Tuesday, September 20, 2011

what religion are you?

A correction on what I wrote in my blog last night:
that song from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" did not say,

"you can have a town" -- it was "you can never tell" --

"Love is all around, no need to waste it,
You can never tell, why don't you take it?
You're gonna make it af - ter all..."
etc.

"You can have a town" -- ??!
What the hell would that mean??

I was thinking about it last night, and I realized, I typed out the lyrics to that song (which I totally know from memory) but I took them off of a web-site that had Lyrics to all different songs on it.
It said "Lyrics" at the top and seemed all Officialized.
So I allowed that web-site to be the authority, when I actually knew better.
(That isn't right. I felt kind of weird about it. I thought, You know, that's how the Third Reich got rolling -- people taking orders and not questioning authority, even though they knew better.)

The thing to remember about the internet is, Just because something's on there, doesn't mean it's true. It's kind of like a giant, world-wide wall that's open to writing, pictures, graffiti, whatever.

Someone's web-site does not have the authority and credibility of a real Encyclopedia or reference book. It's just People Typing. (I should know, I'm one of 'em.)

There are many things in this world that I don't know much about --
calculus
couture
WD-40 --

but ...
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is not one of them!
That,
I know.
----------------------------
(Mary Richards, Murray, and Lou Grant [Ed Asner] brainstorming ideas for a TV feature program --
Mary (all cheery and enthusiastic): Mr. Grant, what about nostalgia, as a topic? You know, all the styles, the trends, the music, and how funny they all seem now... [big smile]
Mr. Grant (in a decisive growl): I hate nostalgia. I didn't like it then. I don't like it now.

---------------------------
In the first or second episode of the show, Mary goes in to interview for the newsroom job: she sits nervously in a chair facing Lou Grant's desk; he sits behind the desk, asking questions.
Question - answer.
Question - answer.
Question - answer.
Lou Grant: "What religion are you?"
Mary (her voice is thin and respectful and cautiously firm): "Um, you're not allowed to ask that, when someone's applying for a job. It's against the law."

Lou Grant: "You wanna-calla-cop?"
-- Er, no.
-- Are you married or single?
--Presbyterian.
??
-- I was -- um -- answering your religion question...

-30-

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