Actor Alec Baldwin, known for his role as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, claims that the United States of America is “in a pre-Civil War culture.”
After sharing that he was drawn to watch Ken Burns’ The Civil War miniseries on PBS, Baldwin stated, “And boy, you can see now that we are in a pre-Civil War culture now.”
He explained, “When they describe things back then politically — there are profound differences of course in terms of just history and age and what life was like back then and cotton and slavery and Lincoln and Robert E. Lee and so forth. This incredible story. Awful that this country had to go through that. Awful. But as a story it’s just overwhelmingly powerful and fascinating.”
“But I look at the politics of it and where people are in this country today and the division and how they are holding fast and no one’s going to falter, no one’s going to break or compromise. And it’s bad,” he elaborated. “In order for us to get anywhere — it doesn’t seem likely right now — and watching this show really reminded me of how we are in a very similar state now. In a pre-Civil War culture. In a pre-Civil War environment. It’s hard to believe.”
Baldwin concluded the video by recommending his followers watch Burns’ documentary describing it as “remarkable.”
Interestingly, a NBC poll claimed that 44% of American votes now believe the country is headed in the right direction compared to just 27% in November. According to NBC, the last time it was 44% or higher was in January 2004.
In contrast 54% still believe the country is on the wrong track. That’s down from 66% in November. It seems apparent that Americans might not be as entrenched as Baldwin suspects.
What do you make of Baldwin’s observation?
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This is what comes of people huffing their own PR.
Lead by example sir. Otherwise he’s part of the problem. Be the change you want.
Also aren’t you too busy getting away with murder? Asking for a friend.