I think this is because I respected him for stating his honest opinion, rather than trying to sugarcoat the truth, as Americans often do.
We saw an example of this in Clybourne Park, performed at the Steppenwolf Theater. With minorities moving into a racially homogeneous neighborhood, the last subject the characters wanted to talk about was race. In the second act the character Steve points this out, claiming that they are all "dancing around" the subject. Ironically he is not even able to say the exact word "race" himself.
This scene showed how even today, although Americans claim to be past racism, we still sugarcoat the way we talk about it, in order to avoid discomfort.
Andy Rooney certainly did not sugarcoat the subjects he talked about on 60 Minutes. You can click here to see some quick clips stating his honest opinion. Do you think we could all learn something from Andy? Or was he just an old man who liked to complain?
This post made me think about the relatively recent wave of being 'politically correct' or PC. Everyone is offended by something and and nobody wants to be the offender, so we've come up with terms to 'sugarcoat' what we are really trying to say. After watching the clips of Andy Rooney, I found myself chuckling at his bluntness. What he said was not particularly damning or provocative; it was just little tidbits of his honest opinion, similar to things we ourselves have thought but would never voice out loud in fear of offending someone. Without an honest voice like Rooney's circling the media, I wonder how communicating to sugarcoat ideas might change.
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