Invoking the words of Abraham Lincoln, filmmaker Ken Burns called on Penn State graduates Saturday to build community, find common ground and shake divisive rhetoric from the media landscape.
‘In short, you have been called to clean up the mess we’ve made,’ Burns said, addressing about 885 College of Communications graduates in a commencement speech. ‘ … You are privileged. Do not be seduced by short-term gain. We are enriched only if everyone has the opportunity to be enriched.’
Burns, making his first appearance at Penn State, received an honorary degree from the university as part of the visit. His address, at one of more than 10 commencement ceremonies this weekend at University Park, warned graduates that ‘the rules have changed’ in the modern U.S.
‘And they don’t always favor the truthful and virtuous,’ Burns told the crowd in the Bryce Jordan Center.
He said Americans suffer from an overdose of suspicion and too little trust. The Civil War, which Burns famously documented in a film series, tore the country apart ‘because we failed to compromise,’ he said.
‘The lesson for us today is tolerance,’ he went on. ‘ … We must seek common ground.’
Burns, who lives in New Hampshire, has won four Emmy Awards and two Academy Award nominations in his three-decade film career. His next piece scheduled for release, ‘The Tenth Inning,’ is a follow-up to his 1994 series ‘Baseball.’ It’s slated to appear on PBS in September.
In a press conference before his commencement address, Burns said baseball ‘is such a surprisingly precise mirror of our larger society in ways that are unexpected.’ His 1994 series on the sport delves into nuances of race relations, immigration, cultural assimilation and the rebirth of cities.
American baseball in the past decade has continued to swirl with ‘almost-Shakespearean drama,’ Burns said.
He characterized himself as a storyteller with a penchant for explaining history well. He believes Lincoln’s assertion that the U.S. is the last, best hope for the world, but fulfilling the charge requires that Americans investigate their own national character, Burns said.
‘These are not Pollyanna-ish things,’ he said, referring to his collection of documentaries. ‘They are, I think, fundamentally patriotic because they are willing to question many assumptions and to bump into issues that many of us would rather ignore, disguise or distort.’
Burns’ films have ranged from sports to the history of wars, from the Statue of Liberty to the national parks. All work is inherently subjective, though his work is designed to reach all Americans, not a single demographic or political group, he said.
‘There’s no such thing as objectivity,’ Burns said. ‘Only the Almighty knows, and she’s not telling.’
