OT, if anyone would like to suggest movies or books that made a huge impact in their progressive attitudes today, I'm interested in making a list.in a thread over at Eschaton and got some amazing replies. I'm sure I've missed a few, but here are some responses: (I'm not repeating them if they're noted in the first post.)
Not only to share what resonated with you but also to have as a reference for those who do not know American history, have no clue about WWII, the Geneva Convention, Habeas Corpus and why the Bush administration is so horrifically awful.
http://rantsfromtherookery.blogs...-are- today.html
Movies:
Grand Illusion
Paths of Glory
Forbidden Games
Lawrence of Arabia
Winterset
A Hard Day's Night
Fail Safe
Television:
Star Trek
Twilight Zone
M*A*S*H the series
PBS- The World at War
Have I Got News For You series
Drop the Dead Donkey
Chris Morris: The Day Today, Brass Eye
The commercial with Iron Eyes Cody weeping over pollution
Cartoons or Comics:
Dan O'Neill's Odds Bodkin
Walt Kelly's Pogo
Mad Magazine
Doonesbury
Books:
Johnny Got His Gun
Ken MacLeod: The Star Fraction, The Stone Canal
Richard Morgan: Market Forces
Grapes of Wrath and other works of John Steinbeck
The Octopus
The Jungle
Philip K. Dick: all works
Thoreau's Walden Pond
Simone Weil: all works
Brave New World and other works of Aldous Huxley
1984
Animal Farm and other works of George Orwell
Kurt Vonnegut: all works
Richard Brautigan: all works
A History of teh Arab People: Albert Hourani
Anatomy of Fascism: Robert O. Paxton
Blair's Wars: John Kampfner
Noam Chomsky: all works
The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace: Margaret Atwood
The Bible: New Testament: Jesus teaching helping the poor and forgiveness
Kevin Carson: all works
John Kenneth Galbraith: all works
Marx
The Golden Notebook: Doris Lessing
Breathing Lessons: Anne Tyler
Catch-22
The Missionary Position: Christopher Hitchens
Mother Country: Marilynne Robinson
The Urantia Book
Woman on the Edge of Time and other works of Marge Piercy
Les Guérillère
Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Slavoj Zizek
James Thurber (with other Algonquin stylists)
Add:
"What's the Matter with Kansas" and "Blinded by the Right" (David Brock).
"The Chalice and the Blade" by Rhianne Eisler
Letters, articles:
Letter from Birmingham Jail: Martin Luther King
Events, situations:
Vietnam War
Kennedy's Assassination
Watergate
Fundamentalism
Reagan
The need for girlfriend to have an abortion
And of course music:
To quote Wikipedia:
In the 1960s and 1970s, during the War in Vietnam, many protest songs were written and recorded, most notably "War," (1970) by Edwin Starr, "Ohio" (1970) by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young", "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) and ""Imagine"" (1971) by John Lennon. Cat Stevens left his mark on the genre with "Peace Train" in 1971, as did Black Sabbath with "War Pigs" (1971). The Rolling Stones protested against police brutality with "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" (1973).Add to the music list: Paul Simon's American Tune from 1973
[snip]Neil Young continued the theme in the twenty-first century with his song, "Let's Impeach the President" - a stinging rebuke against President George W. Bush and the War in Iraq, as did Pink with her appeal to Bush in "Dear Mr. President". Pearl Jam also included two anti-Bush songs ("World Wide Suicide", "Marker In The Sand") in their 2006 album Pearl Jam. Not to forget the band Dispatch and the anti-war underground hit "The General". Utah Philips, and David Rovics, among many other singers have continued the folk tradition of protest. In John Mayer's 2006 release CONTINUUM, the lead single " Waiting on the World to Change", Mayer is critical of the desensitizing of politics in youths. He goes on to say in "Belief", "What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand? Belief can. What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand? Belief can."
Also, Rage Against the Machine have been one of the most popular bands in recent times with songs such as "Bullet In The Head" and "Bulls On Parade". Paris also released the song 'What Would You Do?' referencing everything from false flag operations and the "elite's" grip on the worlds' governments to 9/11 conspiracy theories.
6 comments:
For TV, you have to add in Laugh-in and That was the Week that Was, and the Smothers Brothers, for those of us who are around 50
You are so right, Sorghum Crow. I forgot the Vietnam War being televised each week, too.
Sorry I missed this pair of posts the first time around, ellroon; everyone has made excellent contributions to the growing list.
My wiring upstairs is too complex (chaotic?) to identify and connect to formative works as directly as you and many of your readers have done, but if I may add a song that expresses how I've often felt about the American experience, please include Paul Simon's American Tune from 1973.
Hi Elroon!
For more recent books, I would suggest "What's the Matter with Kansas" and "Blinded by the Right" (David Brock).
An oldie but a goodie is "The Chalice and the Blade" by Rhianne Eisler. Amazing description of how the feminine principle needs to be re-embraced in our lives to balance out our warmongering, destructive tendencies.
I can pinpoint it exactly.
In 1985, when I was 19, my girlfriend became pregnant and had an abortion. I didn't know about either status (neither the existence of, nor the termination of, the pregnancy) until after the fact; indeed, several weeks after the fact, because she took a leave of absence from our college during that time.
I remember questioning myself extensively about the issue and wondering whether or not I would have supported the abortion decision. Hell, I had voted for Reagan in '84 and was brought up in a staunchly Republican household. But I soon realized that my support of the decision was irrelevant; it was none of my business, in that it ultimately was her (more generally, the woman's) choice alone.
And so I began to question other long-held tenets in my life ... it didn't hurt that I was active in music and theatre, so I was exposed to a lot of liberal thought (and alternative lifestyles, etc.), and I became more and more tolerant of divergent viewpoints. Quite literally, my mind was opened, and I discovered how closed-minded I'd been up till then.
So, I've been a liberal, and proud of it, for nearly 22 years. And I'm still trying to make up for my vote in 1984. :)
Thank you, madamab, have listed your books.
And Sinfonian, thank you for that story. It must have been very hard for you at that young age. Often people harden up rather than become more tolerant.
I still blame you for Reagan though!
Post a Comment