Thursday, September 06, 2007

There IS Such A Thing As A Stupid Question

This week's edition of local alternative weekly City Pages includes a Three Questions section with noted filmmaker Ken Burns. One of the four towns featured in Burns' upcoming World War II documentary The War is Luverne, Minnesota and he stopped off in the Twin Cities on his way to the world premier of the film in said town. City Pages' John Behling had the opportunity to direct the three queries at Burns and, based on the substance of the last question, it was one too many (for some reason this doesn't appear to be available on the CP web site):

CP: You've been working on this film for six years. What effect has the war in Iraq had on the way you approached World War II?

To his credit, Burns shut the door on Behling's hunt for a political angle rather abruptly:

KB: Very, very little; we did most of the shooting of the interviews with folks before we invaded Iraq...This film does not have a political agenda to it; it doesn't have a political axe to grind.

At that point, you can imagine Behling slapping his notebook shut. No more questions.

1 comment:

  1. We must admit that questions are not always direct or appropriate, but all questions have to be answered in polite way. I don't consider the aforementioned question to be rude or inadequate at all. My task as for a journalist at http://essaydune.com/things-to-consider-about-off-campus-apartments/ is to ask different questions and it would not be a pleasure to receive such answer, Neil Denton.

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