Great Television Scenes In Animated GIFs: Jeff Daniels' memorable monologue from the premiere of 'The Newsroom'

Whether or not you caught the television premiere of HBO and Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, here’s a scene that shouldn’t be missed.



STUDENT
Hi. My name is Jenny, and I’m a sophomore, and this question is for all three of you. Can you say in one sentence or less, what- um, you know what I mean - Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?





SHARON
Diversity and opportunity.

MODERATOR
Louis?

LOUIS
Freedom and freedom. So let’s keep it that way.

MODERATOR
Will.




WILL
The New York Jets.

MODERATOR
No. I’m going to hold you to an answer on that. What makes America the greatest country in the world?




WILL
Well, Louis and Sharon said it: Diversity and opportunity, and freedom and freedom.

(Long pause.)




MODERATOR
I’m not letting you go back to the airport without answering the question.




WILL
Well, our constitution is a masterpiece, James Madison was a genius, the Declaration of Independence is, for me, the single greatest piece of American Writing.

(Pause.)




WILL
You don’t look satisfied.

MODERATOR
One’s a set of laws and the other’s a declaration of war. I want a human moment from you. What about the people? Why is America the greatest-

WILL
It’s not the greatest country in the world, Professor. That’s my answer.

MODERATOR
You’re saying-

WILL
Yes.

MODERATOR
Let’s talk about-





WILL
Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money. It costs votes, it costs airtime. And column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? ‘Cause they lose. If liberals are so fuckin’ smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?




SHARON
Hey-

WILL
And with a straight face, you’re going to tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, BELGIUM! has freedom. So, 207 sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

MODERATOR
Alright-




WILL
And yeah, you, uh, Sorority Girl - just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know. And one of them is: There’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force, and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the Worst, period. Generation, period, Ever, period. So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Yosemite?

It sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists, and the world’s greatest economy.

We reached for the stars. Acted like men. We aspired to intelligence. We didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t... we didn’t scare so easily.

We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed... by great men, men who were revered. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

Enough?





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