WE GOT TROUBLE: YELLOW JOURNALISM

Just watched "The Music Man" on TCM.  Remember the scene when Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill decides to use a new pool table to rile up the people of  River City, Iowa? (link below*) Here are the lyrics (Compliments Musixmatch)

Ya Got Trouble

Friend, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community

Well, Ya got trouble, my friend, right here
I say, trouble right here in River City
Why sure I'm a billiard player
Certainly mighty proud I say
I'm always mighty proud to say it
I consider that the hours I spend
With a cue in my hand are golden
Help you cultivate horse sense
And a cool head and a keen eye
Jever' take and try to find
An iron-clad leave for yourself
From a three-rail billiard shot?

But just as I say
It takes judgment, brains, and maturity to score
In a balkline game
I say that any boob can take
And shove a ball in a pocket
And I call that sloth
The first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-Day--
I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon
Then beer from a bottle
An' the next thing ya know
Your son is playin' for money
In a pinch-back suit
And list'nin to some big out-a-town jasper
Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'
Not a wholesome trottin' race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey'boy

Settin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say
Now, Friends, lemme tell you what I mean
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table
Pockets that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum
With a capital "B"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
And all week long your River City
Youth'll be fritterin' away
I say your young men'll be fritterin'!

Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!
Get the ball in the pocket
Never mind gettin' dandelions pulled
Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded
Never mind pumpin' any water
'Til your parents are caught with the cistern empty
On a Saturday night and that's trouble
Yes you got lots and lots of trouble
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers
Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool
Hall window after school, ya got trouble, folks!
Right here in River City
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!

Now, I know all you folks are the right kind of parents
I'm gonna be perfectly frank
Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes
On while they're loafin' around that Hall?
They be tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs
Tryin' out Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends!
And braggin' all about
How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen
One fine night, they leave the pool hall
Headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry!
Libertine men and Scarlet women!
And Rag-time, shameless music
That'll grab your son, your daughter
With the arms of a jungle animal instinct!
Mass-staria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground!

Trouble, oh we got trouble
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool
That stands for pool
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City
Right here!
Gotta figure out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble

Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it's too late!
Watch for the tell-tale signs of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house
Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like 'swell?"
And 'so's your old man?"
Well, if so my friends
Ya got trouble
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we've got trouble
We're in terrible, terrible trouble
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!
And that stands for Pool

Songwriters: Willson Meredith

I couldn't help thinking that politics and fast-talking never change.  First your create a problem (either non-existent or blown out of proportion), then you offer a "solution" which, by the way, gains you wealth and/or power. 

Listen below and see if you can't see anti-propaganda from both sides of the fence. BTW, look up the difference between Billiards (gentleman) and Pool (bum) just for fun.  You may also want to know that Dan Patch was a trotting horse who wasn't trained to accept a rider. Most of the issues Professor Hill raises are really non-issues.

The line "remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock, and the Golden Rule is telling. "Remember the Maine" was the battle cry flaunted by the media which led to the Spanish American War. The truth is, the Maine was sunk by an internal fire and not by Spain, but the huge media giants of the day wanted to see us go to war, so they falsely claimed that Spain sunk the ship in the harbor. Check it out. You'll find that I'm right.  Propaganda, Yellow Journalism, and War

In the 1890s the fierce competition between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal caused both to develop the techniques of yellow journalism, which won over readers with sensationalism, sex, crime and graphic horrors.** 

Pulitzer

Tell that to the approximately 3000 Americans who died in the war of injuries, influenza, and typhoid fever.

Hearst

Recent forensic studies of the wreck of the Maine show that the ship was never bombed.  History now shows us that Pulitzer and Hearst literally created a war because of their personal drives for wealth, power, and influence. 

 

As my dad would say, "The never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

By the way, both Pulitzer and Hearst were Democrats. 'Nuff said.

* Ya Got Trouble

** Wikipedia Pulitzer and Hearts