Let the Devil Speak (but have Jim Brown there with you)
This Malcolm Gladwell podcast is phenomenal:
If you disagree with someone — if you find what they think appalling — is there any value in talking to them? In the early 1970s, the talk show host Dick Cavett, the governor of Georgia Lester Maddox, and the singer Randy Newman tried to answer this question.
It deals with the Randy Newman album Good Old Boys, the first song of which begins:
Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
With some smart ass New York Jew
And the Jew laughed at Lester Maddox
And the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too
Well he may be a fool but he's our fool
If they think they're better than him they're wrong
The precipitating event was the 1970 appearance of racist Georgia governor Lester Maddox on The Dick Cavett Show. Maddox walked out of the taping after Cavett delivered this apology for a prior remark: “If I called any of your admirers bigots who are not bigots, I apologize.”
One of the most difficult aspects of the affair for me has been sorting out Cavett’s motivations. At first blush, viewed though a post-Jerry Springer lens, it was a win for everybody., per these two sentences from Wikipedia: “Cavett suspected that the behavior was mere showmanship and a calculated publicity stunt. The incident was reported on the news before it aired that night, increasing viewership.”
As for showmanship, I’m just guessing it was Cavett’s idea, and not Maddox’s, to have Jim Brown on the same show. This cynical interpretation might be supported by Maddox’s less-known return to the show two years later, in which Cavett jokingly walked off, and they sang “I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do” together.
The only thing that gives me pause is Cavett’s reaction in the wake of the incident, which seemed very earnest. Any good talk show host can fake sincerity, but Cavett seemed to be expressing something more nuanced: a disgust for Maddox’s views, yes, but also a genuine puzzlement - even disbelief - as to how a human being could come to believe such things. And, despite giving the devil ample opportunity to give an explanation - Maddox walked out 88 minutes into a 90 minute taping - he never got one.
But that’s how it goes with these types. As Max Beerbohm said after his own encounter, “the more I think of it, the more detestable the devil seems to me.”