Subject: Comment on Peggy Noonan's July 3 column in the Wall Street Journal, 
"The Lights That Didn't Fail".

I don't share the same political philosophy as Peggy Noonan. But I always 
admired her intellect and her writing skills. In her July 3 column "The 
Lights That Didn't Fail" published in the Wall Street Journal, Noonan wrote 
about what's great and positive about America in the midst of all the 
corporate scandals, the problems facing the Roman Catholic Church, and the 
FBI/CIA debacle, etc. Noonan stressed positive aspects of America including 
the contributions of the military, policeman and fireman. The column was 
clearly designed to boost patriotism and national morale. It was a nice idea. 

However, under the sub-head television entertainment Noonan writes in praise 
of HBO: "HBO will be studied by future social historians who'll ponder the 
cultural impact of groundbreaking drama from "The Sopranos" to "Six Feet 
Under" to Oz." 

No network has reached such high level of product excellence since William 
Paley's CBS in the first golden age of the television when his shop was 
called Tiffany Network."

Of course Noonan doesn't have a crystal ball and doesn't really know if 
future social historians will consider "The Sopranos" to be an example of 
"high level product excellence." However, if these future social historians 
are anything like their present-day media critic counterparts, "The Sopranos" 
will be elevated to high-art in 2052.  

I would like to think that in 50 years, the "IMAGE" problem that has plagued 
IA for so long will be, well history and "The Soprano's" will be nothing more 
than a blip on the IA experience radar screen. 

But what if nothing changes in 50 years? The very notion that the same old 
caricatures of IA will still be around in the future is both tragic and disheartening. 
Is there any evidence that these worn-out and offensive stereotypes will fade 
away with the years? I hate to be cynical, but I don't think so.

Despite sincere efforts, and some success on behalf of individual activists 
and IA organizations, the image of IA on TV, in the movies, and in popular 
fiction remains overwhelmingly stereotypical and negative. The "ethnic" 
Italian as an inarticulate gangster/sociopath is practically ubiquitous.

Is there anything that can be done to prevent this potential gloomy forecast? 
Perhaps IA will finally unite and become a powerful political force for 
change. 

Unlikely. If anything, the idea of a singular IA culture will diminish even 
more. Intermarriage, further assimilation, and general disparity in opinions 
will kill any dream of a unified front. 

How about successful and prominent IA who have clout? Won't they be able to 
help change things in the future? Not much promise there either. Many IA in 
positions of power already have clout, but they either don't care about such 
issues or they are enamored with the stereotypes too. [RAA Note: One other 
possibility is that we don't REQUIRE our Politicians to work on our behalf.] 

If so-called respectable IA chooses to perpetuate these stereotypes and mock 
and denigrate their own heritage, why shouldn't non-Italians feel free to do 
the same without impunity?

I'm afraid that in 50 years the Museum of Television and Radio will be 
presenting a retrospective on the "The Soprano's," the greatest television 
program of its time.... 
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[RAA Note: I cringe at the thought that in order to properly "showcase" such 
a "meaningful and momentous" event (Retch!), ALL  the Movie and TV projects 
relating to the "Italian American Gangster Genre" would be exhibited. Panels 
will discuss with great intellectual pomposity the relative "artistic merit" 
of each, and be self congratulatory in "documenting" that "era", and how 
fortunate we are to preserve such "history" for posterity. 

There will undoubtedly be comment on how this "conduct" hastened the 
disappearance of the "flawed" Italian American Ethnicity, while other 
Ethnicities have "flourished" in this Land of Diversity.]