From airplane to starship...

[Robin Landseadel]

I remember seeing Easy Rider when It came out. I must have been 14 at
the time. My dad figured that an 'R' rated movie wasn't going to destroy
my morals any more than the pile of Playboy magazine he tossed in my
general direction [doubtless in the hope that some of my more limp- 
wristed
habits might go away.] My father was a veteran of the Civil Rights
movement, involved in many acts of civil disobedience including the
march in Selma that was a turning point in voter rights in the deep  
south.
So when we left the theater, quite shaken, my dad had a paranoid
response. We were followed by a truck with a rifle rack, and dad told  
us to
get down in the back seats so our heads were not exposed to any  
potential
gunfire.  Looking at the film 30 years later, I saw a Greek tragedy,  
idealists
turned into pimps. But that film set off a fire 40 years ago because  
it fed
into the fears of 'white negros' who came to see themselves as martyrs
to 'the cause.'


On Oct 23, 2008, at 7:02 AM, rich wrote:

> huh?
>
> guess i was on the wrong kinda drugs.  put obama on that hog and dang
> if some redneck in a white pickup wouldn't blow'em away today thx to
> all those right-wing scumbags in this country.
> things haven't changed in middle america after all.
>
> rich