Yesterday, I came across an article from one of my favorite authors - Paul Craig Roberts (one of my top HEROES OF TRUTH) entitled Disunited America. Like with pretty much all of his articles, I recommend his work to anyone who seeks truth, as the author skillfully and succinctly exposes things for the way they really are. Here are a few excerpts:
Prior to the Democrats becoming the anti-American political party of Identity Politics, whites, blacks, and Puerto Ricans could laugh at themselves and at one another.
Dean Martin turned a roast, in which good humored fun is poked at a prominent person, into mass entertainment. That blacks were equal opportunity targets was testimony to the success of black entertainers and athletes. In the humorless world of today, these roasts would be considered “hurtful,” “offensive,” and “hate crimes.”
Americans had to be trained to this new mentality. It was done in order to break us apart as a people, and it has succeeded.
The race and gender hatreds instilled by identity Politics have not only produced a humorless country but also a disunited country. Unity has been destroyed by the Democratic Party’s Identity Politics, and the absence of unity precludes any restoration of American greatness by President Trump.
Identity Politics gives us not only fake news but also fake history. Histories have been made up in order to instill a victim consciousness in women and blacks, the better to teach gender and racial hatreds. The hopes of the civil rights movement for an integrated and unified country are being defeated. Once unity is shattered, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put unity back together again.
The Good Old Days…
Once upon a time in America (and elsewhere) there use to be laughter. There use to be fun. There use to be love.
But where has it gone?
How did it get destroyed? And who destroyed it?
Let’s travel back in time just a few decades. I still remember when I was young watching various entertainment shows on the good old boob tube (that’s a TV, not a low cut tube top). My mom loved to watch the past greats from the 70s drink, laugh, and make fun of each other and I did so alongside her and my father. It was really refreshing to see my parents enjoy, relax, and laugh alongside them. There were so many great TV shows but I distinctly remember the “celebrity roasts”. I didn’t know what a “roast” was but my parents told me that it was when you really like or love somebody, you show some affection to them by making fun of them (as I very often did - and still do - with my 3 brothers) and it is not spiteful in its intent but rather a gesture of showing them that you care for them in a playful kind of way.
The best “roasts” were from the The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast airing from 1974 to 1984.
All the greats from the era were both roasted and had the opportunity to roast their fellow peers (entertainers) all in good fun. Even Ronald Reagan featured as a guest. One of the best episodes was that in which Sammy Davis Jr. got roasted.
Now these guys really knew how to have fun!
Although by today’s “standards” much of the roasting (jokes) would be considered racist, sexist, politically incorrect, and so on. But back then, it was all in good fun and you would never see anyone get offended (visibly or seemingly otherwise). On the contrary, the person being roasted would often be the one who would end up laughing the most. People from different races didn’t see any harm in making fun of themselves either.
Furthermore, after each “roaster” roasted the “roastee”, they often exchanged a very genuine and heartfelt kiss, hug, or embrace for which you can tell by the body language exuded absolute & genuine sincerity and warmth.
I invite you all to take a trip to the past – a day were people really knew how to enjoy themselves, laugh (to the point of splitting a gut – which Dean Martin must have done on so many occasions), have fun, and not be worried of making a fool of themselves. It is definitely worth the watch and would certainly serve as a valuable lesson for the Millennial generation who today seemeth unable to partake in such a dying, nearly extinct, silly and amusing ritual.
The episode dates from April 24, 1975 and the roasting cast was comprised of some of the funniest people to have walked the face of the earth, namely: Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Foster Brooks, Wilt Chamberlain, Norm Crosby, Altovise Davis, Phyllis Diller, Frank Gorshin, Jan Murray, Freddie Prinze, Don Rickles, Nipsey Russell, Danny Thomas, Dionne Warwick.
Many years prior to this roast, Sammy Davis Jr. had converted to Judaism finding similarities between the oppressed people of the blacks and Jews. Of course he was teased a lot with many jokes about the Jews during the roasting (for which, again, he didn’t take offense). But if any of these jokes were to be told today, Israel, the Jewish community, and 99.9% of Congress would have an absolute nuclear meltdown.
The last point I want to make regarding this era can be summed up by the roastee – Sammy Davis Jr.’s own words – which he offered to his roaster friends at the end of the show:
One of the great joys of being forty five years in this business is to have people who love you make fun of you. That is one of the great joys; because the day they don’t make fun of you that means they don’t give a damn about you!
That is SO TRUE don’t you think? I know this can vary from culture to culture. But being from North America things were like that when I was young (but has certainly changed a lot since the turn of the century). And some of my British friends tell me it was alike that in the UK and even nowadays it is not uncommon for mates to tease each other unabatedly; not sure if it is still the case though.
Anyhow, I’ve made a nice image to memorialize this vestige of sanity hoping it will not be “memory-holed” one day by Google, Facebook, or any of the other loser sellouts:
Who was your favorite?
Mine was Foster Brooks (although Don Rickles comes in a close second).
Foster Brooks
When I was young and watched the Dean Martin show, I remember asking my mom why that man was so drunk. She told me that he was simply acting and that was his special gift by which he could make people laugh. It certainly was. The guy does a much better drunk than any real drunk ever could! Just watch him and you’ll know what I mean.
I stumbled upon a gut-splitting funny ass compilation of three skits between Dean Martin and Foster Brooks entitled The Ultimate Try Not To Laugh Challenge- Foster Brooks. For all three skits, Martin was unable to hold back his own laughter during the filming, as Brooks was just too damn funny. Try to see if you can hold back your laughter. Impossible. You can watch the 18 minute compilation below:
So, who was your favorite? Please post in the comments below...
The PC game from a grade student’s perspective
There is this wonderful website called teenink.com where young students can publish their written works (poems, stories, articles) and one through which, over the years, I have encouraged my students to submit their work to. There was one particular article written by an anonymous young author entitled simply Political Correctness. I think it was written a few years back. As an educator, I really enjoyed reading the PC perspective from a young teen in the current education system, as (to me at least) it often seems that the younger they are, the less corrupted their thinking and reasoning is. Here are a few highlights:
One of today's hot topics is "political correctness." This idea concerns the "proper" names of races, genders, nationalities, and professions. That means that words which used to be common have been changed in an effort to please everyone and offend no one.
For example, garbage men (excuse me, not "men," collectors) are sanitation engineers, and some women would prefer to spell the name of their gender as "womyn." I see this political correctness crusade as a power struggle between radicals who want to have their views pushed on everyone else and realists who know that a garbage man is doing the same duties as a sanitation engineer, no matter what the title.
It is impossible to please everyone in the world at one time.
To institute a new vocabulary to please everyone would be impossible. Labels and titles are individual preferences that an entire society should not be forced to accept.
Unfortunately, those who are "politically correct" fanatics don't seem to respect individual opinions.
While it may sound nice to some people to be known as "vertically challenged" rather than to be called short, the name does not increase their height, nor does it prevent others from noticing their size. If these examples seem trivial, look at racial labels. Some black people prefer the term African-American. Others are satisfied with black. Not every person with dark skin comes from Africa. Who, then, has enough knowledge to tell the public how to label others?
I honestly don't understand the hysteria over political correctness. Aside from making someone (but not everyone) feel satisfied on the outside, people will still be the same on the inside, doing the same job, with the same nationality.
It is one matter to be tactful and polite; it is another to go overboard and have a "correct" name for everything. Should Orientals be called Asian-Americans or is it more respectful to designate each separate country: Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, or Korean-Americans? Then there are Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans. If you're of multiple descent, then what are you called?
It is a positive notion to be proud of and knowledgeable about your heritage, but it is not a good idea to separate each part of your identity (nationality, religion, occupation) from everyone else. This is the root of discrimination and hatred, where the political correctness revolution has the potential to lead.
We are all different and no language or vocabulary is going to change that. No matter how anyone is referred to, respect them for what makes them who they are. Respect means more than any title.
How refreshing. Sometimes we need to simply get back to basics even our youth still possess.
So WHY did this happen and WHO is to blame?
1. We the people!
Unfortunately, the masses are generally malleable enough to fall for their (the powers-that-be's) ploys. That includes you. That includes me. We have foregone our innate ability to reason and employ the most basic of critical thinking skills. Some of it is of our own making and some of it from our upbringing. But for the most part, we need to take personal responsibility for our shortcomings. We too often let our emotions overrun our logic and reason. And we often lack the courage to really stand up for what we believe in for fear of being ridiculed by others.
2. The bought-and-paid for Mass Media, Mega-Corporations, and Social Media Giants!
Let’s begin with the Mass Media. We can certainly thank former president Bill Clinton for allowing (i.e., changing antitrust laws) what use to be a healthy sector – with over 90% of American media owned by more than 50 companies in 1983 – to be consolidated into 6 extremely powerful media conglomerates that own almost all media of today and recent years.
Mega-corporations – from Big Pharma…to Food Producers…to Fashion outlets…to Toy makers – have sold their souls not only for profits to themselves (to the detriment of most of the other stakeholders I must add) but also for bigger more nefarious and immoral causes which they have willingly supported. And I believe that with the recent censorship efforts of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube I needn’t elaborate too much as to how they have abused their tremendous power for similar evil and nefarious endeavors.
Of course, we cannot exclude the treasonous traitors from pretty much every single Congress critter who has sat in the Senate or House in the past few decades, as they are the ones who have approved most of the laws that have permitted much of the madness.
But, to be more specific, I put most of the blame on the greedy top executives (CEOs, Directors, VPs) of these three big groups who, over the past two or three decades, have sold their souls while foregoing any sense of common decency towards their fellow man or respective countries. These cowards were richly rewarded (financially – not emotionally or spiritually I must clarify) for their traitorship by their overlords (see culprit #4 below).
For a more detailed examination of the methods of madness employed by these various groups, I invite you to consult the single best post I’ve ever seen on Steemit entitled The Psychology Of Control: Social Media & The Frontlines Of The Reality War, as it really outlines in great detail the lengths by which these powers-that-be resort to in order to propagate their destructive, divide-and-conquer, tactics upon the masses. It’s a bit lengthy, but very much worth the read if you want to really grasp how this radical societal transformation has occurred over the past years and decades. Read it.
3. Educational Institutions
Across North America, Europe, in Australia and New Zealand, and elsewhere around the globe we have seen a vile and disgraceful infusion of identity politics meshed with instigated race-, gender-, and political-based divisions as well as ridiculous “Safe Spaces” for the sissies who can’t bear to process truth when they hear it, nor handle the tough world we live in.
So, shame on all the administrators, professors, teachers, and support staff who have contributed to this socialist/communist agenda and for your lack of courage to stand up for what is right. As a long time educator myself (30+ years in the field), I feel that we have a greater responsibility to ensure and promote real tolerance, differences in opinion, and help instill critical thinking skills in our students in a constructive and respectful environment. While I am not suggesting that this has completely been lost, let’s hope that a return to a more sane and sound educational climate will soon find its way back on school grounds and college campuses.
4. The Puppet Masters
Who do I mean by this? Simple, the 8,000-8,500 or so members who control the International Banking Cabal because at the end of the day, for them, greed, power, control, and evil is all that matters. And these cowards have gone to great clandestine lengths to get others to do their bidding and dirty work while they lurk and pull the strings from the shadows.
Conclusion and What can be done?
In conclusion, times have changed dramatically. People no longer seem to tell jokes and laugh as much as they use to. It seems like people are constantly guarded, walking on egg shells and concerned about offending others. We see this a lot online too, perhaps more so as the face-to-face contact between human beings is becoming rarer and an outright social calamity. In this era of the so-called “smart” phone, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to unglue their eyeballs from their electronic devices and actually interact with their fellow man. And this, sadly, is particularly the case with younger generations.
So what can be done about it? Firstly, I think we all need to chill out a bit and not be afraid to laugh at ourselves and our own shortcomings. Nobody is perfect. In fact, that is what makes us all interesting. Each of us is unique and different in our appearance, background, upbringing, values, and so on. We should embrace this true diversity instead of using it to divide us. We should choose to ignore and decide not to partake in the PC nonsense that is decaying the moral fabric of our society. We should learnt to better listen to others and respect their differences in opinions and ways.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
In Truth & Liberty,
Curated for #informationwar (by @wakeupnd)
Ways you can help the @informationwar!
Funniest Foster Brooks bit on Dean Martin Roast of Don Rickles
And to think that the The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast was an NBC television special show. OMG how times have changed in comparison to today...