spoon_of_grimbo wrote:btw, the tone of that last post might imply that i'm having a go at you, but i'm not, i just really hated this guy.
Hey, don't worry - if you weren't having a go at me then it would only be the wife!
We still live in a "democracy" - on paper, at least - and I would fight with my aforementioned gun to preserve your right to disagree with me, and I with you.
I agree actually, to some small extent, with your sentiments on Mr Heston and that he is in some way responsible for the retarded attitude of the Americans towards their personal protection. What seemed odd to me is your implication that he had got what he deserved by dying - and dying at a perfectly ripe old age to boot!
I don't think that is any kind of come-uppance at all. Apart from the fact that he was in the early stages of Alzheimers, and so probably couldn't remember why he liked firearms so much anyway, it appears that he had a rather peaceful demise. You could argue that he lucked-out in life
and when he passed away.
To my mind he was a bit of a buffoon with too much time and money on his hands. Let's face it, it wouldn't take a political genius with supernatural powers of persuasion to convince most slack-jawed Americans that waving a gun about in public for their own "protection" was a terrific idea. You might argue that if he hadn't been so pro-firearms that many youngsters might not have lost their lives, but that is a very tenuous argument - akin, in my mind, to blaming Marilyn Manson for some kid's suicide/murder spree just because he had the guy's t-shirt on and a few of his CDs - Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
From what i've seen in the past - and more as a direct result of the "Right to Bear Arms" part of their Constitution - Heston's attitude towards guns wasn't too far to the right of many other Republican Americans. But because they are not public faces (or the head of the NRA), nobody pays any attention to them or gives their opinions a platform.
Basically, I don't think he was a
bad guy per se. Humans are all - without exception - fundamentally flawed. Some more than others, but nobody is mercifully free of at least one episode of cuntish behaviour, I am certain.
As a fan of Charlton Heston the Actor, rather than Charlton Heston the Deranged Republican, I think that the guy could be cut some slack, after all, we see other celebrities behaving like arseholes to a greater or lesser degree than Heston, but because they're not necessarily advocating carrying firearms or claiming a "right" under some constitutional clause that offends Left-wing sensibilities, they are left to carry on without having the magnificent Michael Moore following them around trying to make them look like bigger twats than they do already.
A little example of what I mean can be found in Cynthia Lennon's biography of John Lennon (titled, simply,
John) in a chapter where she is describing Julian Lennon's uneasy relationship with his father.
"One incident in particular did him lasting damage. The whole family had been having fun, making MIckey Mouse pancakes and fooling around, when Julian giggled. John turned on him and screamed, 'I can't stand the way you fucking laugh! Never let me hear your fucking horrible laugh again.' He continued with a tirade of abuse until Julian fled once again to his room in tears...It has affected him ever since. To this day he seldom laughs."
Now THAT
is cuntish behaviour - and just one example of the kind of man that (IRA supporter) Lennon was. Yet nowhere ever have I heard that somebody is glad that he is dead. He is revered by myself and millions of others because of who he was as a musician and songwriter.
I am not comparing Heston to Lennon, merely highlighting the fact that even the most God-like individuals are capable of spewing forth some of the most disgusting points of view and generally having a shitty attitude. But as long as they are not Right-wing, gun-nuts or Conservatives, they are left free of scrutiny.
I personally feel that nobody outside of American hunting lodges (and maybe Ted Nugent) took Heston that seriously anyway, and I think he was as much recognisable ultimately for being a bit of a mocked figure as he was for being Judah Ben-Hur. So I would say don't hate him - pity him or find him mildly amusing - because he wasn't an important political mover-and-shaker and I don't think his views on guns were
that important or controversial anyway.
If you read this far, i'm done now.......................
by spoon_of_grimbo » 6th Apr 08, 22:27 
