Actor Charlton Heston dies at 84
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0
flammenwerfer
I always rated him as an actor, he had some great performances over the years, Ben Hur and POTA. He certainly embroiled himself in controversy with his NRA activities, critics will be finally able to pry the gun from his cold dead hands now.
He was quite politically active and liberal in his younger days: He was also an opponent of McCarthyism and racial segregation, he also opposed the Vietnam War. It wasnt until the 1980's that he went conservative.
He had an interesting life for sure. RIP
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Wottock_Hunt
good actor, less-than-perfect man.
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pathat
Who is perfect? He leaves behind quite a film legacy and a lot of other accomplishments. I was never much of a fan of his, but I
m not going to just look at his days leading the NRA, or some of the things he said and did toward the end of his life and judge him. He led an extraordinary life, and Ill leave it at that.0
anderstungtwist
Less-than-perfect? Wow, how could we live without you? Let's see, he was married for only 63 or 64 years and was chosen to portray seven or eight historical greats. Oh, he believed in self-defense, especially for young women. Is that what's bothering you?
0
ancientone
I still remember way back when Ben Hur first came out, we kids talked about how great the movie was. He had a summer home around Michigan somewhere. I didn't always agree with his views, but I remember standing in line to watch "Planet of the Apes". I only stood in line 3 or 4 times in my life. He was worth the effort.
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SezWho2
Well, I would say that he was a less than perfect actor but nonetheless a great man. I disliked his conservative politics, particularly his shilling for the NRA. However, he had star quality both on-screen and off. He had poise and equanimity, even when interviewed by a double-dealing Michael Moore (whose politics I do like).
0
Smythe
Obviously a good actor in his time & I probably saw a goodly number of plays he lead in.
Good speaker & stood by his rights as a NRA leader. Probably other things I am missing. Bar the fact for some years you could see he was suffering with pain & he never leaned on that as an excuse in any way.
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greenteaonsens
why was he such a right wing nutjob? that always put me off him.
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flammenwerfer
"always", but he wasnt always rightwing, he was quite left for quite a while until he became disillusioned with the left (and who can blame him there...)
0
VOR
Right Wing Nutjob?
He was an ardent supporter of the Bill of Rights. How does that make him a Right Wing Nutjob?
Rest in peace Chuck, the sheepeople may have hated your guts but us sheepdogs loved and admired you.
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Sarge
"why was he such a right-wing nutjob?"
A right-wing nutjob who won the Presidential Freedom of Honor.
Hey, Wottock, you have any response to anderstungtwist's question?
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sailwind
He made a speech to the Harvarvd Law School Forum on Feb 16 1999.
I don't think I could do better to honor the man and his life than with a small excerpt of his own words from the speech, wisdom gained from a great life and a real true proud American that believed in freedom for all of us, no matter who or what we are.
Finally, just last month ... David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign. As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly,(b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say , so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression? Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. You are the best and the rightist. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it ... you are - by your grandfathers' standards - cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayor's pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers. I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you?
Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me." If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.
If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe. Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people. You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King ...who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Vietnam. In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous laws that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me.
Rest in Peace Mr. Heston
0
RomeoRamenII
RIP to a legendary entertainer, a World War II veteran, a supporter of civil rights, a Hollywood star who was married for over 60 years to one woman, a spokesman for second amendment rights.
His presidency of the NRA convinced me to become a life member.
A great American who will be missed.
RR
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Wottock_Hunt
Sailwind - that was moving indeed. Thanks for sharing it.
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Nessie
Advocating heavily armed, non-violent civil disobedience. Surely a conundrum of a man.
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Nessie
I guess this means we have his blessing to prise the gun from his cold, dead hand.
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Wottock_Hunt
Which one, and why?
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Alphaape
sailwind, thanks for the great post. For the others who are bashing the NRA, if you would do a little research, they advoacte that you have the right to have a fire arm, but not the right to settle differences the old west style (or for those from Yamato, to settle it samurai style with swords).
Charlton Heston was a decent man, and when you look at sailwinds post, you can see that just becuase he was a conservative, he was not some "bible thumping maniac" out to convert everyone to his religion or thoughts.
RIP Mr. Heston.
0
Betzee
Salwind, Harvard has a tradition of inviting speakers whose words generate controversy. Twenty years before Heston appeared on campus, Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave an address in 1979 that prompted outrage at the time but which has come to be regarded, in some quarters as prophetic in identifying the reasons for the decline of American society. It's not due to political correctness as Heston claims, which exists on the Left and the Right incidentally. Rather:
The individual's independence from many types of state pressure has been guaranteed; the majority of the people have been granted well-being to an extent their fathers and grandfathers could not even dream about; it has become possible to raise young people according to these ideals, preparing them for and summoning them toward physical bloom, happiness, and leisure, the possession of material goods, money, and leisure, toward an almost unlimited freedom in the choice of pleasures. So who should now renounce all this, why and for the sake of what should one risk one's precious life in defense of the common good and particularly in the nebulous case when the security of one's nation must be defended in an as yet distant land?
This is why few Americans will take up Heston's call for civil disobedience. As he himself observes: "Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk."
0
Nessie
What is it exactly that Americans are supposed to be disobedient about? Like, illegally downloading music? Herb? Seems like there's plenty of disobedience.
0
northlondon
Ever since the days of the Wild West, right up to today, you still haven't worked out that having the 'freedom' to purchase a rifle for everyone equates to enormously high numbers of gun-related deaths and gun-related crimes.
For such a great historic nation, one that has given the rest of the world the likes of Martin Luther King/ NASA/ rock and roll music/ great advances in modern hospital treatment/ Muhammed Ali etc etc, America's biggest downfall and biggest embarrassment has been it's love affair with the rifle.
Rifles are for your defence forces and (possibly) your law enforcement. When you need one at home, and when you are allowed to own one at home, then you are living in the wrong place.
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Betzee
Exactly, Gandhi and Martin Luther King were "fighting pacificists." This is not an oxymoron. Rather their weapon was the moral power of their ideals. They engaged in peaceful resistance knowing full well they might be met with a crack on the head (or worse) by armed law enforcement authority. But they were willing to face that risk in service to their ideals.
This is a strategy for those who seek to effect change the state is blocking. It is not a tool which will work when it's one group which finds inself in intellectual disagreement with another.
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skipthesong
I find it amazing that most here want to talk only of his involvement in the NRA, and in one speech, he made a lot of sense in regards to his relatives, who were law abiding citizens in Europe were first told to give up all arms to the Nazis and once disarmed, they were of course, well you know the rest of the story... Why isn't more information available about him marching with Dr. King? There were a lot of brave white celebrities who challenged the system back then however we hear very little of them.. No, instead we must be forced to hear only what the new post 80's left claims to be wrong with others.
How many of you even know that he was the original "I am Legend"?
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Wottock_Hunt
Skip - nope: the second. First was Vincent Price, in "The Last Man on Earth". Chuck was second, in "The Omega Man", which is one of my favourite films ever. The recent Will Smith job was good, and the less said about "I am Omega" the better. But Mr. Heston did a fine job in Omega Man, one of many in his outstanding career. Touch of Evil was magnificent.
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conqueror_of_Uranus
What the anti-gun crowd refuse to admit, is that the NRA spends more than 2/3rds of it's revenue on gun/firearm safety education, and advocate more stringent background checks. An NRA spokesman said shortly after the VTech shooting, something to the effect of; if the checks that the NRA approves of were in place, Choi would have never been able to purchase even a hunting rifle.
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Loki520
Why do I get the idea that no matter what happens, some people will find something about the US that is "wrong"?
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redacted
This article, like most, downplays and minimizes Charlton Heston's social activism, if only because in the modern world 'liberals' alone can be given the title of activist; conservatives are usually simply labeled 'haters' or 'ultraconservatives.'
Heston picketed a segregated theater premiering his own movie. He accompanied fellow Republican and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington - at a time when almost no one in Hollywood was willing to speak out against racism.
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