Althouse: "I dabbled in politics in the late 1960s and 1970s, more out of guilt than anything...."

March 9, 2008

"I dabbled in politics in the late 1960s and 1970s, more out of guilt than anything...."

"... Guilt for being rich and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something, or get punched in the face to prove I'm one of the people. I was doing it against my instincts."

Something John Lennon said in 1980 (a year before he was shot to death).

I wonder how many of the artists who seem politically engaged feel something like this.

19 comments:

Fen said...: I wonder how many of the liberals who seem politically engaged feel something like this. Some humans have a psychological need to compensate for their good fortune [being born in the wealthiest, most powerful, most free nation in history].

I can understand the temptation to revel in the American lifestyle, while forgetting the daily brutality faced by the rest of the world. What I don't get is the self-loathing. Enjoy the hedonism without asking for Indulgences [remission of temporal punishment due for a sin].; 3/9/08, 8:51 PM
Meade said...: "I think the time when music could change the world has passed," [Neil Young] said recently. "It's time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference and to try to save the planet."; 3/9/08, 8:59 PM
rcocean said...: You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah; 3/9/08, 9:10 PM
Anonymous said...: This reminds me what a trashy, talky decade the 60's were. All these well-paid soi-dissant radicals spouting reverberations from their own drugged brains informed by cartoonish educations—it's hard to believe today, but, hey they were the products of that better world Churchill and Roosevelt struggled to save. Uncle Bud got blown out of the sky in his B-17 over Antwerp so Britain could preserve its "decent, faithful way of living."

Er, well, actually it was so that Mick Jagger could stride with his immaculate timing towards the Grosvenor Square riots of March '68, and become "the brains behind the billion-dollar business that is the Rolling Stones today."

Yes, the Music Business
aka Selling Crap to Idiots

Peace 'n Love, Revolution, Me Crap, or Just Plain Crap:
the Music of My Life; 3/9/08, 9:33 PM
Fen said...: On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"

It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

- Pink Floyd, "On The Turning Away"; 3/9/08, 9:36 PM
Fen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/9/08, 9:40 PM
Fen said...: /and for anti-war crowd, post 9/11:

I just don't understand
The ways of the world today
Sometimes I feel like there's nothing to live for
So I'm longing for the days of yesterday

- TLC, "Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes"; 3/9/08, 9:51 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm of the opinion that 95% of the political dialogue in the US today is not about anyone but the person seeking power. It strikes me as a complete distraction to what really matters, and a diversion from where I can make a difference.

What I am just now learning, after 48 bone-headed years, is that I can make a solid and meaningful difference looking after my family members - trying to do what I can for them, working to get along with them, and spending time hanging out with them (if they want). When things are going well there, I try to do the same thing for my extended family, and for my circle of friends and others right around me (neighbor, etc.)

This after realizing that I was spending too much time and energy (emotional and physical) on the things farthest from me (like Washington DC). I believe that the 7x24 world news channels distort the world by focusing on “power centers”, and give the incorrect appearance that the constant stream of events on the news there are directly and daily meaningful and impacting.

Others may disagree with my conclusions, but I've been a lot happier since I've tried shifted my focus away from CNN/SKY/FOX News. It feels like my life is a whole lot more peaceful and I don’t miss staying up on the big events anyway.

Or put another way, “All I am saying, is I’m trying to give peace in my own family a chance.”; 3/9/08, 10:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Wise words, Quayle.
Il faut cultiver notre jardin.; 3/9/08, 10:14 PM
Fen said...: Or put another way, “All I am saying, is I’m trying to give peace in my own family a chance.”

I understand completely. Have been down that path.

Just don't forget: some power has to maintain western civilization, so that all the good things you cultivate today will survive after you.; 3/9/08, 10:31 PM
Paul said...: Fen,

"What I don't get is the self-loathing."

It's simple. The Marxist-Leftist religion posits that people are either privileged or marginalized, oppressors or victims, villainous or virtuous. Everything flows from that basic division. Whether it's deliberate and conscious, or just absorbed by osmosis through leftist culture. The loathing is mostly projected outwards towards Republicans, America, Democratic Capitalism and Western Civilization, and replaced with an unwarranted arrogance and conceit. But underneath the snotty superiority of the leftist is a mess of insecurities and self doubt engendered by the cognitive dissonance of being the hero speaking truth to power while also being part of oppressive affluent capitalist hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci is laughing his head off, in whatever hell he has ended up in.; 3/10/08, 12:00 AM
Eli Blake said...: I don't think that Lennon was shot for his views though, it had more to do with the fact that Mark Chapman was a nut.

I looked high and low for examples of celebrities or entertainers who were murdered for what they believed or did for a living (not counting politicians, reporters or preachers) and while they are not unheard of in foreign countries, the only thing close to that I could find in the United States was the Manson murders (in particular of actress Sharon Tate), and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt (who survived but was crippled in a 1978 assassination attempt carried out by a religious fanatic.)

Of course as I said, that doesn't include politicians or others whose paths intersected politics by necessity (such as Dr. King or some newspaper reporters.) If it did then the list would be quite a bit longer.; 3/10/08, 12:31 AM
titusinfirstposition said...: I read a fascinating story in Vanity Fair this weekend.

It was about the Oscar Race in 1978. The two movies dueling it out were Coming Home and The Deer Hunter. Both movies about Vietnam, neither of which I have seen. I was 8 at that time but now want to see them.

The Deer Hunter won 9 oscars including Best Picture and Coming Home won 8 including best male and female in a lead. Meryl Streep's career was just starting and she was in The Deer Hunter and while selecting actors Jane Fonda told them to get this new chick Meryl Streep for a part in Coming Home but she then found out that Streep was actually going to be in The Deer Hunter.

It talked about how the studios did not want to do the sex scene in Coming Home with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Also, it said many of the asian community found The Deer Hunter racist. The behind the scenes infighting was what I found most interesting. Hal Ashby, the director of Coming Home sounded like a character.

It was a fascinating read. If its online you all should read it.; 3/10/08, 1:29 AM
Kirk Parker said...: The time Neil Young refers to never was, but at least it's nice he acknowledges it's not coming back.; 3/10/08, 2:04 AM
rcocean said...: I was actually alive in 1977-1978.

Everyone I knew thought "coming home" was unrealistic, Jane Fonda left-wing crap. They also thought the "Deer Hunter" was somewhat goofy (like living in Pennsylvania but hunting in mountains like the Rockies, or the roulette scenes) but contained some elements of truth.; 3/10/08, 2:12 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: ↑ What Fen said ^^^ up there first comment +++.

*agrees*; 3/10/08, 3:08 AM
Revenant said...: From what I've read about him, Jimi Hendrix strikes me as a guy who felt he should be making political statements but really just wanted to play the guitar.

I still think, of all the tragic early deaths of people in the entertainment industry, his death probably cost us the most. What an amazing performer.; 3/10/08, 3:33 AM
titusinfirstposition said...: The Vanity Fair story said The Deer Hunter was filmed in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Henry Fonda called the studio heads and begged them not to keep the sex scenes in Coming Home.; 3/10/08, 7:14 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Oh, bullshit. The whole point of "Coming Home" was showing those sex scenes! That and establishing that Vietnam vets were mentally damaged and ready to walk into the ocean and drown themselves.; 3/10/08, 6:41 PM