroll down a bit Passing off shit as gold indeed.....

  • @theryanbard

    @theryanbard

    8 жыл бұрын

    Lol got to be honest that op-ed piece didn't really convince me. It hardly proves anything other than Ishmael Reed's opinions.

  • @americoabade5769

    @americoabade5769

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Baron Of Hair ydvfx

  • @JoeeyTheeKangaroo

    @JoeeyTheeKangaroo

    7 жыл бұрын

    +Ryan I'm two years late but they are getting angry ;)

  • @MechaJutaro

    @MechaJutaro

    7 жыл бұрын

    Américo Abade ydvfx TGIF

  • @artcenterjo
    @artcenterjo7 жыл бұрын

    "jailingest" minted by david simon

  • @realkabecio
    @realkabecio2 жыл бұрын

    The Wire was a hit in my neighborhood in SF CA

  • @fadedglory1045
    @fadedglory10453 жыл бұрын

    Anyone here 2020. The system is so broken!

  • @richardlopez4813
    @richardlopez48133 жыл бұрын

    Nine years later and The Wire is a story unto itself.

  • @jasonfaulkner8644
    @jasonfaulkner86444 жыл бұрын

    Simon wonders why The Wire is a hit now, and not when it was on TV in 2011. It takes a smart or experienced person to appreciate the show. Smart people in particular were discovering Netflix and KZread and were happily cutting their cable leading up to 2011. Later they discovered The Wire.

  • @bobbob-sv4mk
    @bobbob-sv4mk8 жыл бұрын

    Interesting

  • @MuskPumpkin
    @MuskPumpkin9 жыл бұрын

    Why was he referring to when this vid started (what show), please?

  • @jakefromstatefarm4219

    @jakefromstatefarm4219

    9 жыл бұрын

    MuskPumpkin The Wire

  • @cesarrodriguez8893
    @cesarrodriguez88934 жыл бұрын

    where's the camera Herc?!!

  • @brainstormingsharing1309
    @brainstormingsharing13093 жыл бұрын

    👍👍👍👍👍

  • @spicerldn
    @spicerldn4 жыл бұрын

    Mr Relevant, year in, year out...

  • @wawawuu
    @wawawuu12 жыл бұрын

    Why do I suspect Dominic West might have been arrested for DUI?

  • @maxzamota9373
    @maxzamota93734 ай бұрын

    This is the only guy I feel like voting for president

  • @lizannewhitlow1085
    @lizannewhitlow10853 жыл бұрын

    Things have gone well for I. Elba I’m happy to acknowledge! 😉

  • @explodingmuffin6898
    @explodingmuffin68984 жыл бұрын

    A body has been discovered!

  • @rogda123
    @rogda12311 жыл бұрын

    i went to harvard and missed him wtfff

  • @dominickpierce6327
    @dominickpierce632711 жыл бұрын

    i love d. simon. hes my nigga for real! dude is not only deep but fuckin hilarious too. i laughed too many times at this video.

  • @jacoblevenson7934
    @jacoblevenson79344 жыл бұрын

    4:44

  • @finn6861
    @finn686111 жыл бұрын

    Everything he says about his journalism career and journalism can be applied to Healthcare today-This is the industrial complex which capitalizes on the historical reputations and accomplishments of these institutions-It is never sustainable to use and leave a situation for ones' own gain-eventually it will be time to pay-That time is now.

  • @illiteratethug3305
    @illiteratethug33058 жыл бұрын

    1:05:22 burned

  • @unkwm128
    @unkwm1284 жыл бұрын

    117k views WTF

  • @darpra1233
    @darpra123310 жыл бұрын

    ***** Thank you! Seems like our generation got hung up on the "2500 words per page" part of essays instead of actually providing content. It's the same thing here in Sweden where people seem so uncomfortable speaking and fall back on filler words hoping for the person who's listening to fill in the difficult words themselves.

  • @Nanozlolz
    @Nanozlolz11 жыл бұрын

    did you even watch The Wire?

  • @armin38822
    @armin388226 жыл бұрын

    I wish he would be on Joe Rogan Expirience.

  • @rashonburnett6473

    @rashonburnett6473

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yeah that would be awesome if he was on Joe Rogan’s show.

  • @shep2149

    @shep2149

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@rashonburnett6473 please no

  • @judethedude96
    @judethedude964 жыл бұрын

    Wasn't Katrina category 5?

  • @nocaster52

    @nocaster52

    3 жыл бұрын

    What he's referring to is that it hit NOLA fairly light. It was much stronger to the east around Gulfport, MS.

  • @lizannewhitlow1085
    @lizannewhitlow10853 жыл бұрын

    2021...I’m the angriest woman in Santa Rosa. 🤯🤬

  • @jnagarya519

    @jnagarya519

    2 жыл бұрын

    I'm tired of being angry.

  • @TribuneAquila
    @TribuneAquila4 жыл бұрын

    I think the thing with citizen journous is almost all the time there is an agenda or a statement of morality behind it, if t was just citizens documenting something I think it would be hugely beneficial to society, but too often citizen journalists won’t fully examine a topic deeply enough, but just documenting doesn’t need deep examination, in fact it would probably generate it.

  • @jnagarya519

    @jnagarya519

    2 жыл бұрын

    "Citzen journalists" don't understand what journalism is. They believe talking head opinionizers is journalism. "Everyone has a right to their opinion" -- fact and truth aren't relevant, and the "opinion" needn't be legitimate.

  • @Bakkland
    @Bakkland10 жыл бұрын

    sound sucks. can't even hear the questions being asked

  • @aq1q
    @aq1q12 жыл бұрын

    Dominic West was probably arrested for being Mcnulty :)

  • @likessox92
    @likessox924 жыл бұрын

    1:00:00 Kima bad cop confirmed

  • @csanchezalvarez

    @csanchezalvarez

    4 жыл бұрын

    How is Kima a bad cop??

  • @likessox92

    @likessox92

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@csanchezalvarez "Daniels, Kima" "Good Cop, Bad Cop" Seems cut and dry to me :)

  • @csanchezalvarez

    @csanchezalvarez

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@likessox92 I see what you mean, but I'm sure he includes both Daniels and Kima in the good cop category. No possible comparison btw Kima and others like Burrell

  • @tylerwinkle323
    @tylerwinkle3237 жыл бұрын

    80,000 views on Simon's speech about society 80,000,000 views on some video about a cat yeah, we're gonna be just fine...

  • @julianken2008
    @julianken200811 жыл бұрын

    ya know ya know ya know

  • @richardlopez4813
    @richardlopez48133 жыл бұрын

    I've mostly been educated by conspiracy and paranoia and just enough self-control to check my own math... And at this point, I completely want to be humane and everything I think should go along with that, but... Looking at politics near and far and then moreso in both those directions, I hold drug-addicts to similar account as the people dealing their drugs and inspiring their addictions, and I'm not altogether sure that World War One didn't have some strange intentions in its design/whatever the right word should be. And then I think a thing like that brings into question every other major political event.

  • @ropl3083
    @ropl30835 жыл бұрын

    The problem with America is that we have lots of criminals and few cops. So that's the quantity thing. The other problem is that the criminals (and advocates, like Mr. Simon) got good lawyers, while the cops are average at best. So that's quality.

  • @BatmanHQYT
    @BatmanHQYT Жыл бұрын

    "The ad hominem is the fallback position of all political discourse" is such a depressingly prescient statement. It's honestly gotten worse in the decade since this speech.

  • @harlowfarblast
    @harlowfarblast11 жыл бұрын

    And if you have issues to take with Chomsky, to belittle 15 to 25% of his work, why did you have to resort to criticizing Michael Moore for his "conspiracy" theories? If you have read Chomsky with a "great deal of devotion," as you claim, then you should have been able to pull an example from his work rather than Moore's to support your position.

  • @metrohandi
    @metrohandi3 жыл бұрын

    Black People world wide knows every episode and character wth you mean nobody's going to remember the show? It just goes to show when the powers that be check on what America is watching they definitely are not concerned with what we are watching

  • @pequodexpress
    @pequodexpress4 жыл бұрын

    _The Wire_ is much better than _The Deuce_, but I don't think the latter got much love at HBO either.

  • @TheYounggostra
    @TheYounggostra8 жыл бұрын

    8 melon heads

  • @gabeshedd
    @gabeshedd11 жыл бұрын

    Who are the two idiots who didn't like this?

  • @LucasMartins-dy6no
    @LucasMartins-dy6no3 жыл бұрын

    He look like an balder frank sobotka

  • @aq1q
    @aq1q12 жыл бұрын

    Current TV is done through the internet. So I disagree with David Simon when he says journalism can't be done through the internet. I obviously agree, however, with the fact that most of the so-called "journalists" online are jokes.

  • @TheFractalFreak
    @TheFractalFreak11 жыл бұрын

    I truly hope you aren't serious but somehow i doubt it

  • @darwinkilledgod
    @darwinkilledgod11 жыл бұрын

    I could believe David Simons' "We'll never hear meaningful issues in the election" more if he weren't on the record now writing about Romney's tax returns.

  • @harlowfarblast
    @harlowfarblast11 жыл бұрын

    Great talk. But calling Chomsky a "bit of an ideologue?" "The rigor of his position forces him into..." What? The ideal to which it seems he unwaveringly adheres is that of universal principles and facts. It's not for everyone to follow the "rigor" of a superior analyst like Chomsky, but please stop there, Mr. Simon. You are excellent at what you do, as is Noam Chomsky; but when you deride the latter, it seems you are expressing your ignorance as wisdom, putting yourself in a class below him.

  • @DrCruel
    @DrCruel10 жыл бұрын

    Most US journalism is propaganda from the limousine Left. The reason David Simon is invited to Berkeley and Harvard is because his politics are acceptable to the limousine Left. What killed the old-style reporting monopoly is the Internet's ability to put first person sources in touch with news consumers, without the interface of a limousine Left reporter to reinterpret the news to the limousine Left's benefit. As for the corporations, they have been systematically ripped off under the present system for some time now. You cannot simultaneously complain about corporations having too much power and then attack corporations for fleeing to countries outside the US. It's like blaming Detroit on white Republican racism because people who could afford to fled the city's high crime, higher taxes, lousy schools and an absence of government services. The people with the real power are at government desks or water coolers bragging to their colleagues about where they're going on vacation this year - and they always vote Democrat.

  • @DrCruel

    @DrCruel

    9 жыл бұрын

    ***** The term "limousine Left" is descriptive of the rich Left in the US. It's a phrase worthy of repetition. It certainly doesn't help people like you to say it, but then it isn't intended to. You should spend a few years in DC within the federal bureaucracy. Maybe then you could know what you're talking about too.

  • @ahabthewhaler

    @ahabthewhaler

    9 жыл бұрын

    DrCruel Limousine left is a genuinely ridiculous and stupid term. The left argues for social benefits, programs to help the poor and oppressed. The idea that if you happen to be wealthy you can not advocate for those less fortunate is a truly stupid concept. Surely the 'limousine left' is far better than the limousine right which cuts food stamps, cuts welfare, cuts funding to schools, cuts any program that helps people struggling in a ridiculously stupid country which criminalizes poverty.

  • @DrCruel

    @DrCruel

    9 жыл бұрын

    ahabthewhaler The idea that people would sincerely promote the limousine Left and the welfare industry they have constructed and from which they profit from as a solution is ridiculous and stupid. In fact it's insane to think that even more funding and power for the very Leftist hypocrites who have looted national economies all over the world would have any sort of positive effect. It's an insult to the intelligence of people that have to listen to and are forced to buy into these social engineering scams. Just given the history of such programs in the US, it's obscene. Surely a nation that criminalizes productive work and entrepreneurship in favor of a form of feudal socialism enforced by a huge government apparatus cannot survive indefinitely. One would think the famous collapse of several socialist nations east of the Elbe would have been enough proof of that. Mind, I don't think these vile Leftist crooks are either stupid or insane. They're just socialist thieves riding a good thing for as long as we let them. Their supporters are not idiots either - just morally bankrupt scum hoping to sponge a seat on that huge bureaucratic gravy train. The real solution to this sort of institutionalized criminality is rather obvious. HINT: It doesn't involve buying a full five season DVD set of The Wire.

  • @HighLordBlazeReborn

    @HighLordBlazeReborn

    9 жыл бұрын

    DrCruel "feudal socialism"? Wow, man.

  • @DrCruel

    @DrCruel

    9 жыл бұрын

    ***** I call it like I see it.

  • @darwinkilledgod
    @darwinkilledgod11 жыл бұрын

    I don't think Romney's tax returns matter in the slightest. Do you? If so, you should listen to the point where Simon tells you that we never hear meaningful issues in elections anymore and realize that you are the reason for that.

  • @vgiordano1000
    @vgiordano100010 жыл бұрын

    What a cynical guy. Cynicism and bitterness takes you and the world NOWHERE.

  • @jemgrant8640

    @jemgrant8640

    7 жыл бұрын

    Are you talking about David Simon? I don't get it I don't understand how anyone could call him either of those

  • @kkay3784

    @kkay3784

    6 жыл бұрын

    Maybe there are ways to be more positive about our predatory capitalist society and the discardable persons that are its bi-product, but I don't know how it can be done, myself. Maybe it is a positive to recognize the truth of our situation, if you care at all about the populations trapped in the stagnant economies of the most affected regions, and thus have a substantial starting point from where the overhaul of our national institutions can begin? That positive enough? Otherwise, ignoring all of these realities could be a sign of denial as much as recognizing them can be perceived as being cynical.

  • @josephwythe8757

    @josephwythe8757

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ya you’re right he’s clearly gotten nowhere with his career.

  • @mrlevinielsen

    @mrlevinielsen

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josephwythe8757😂