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American Morning
Americans Seem to be Falling into National Funk
Aired March 11, 2003 - 05:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's hard to avoid talk about the possibilities of war with Iraq. That along with the sagging economy, the recent shuttle tragedy, Americans seem to be falling into what our Jeanne Moos calls a national funk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it anxiety, call it melancholy, call the doctor for a global anti-depressant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world is going to pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one disaster after another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to use the term, but we're back in a malaise.
MOOS: Remember President Jimmy Carter's 1979 malaise speech? Though he never actually used the word malaise.
PRES. JIMMY CARTER: The erosion of our confidence in the future.
MOOS: But what's going on these days makes Jimmy Carter's malaise seem as threatening as mayonnaise. We went from 9/11 to anthrax to terror alerts. The shuttle disintegrated right before our eyes. People think...
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Oh my god, we're, you know, we're cursed.
MOOS: Psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz says 9/11 makes every new trauma seem worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big funk.
MOOS (on camera): You think so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there's a big funk in business. That's a problem.
MOOS (voice-over): The stock market bubble burst. Retirement funds hemorrhaged and recovery is on hold, waiting for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's just existing.
MOOS: Writer Sally Quinn told the "New York Times" she calls it pre-traumatic stress syndrome. (on camera): What's weighing on you? The war, obviously. I mean that's kind of obvious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the uncertainty, there is, there isn't, there's not, there's going to be, you don't know. No one knows what's going to go on.
MOOS (voice-over): Dr. Salt has an analogy for this kind of stress...
DR. SALT: The analogy to chronic pain.
MOOS: It wears you down. This woman says she feels as if the world could end in a nuclear war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm an old lady. I'm ready to go. But how about all the young people with their futures ahead of them? And this idiot Bush, idiot Bush, he wants to go to war. Bah!
MOOS: And then there are all those people burning and ripping up the American flag. Who wants to be perceived as...
SALTZ: An unpopular bully. And we're a country of people used to being admired.
MOOS: And once Iraq is settled, there's North Korea waiting in the wings. Of course, not everyone is feeling the national funk.
(on camera): Cheer me up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm alive. You're alive. We're all alive.
MOOS: Tell me some good stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good stuff? Health, my family, I've got my job.
MOOS (voice-over): Focus on the positive, experts say.
(on camera): If you find yourself anxiously and obsessively watching the news, psychiatrists recommend doing this.
(voice-over): But then you would have missed me doing this. Maybe we should all listen to Winston Churchill's advice -- when you're going through hell keep going.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 11, 2003 - 05:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's hard to avoid talk about the possibilities of war with Iraq. That along with the sagging economy, the recent shuttle tragedy, Americans seem to be falling into what our Jeanne Moos calls a national funk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it anxiety, call it melancholy, call the doctor for a global anti-depressant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world is going to pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one disaster after another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to use the term, but we're back in a malaise.
MOOS: Remember President Jimmy Carter's 1979 malaise speech? Though he never actually used the word malaise.
PRES. JIMMY CARTER: The erosion of our confidence in the future.
MOOS: But what's going on these days makes Jimmy Carter's malaise seem as threatening as mayonnaise. We went from 9/11 to anthrax to terror alerts. The shuttle disintegrated right before our eyes. People think...
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Oh my god, we're, you know, we're cursed.
MOOS: Psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz says 9/11 makes every new trauma seem worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big funk.
MOOS (on camera): You think so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there's a big funk in business. That's a problem.
MOOS (voice-over): The stock market bubble burst. Retirement funds hemorrhaged and recovery is on hold, waiting for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's just existing.
MOOS: Writer Sally Quinn told the "New York Times" she calls it pre-traumatic stress syndrome. (on camera): What's weighing on you? The war, obviously. I mean that's kind of obvious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the uncertainty, there is, there isn't, there's not, there's going to be, you don't know. No one knows what's going to go on.
MOOS (voice-over): Dr. Salt has an analogy for this kind of stress...
DR. SALT: The analogy to chronic pain.
MOOS: It wears you down. This woman says she feels as if the world could end in a nuclear war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm an old lady. I'm ready to go. But how about all the young people with their futures ahead of them? And this idiot Bush, idiot Bush, he wants to go to war. Bah!
MOOS: And then there are all those people burning and ripping up the American flag. Who wants to be perceived as...
SALTZ: An unpopular bully. And we're a country of people used to being admired.
MOOS: And once Iraq is settled, there's North Korea waiting in the wings. Of course, not everyone is feeling the national funk.
(on camera): Cheer me up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm alive. You're alive. We're all alive.
MOOS: Tell me some good stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good stuff? Health, my family, I've got my job.
MOOS (voice-over): Focus on the positive, experts say.
(on camera): If you find yourself anxiously and obsessively watching the news, psychiatrists recommend doing this.
(voice-over): But then you would have missed me doing this. Maybe we should all listen to Winston Churchill's advice -- when you're going through hell keep going.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
