Ken Burns glaubt immer noch, dass Amerika perfektionierbar ist
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-ken-burns-weekend-interview/
Ken Burns glaubt immer noch, dass Amerika perfektionierbar ist
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-ken-burns-weekend-interview/
29 Kommentare
*The ‚American Revolution‘ filmmaker talks about the hypocrisies of US history and what’s missing from our political lives today.*
*Editor-at-Large Mishal Husain for Bloomberg News*
Ken Burns is back. A storyteller of America for nearly 50 years, the lauded documentary maker has a new series airing on PBS — and yes, it’s another epic.
Having made his name in the 1990s with The Civil War, Burns is now tackling the United States’ origin story. Over six two-hour episodes, The American Revolution charts the period before and after 1776, and will air internationally ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Full of Burns’ trademark visual and historical detail, the series promises new information even for those who think they know everything about the founding fathers.
Yet America’s history feels more charged now than when Burns began the project in the final months of the Obama presidency. He’s been navigating that tension as he promotes the new series, and as the end of federal funding for public broadcasting forces him to seek alternative support for his next project. For this Thanksgiving weekend, Burns joined us to talk about the lessons of the past, the characters who made history, and present-day America.
[Read the full interview here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-ken-burns-weekend-interview/?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NDMyNzY4MiwiZXhwIjoxNzY0OTMyNDgyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNkZBOTNLR1pBSU8wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.IHSJbxvbPuDtGbny04aEJfqo2JTLl98ygkART-cAXV0) You can also [listen to this interview](https://omny.fm/shows/the-mishal-husain-show/ken-burns-says-gratitude-is-the-missing-ingredient-in-our-politics) and follow The Mishal Husain Show on [iHeart Podcasts](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-mishal-husain-show-300204707/), [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mishal-husain-show/id1845840408), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4cJNIDbIEyNyaS7EWVh5Hh) or wherever you get your podcasts.
It is. Won’t be easy but it’s possible to come closer than we are.
No country or political system is perfectable.
Not without rank voting and getting rid of the EC. It’s not sufficient but it is necessary.
I appreciate optimism like this
Perfect is a meaningless concept.
Can’t trust that haircut
I think it was President Clinton what said that there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed with the best parts of America. I’m not sure if that level of optimism is possible under the current administration but I’d like to think that it is.
Not with the current electorate, or their spawn.
he is right…. USA is still a social experiment, still in progress. Surprisingly still stable, even some people thinking thats like all other nations is based on one language, or culture , or color of skin…. But in reality is totally based on sweat, tears and blood, and will – to change things for better , to be a little bit of happier and to share that happiness to close ones….
ken burns probably knows and understands the american dream and promise more than most. i find it a small comfort that he remains optimistic. i just can’t join him.
The idea of human perfectibility is what creates conflict. It’s intrinsically religious, and carries within itself the seeds of every holy war. Everyone’s idea of perfect is self-aligned, and the promise of perfection is that I can make everyone similar to (or at least compliant with) me.
This is a direct tension in the article, as Burns valorizes messy becoming rather than a defined end state. But perfectibility is 100% teleological – it has a definite end state that people are eager to fight over. I think this is the author’s problem, not Burns‘.
Sociocultural perfection is unattainable, and is a fool’s errand to aim for. What we can do is to emphasize tolerance of and resilience to ideas. The goal is not to make every day sunny, but to develop the resources to deal with storms without destroying one another.
I thought so, too. Then internet happened.
I mean the alternative is a decay to something much worse. Doesn’t mean we will prevail or fail, but having hope still keeps the dream alive. Personally I think we’re screwed but it’s mainly due to flaws in humans, it’s not US-centric. History is full of good and bad stuff, the duality of humanity.
If republicans manage to stay in power (legit or not) we’re probably done for.
I haven’t seen his new series yet but I think we need to undo the myth of America. The founders were rich guys who owned slaves amd wanted to avoid taxes from the UK and were also concerned on the UK making slavery illegal. When they won independence they argued and fought over what the country would be and what it would represent and they made comprise after compromise to the slave holding states. They believed only rich land owning white men should vote and participate in democracy. Why we continue to follow a constitution by such flawed people and treat it like religous text is absurd and just keeping us from advancing towards a social democracy like the rest of the world
There was a recent article of Ken being full MAGA.
I too think it is possible, perhaps 10 or 15 generations from now those Americans will have the desire to practice democracy.
If we can’t get money out of politics, a better democracy, then we’ll always be fucked
well he’s done well in this America, and he’s 75 years old. So ofc he thinks this and thats fine, but he’s wrong and is kinda dying ad an influencer w his generations. Rose colored bullshit.
As a Canadian, colour me cautiously pessimistic on this one.
We’re basically the trailer trash community of first-world nations. It would take **a lot** of work to get it up to speed with other developed countries.
I tend to agree, we may have lost our way but we’ll find our way back..
Covid showed a third of Americans will literally choose hundreds of thousands of deaths over being the slightest bit inconvenienced. He’s more optimistic than I am.
lol let’s see dude perfect his hair before he says shit like this!! FOH !!!!
Of course it is, that’s why they are so desperate to destroy it. Why it’s working so well is the question we have to ask.
Improve? Sure. Perfection? Impossible. It is impossible because perfection is a myth, it’s fantasy. Nothing can be perfect. People have free will. There will always be dissent. There will always be someone with another idea with the will and influence to make an attempt to carry it out. I do appreciate the optimism, we need to be realistic.
Ken Burns tells such horrific stories in American history, he’s seen it all, he knows the ship can be steadied
Not under capitalism…
I hope so. The one thing we’re getting right now is a whole lot of runway