Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id WAA20398 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 21 Feb 2001 22:07:19 GMT From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 16:11:06 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Charleton Heston sprech Message-ID: <3A93E89A.10088.143B3B@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
A speech Chaleton Heston gave to the Harvard Law School Forum
> For 50 years, the Harvard Law School Forum has been sponsoring
speeches by > luminaries ranging from Fidel Castro to Gerald Ford to
Dr. Ruth. Sometimes > the speeches have generated a bit of media
coverage, sometimes not. But > one > given last month by Charlton
Heston has taken on a life of its own. > Heston, > the actor and
conservative activist, delivered a stem-winder to about 200 > listeners
about "a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to > think and
say what resides in your heart." "He knew he was coming to a > liberal
environment, and clearly a group of his listeners was conservative > and
another was more liberal," said David Christopherson, president of the >
forum. "About half respectfully challenged him during the questions. It >
generated a lot of debate around the campus. But what's happened
caught us > off-guard." What happened was Rush Limbaugh's radio talk
show. On March > 15, > Limbaugh read the entire speech on the air,
only to find himself bombarded > with thousands of requests for a copy
of it. The same thing happened at > Harvard Law. "We couldn't keep up
with all the requests," said Mike Chmura > at Harvard. "It really didn't
have legs and might have been forgotten if > Mr.Limbaugh hadn't
decided to deliver it." > > Winning the Cultural War' Charlton Heston's
Speech to the Harvard Law > School > Forum February 16, 1999 > >
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten
class > what > his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends
to be people." > > And there have been quite a few of them: Prophets
from the Old and New > Testaments, a couple of Christian saints,
generals of various nationalities > and different centuries, several kings,
three American presidents, a French > cardinal and two geniuses,
including Michelangelo. If you want the ceiling > re-painted I'll do my
best. There always seem to be a lot of different > fellows up here. I'm
never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right > now, > I guess I'm the
guy. > > As I pondered our visit tonight it struck me: If my Creator gave
me the > gift > to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great
men, then I want to > use that same gift now to re-connect you with
your own sense of liberty of > your own freedom of thought ... your own
compass for what is right. > Dedicating the memorial at Gettysburg,
Abraham Lincoln said of America, "We > are now engaged in a great
Civil War, testing whether this nation or any > nation so conceived and
so dedicated can long endure. " Those words are > true again. I believe
that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a > cultural war that's
about to hijack your birthright to think and say what > resides in your
heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of > liberty inside
you ... the stuff that made this country rise from > wilderness > into the
miracle that it is. > > Let me back up. About a year ago I became
president of the National Rifle > Association, which protects the right to
keep and bear arms. I ran for > office, I was elected, and now I serve ...
I serve as a moving target for > the > media who've called me everything
from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a > "brain-injured, senile, crazy old
man." I know ... I'm pretty old... but I > sure am not senile. As I have
stood in the crosshairs of those who target > Second Amendment
freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only > issue. No, it's
much, much bigger than that. I've come to understand that > a > cultural
war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, > certain
acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I >
marched > for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 - long before
Hollywood found it > fashionable. But when I told an audience last year
that white pride is > just > as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone
else's pride, they called me > a > racist. I've worked with brilliantly
talented homosexuals all my life. > But > when I told an audience that
gay rights should extend no further than your > rights or my rights, I was
called a homophobe. I served in World War II > against the Axis
powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy > between >
singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was >
called > an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a
closed fist > against my country. But when I asked an audience to
oppose this cultural > persecution, I was compared to Timothy
McVeigh. From Time magazine to > friends and colleagues, they're
essentially saying, "Chuck, how dare you > speak your mind. You are
using language not authorized for public > consumption!" But I am not
afraid. If Americans believed in political > correctness, we'd still be King
George's boys - subjects bound to the > British > crown. In his book,
"The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that > "blatantly irrational
behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in > almost every area
of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new > rules, and
newanti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every > >
direction. Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something >
without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it
> comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And
they > don't like it. > > " Let me read a few examples. At Antioch
college in Ohio, young men > seeking intimacy with a coed must get
verbal permission at each step of > the > process from kissing to petting
to final copulation ... all clearly > spelled out in a printed college
directive. In New Jersey, despite the > death of several patients
nationwide who had been infected by dentists > who > had concealed
their AIDS --- the state commissioner announced that health > >
providers who are HIV-positive need not..... need not ..... tell their >
patients that they are infected. At William and Mary, students tried to >
change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was
supposedly > insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic
Virginia chiefs > truly like the name. In San Francisco, city fathers
passed an ordinance > protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-
dress on the job, and for > transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities
while undergoing sex change > > surgery. In New York City, kids who
don't speak a word of Spanish have > been > placed in bilingual classes
to learn their three R's in Spanish solely > because their last names
sound Hispanic. At the University of > Pennsylvania, > in a state where
thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the > president of that
college officially set up segregated dormitory space for > black students.
> > Yeah, I know ... that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes."
> Jimmy > Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a
no-no now. > For me, hyphenated identities are awkward ... particularly
> "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also
happen > to > be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On
my wife's side, > my grandson is a thirteenth generation native
American... with a capital > letter on "American." 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 brightest. 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 Viet Nam. 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. > > Let me tell you a story.
A few years back I heard about a rapper named > Ice-T who was
selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and > murdering
police officers. It was being marketed by none other than >
Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world.
Police > across the country were outraged. Rightfully so-at least one had
been > murdered. But Time/Warner was stonewalling because the CD
was a cash cow > for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it
because the rapper was > black. I heard Time/Warner had a
stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly > > Hills. I owned some
shares at the time, so I decided to attend. What I > did > > there was
against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the > floor.
To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I >
simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer"- every vicious, vulgar, >
instructional word. > "I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF > I GOT
MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF > I'M ABOUT TO BUST
SOME SHOTS OFF > I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS
OFF..." > > It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you.
But trust > me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces.
The > Time/Warner > executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at
their shoes. They hated > me for that. Then I delivered another volley of
sick lyric brimming with > racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about
sodomizing two 12-year old > nieces > of Al and Tipper Gore. "SHE
PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY ...." > > Well, I won't do to you
here what I did to them. Let's just say I left > the > room in echoing
silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press > corps, one of them
said "We can't print that." "I know," I replied, "but > Time/Warner's
selling it." Two months later, Time/Warner terminated > Ice-T's
contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner's, or get > a > >
good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be
> willing > > to act, not just talk. When a mugger sues his elderly victim
for defending > > herself ... jam the switchboard of the district attorney's
office. When > your university is pressured to lower standards until 80%
of the students > > graduate with honors ... choke the halls of the board
of regents. When an > 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the
playground and gets hauled into > court for sexual harassment ... march
on that school and block its > doorways. When someone you elected is
seduced by political power and > betrays you...petition them, oust them,
banish them. When Time magazine's > cover portrays millennium nuts as
deranged, crazy Christians holding a > cross > as it did last month ...
boycott their magazine and the products it > advertises. > > So that this
nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed > footsteps
of the great disobediences of history that freed exiles, > founded >
religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands fan aroused rabble in >
arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country. If Dr. >
King > were here, I think he would agree.
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