Put your hands together and pray for him you dirty Ape

OK, so Charles Heston died yesterday... The broad jawed actor performed in such memorable roles as Ben Hur, Moses in The Ten Commandments and of course.... that guy from the ape movies. What a lot of people will remember him for will be that he was President of the NRA for five years and that he appeared in Bowling for Colombine at the end having Michael Moore go all, well Michael Moore on him. Like him or hate him, it's possible you saw some movie with him in it since saying he was active in his film career is quite the understatement.

Now why would I bring this guy up in a post apart from the fact that he passed away? Pretty simple, I was under the impression that he had always been a full blown racist gun toting redneck but if anything, I read a few things on wikipedia that resulted a bit interesting, greatly confusing and at the very least, great food for discussion:

"Heston resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He said CNN's telecasts from Baghdad were "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War."

In an industry supposedly overcrowded with racism, such a comment results interesting because of the implications of oppresion to whites in Hollywood, something I have frankly never heard too much of to say the least. Don't think I agree with this statement though, I just found it interesting because if anything you can say about Heston, it's that he was a full blown constitutionalist in the sense that if anyone wants to protect the second ammendment, it was that guy. He wasn't actually saying that there was an anti white sentiment in Hollywood, he just said that having the union pretty much forbid having a white person unable to play that role was racist and though you can make a case of why the fuck an Asian was to be played by a white person, you can also make a case for why female roles in Shakespearean plays were mostly played by men (gay Shakespeare assumptions not withstanding). Regarding his opinion about the intentions of CNN, well, when have we been able to trust the news in portraying anything unbiasedly. Again, not saying I'm totally for the guy or that he was a saint, but he's quoted in saying shit that at leats for today got me thinking.

For that matter, he also advocated for the first ammendment though not in the fashion most of us are accustomed or even comfortable with:

He deplored a culture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media, educators, entertainers, and politicians against:

"...the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern- or even worse, rural, apparently straight-or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning-or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff-or even worse, male working stiff-because, not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?"

Yes a big what the fuck might be in store, but the coupled messages of white pride and freedom of speech are quite clear. He actually said White Pride was no different from Black Pride, Red Pride or any pride and again, not totally for this, but it does get me thinking.

Before anyone goes on a tirade thinking I'm advocating for racism or White Power, read between the lines. I'm saying he said White Pride isn't bad and that it is no different from Black Pride or any type of pride and at the very least, I think I have to hand it to the guy for having the balls to say something like that in a culture that is ready to pretty much burn you at the stake for saying something like that. Actually, if anyone says they'd love to kill that cracker son of a bitch, then take note, this die-hard Republican was once a Democrat and to one up things a notch, he was apparently a massive Martin Luther King supporter and even accompanied him in the Civil Rights March. Kind of weird coming from a full blown racist and he actually said that he was for Civil Rights long before it was fashionable in Hollywood and again, I'm fucking pissed that I can't disagree with him because from what I've read, taking a stance like that in the 60's is pretty much begging to be burned by any true racist. I bring this forth because White Power and White Pride are two different things in theory, and one focuses its attention on where people come from and the other is based on the supremacy that should be had by a race (pretty fucking sad that this shit seems to never go away, but hey, stupidity is only second to hydrogen in the universe). Needless to say I'm not a big fan of White Power because, well being Hispanic means I'm just a wet back beaner leeching off the system and I'd be asking to get lynched, something I don't think anyone is too eager to enjoy.

Some people might say that there is no difference between White Pride and White Power and you could make an extremely solid case for that and I'd probably have to agree with you, but the base statement that there should be a right to feel proud from where you come from results interesting. True, a vast majority of Anglo Saxons of the Fore Fathers were bigot, racist assholes that couldn't stand their neighbors so they left to the West to rape and plunder a land that really wasn't theirs to begin with, for however proudly Whites claim it to be theirs, sorry but Running Bear might have something to say about every comment from White America regarding "them damn immigrants" because the core base of the US is made of immigrants.

If anything I'm writing this post because upon hearing the news, I was like, yipee lets rip his cold, dead hands off his gun once and for all to shoev it up his ass, and then I come in contact with this information and I can't help but say what the fuck... And I say what the fuck not because I suddenly think he's a saint but because it's abundantly clear that how you are portrayed in Hollywood and the media is rarely anyone's doing. That guy apparently did whatever the fuck he wanted to and yes he was a gun totting NRA card carrying member, and though I fucking hate guns and would rather a world and a US & A without them, I can't help but say, well he was entitled to his opinion as long as he didn't fuck with me.

Here's another quote that got me cursing him for making sense:

"Political correctness is tyranny with manners"

Once again I find myself unable to formulate anything that might resemble a counter point because I agree with him and with this statement. So this brings the case of Michael Moore and how many people portrayed his depiction of Heston and the treatment as an attack or an ambush on the actor'and you can also make a case for that. Please don't think I'm suddenly on an Anti Moore bandwagon or that I'm promoting the NRA. Again, I hate guns and really wish we could work towards a more Star Trekish existence without guns and where we should get along a bit better, at least us Earth roaming people.

So then what's the point Joker? My point is that even with what I read, what we've seen on the TV etc, we truly have no idea what most people are all about and that sometimes it's best to hold an opinion over some people's actions and integrity rather than being eager to jump on the I love this actor or famous person or hate them because that's what we're pretty much told to do. To sum it up, a lot of people detest Heston because of what they saw in Bowling for Colombine and the media and a lot of people love him for the same reasons rather than just taking information offered by the media with a grain of salt and hope for yourself that you can live to 84 as well and have a memorable existence rather than being a tame little sheep that follows instructions perfectly.

That's my opinion and if you want to take it away... well you're going to have to pry my cold, dead hands from it.

Cheers

Click here for the link to the obituary.