Posted on 07/11/2004 12:28:51 PM PDT by SJackson
 The death of the legendary actor Marlon Brando brings to mind an incident that tarred his reputation for years afterward and that serves to illustrate how certain Jewish organizations and their self-serving “spokesmen” risk trivializing the entire issue of anti-Semitism.
In an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” in April 1996, Brando started out praising Jews for their contribu tions to civilization, only to be reminded by King that he had some criticism as well. In fact, King badgered Brando for negative comments, leading the actor to blurt out at one point, “See, you are rushing me, I can’t think...I’m slightly rattled here.”
What Brando finally said that caused such commotion was a variation on a complaint he’d voiced before: “Holly wood,” he told King, “is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of — of people who are suffering. Because they’ve exploited — we have seen the — have seen the nigger and greaseball, we’ve seen the chink, we’ve seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we’ve seen everything but we never saw the kike. Because they know perfectly well, that is where you draw the wagons around.”
(Hardly reported was Brando’s answer when King wondered whether Brando’s complaint would play into the hands of anti-Semites: “No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say, ‘Thank God for the Jews.’ ”)
Brando was an eccentric, a devotee of radical causes, a man given to all manner of weird fulmination. But he certainly didn’t deserve the opprobrium that followed — he was branded a Jew-hater, stingingly rebuked by the ADL and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, received death threats from self-styled “Jewish militants,” and broke down and wept during a meeting with Jewish community representa tives.
If Brando was an anti-Semite, we need more of that kind of anti-Semitism. As a young actor in 1946, Brando not only co-starred in Ben Hecht’s pro-Zionist play “A Flag Is Born,” but spoke at many rallies and meetings organized by the play’s sponsor, Peter Bergson’s American League for a Free Palestine.
But Brando’s feelings for Jews can best be appreciated from the following eloquent passages in his 1994 autobiogra phy, Songs My Mother Taught Me. This is the man whose silly remarks on a talk show led to his verbal flogging and public humiliation by the likes of the ADL’s Abe Foxman:
“I attended the New School for Social Research for only a year, but what a year it was. The school and New York itself had become a sanctuary for hundreds of extraordinary European Jews who had fled Germany and other countries before and during World War II, and they were enriching the city’s intellectual life with an intensity that has probably never been equaled anywhere during a comparable period of time.
“I was raised largely by Jews. I lived in a world of Jews. They were my teachers; they were my employers. They were my friends. They introduced me to a world of books and ideas that I didn’t know existed. I stayed up all night with them — asking questions, arguing, probing, discovering how little I knew, learning how inarticulate I was and how abysmal my education was.
“I hadn’t even finished high school, and many of them had advanced degrees from the finest institutes in Europe. I felt dumb and ashamed, but they gave me an appetite to learn everything. They made me hungry for information....
“One of the great mysteries that has always puzzled me is how Jews, who account for such a tiny fraction of the world’s population, have been able to achieve so much and excel in so many different fields — science, music, medicine, literature, arts, business and more....
“They are an amazing people. Imagine the persecution they endured over the centuries: pogroms, temple burnings, Cossack raids, uprootings of families, their dispersal to the winds and the Holocaust.... Yet their children survived and Jews became by far the most accomplished people per capita that the world has ever produced....
“Whatever the reasons for their brilliance and success, I was never educated until I was exposed to them.”
Well, I for one must apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion about Mr. Brando in regards to this. Great words he spoke at the end of the article.
Brando used all the inflammatory descriptions but, I firmly believe, it was to make a point...that...every one of those ethnic groups have been depicted poorly by the H'wood kingpins at one time or another but certainly not in recent years.
The only group he neglected to mention was his own Caucasian group which was made to look like buffoons in "The Ugly American", a 60's movie in which he starred!!!
Brando was referring to seeing "kikes" on film, in 'stereotypical roles' - but call me crazy, but I'm sure antisemitism found it's way in early films.
We all promise to watch and cheer you in your next play or movie, sir. We know how it is.
You're right, the gravedancers at Al Jezerra and elsewhere tried to use his death for the wrong purpose.
Why is it anti-Semitic to admit that Hollywood is (or was) run by Jews? If there are a preponderance of Jewish people who run the studios, why is it anti-Semitic to say that?
“...and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of — of people who are suffering”
He's saying that Hollywood (the Jews) never depicted a Jew in a stereotypically negative way, as they did with all the other ethnic minorities. Why weren't they sensitive to the suffering of others, after all the suffering they themselves had to endure? Why did they depict all the other minorities negatively, but not themselves. They, who should have known better.
“Because they’ve exploited — we have seen the — have seen the nigger and greaseball, we’ve seen the chink, we’ve seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we’ve seen everything but we never saw the kike”
I think what happened is, he used so many negative *buzz words*, that they totally obliterated what he was saying. People were focused on the buzz words. Kind of like, if a priest was giving a sermon, but every other word out of his mouth was a swear word, you'd be so focused & shocked at the swear words, that you wouldn't hear what he was saying; you'd only remember the buzz words. [Sorry to use the priest image; I just can't think of anything else at the moment.]
“...I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say, ‘Thank God for the Jews.’ ”
His true feelings for the Jews. I think he just wished the ones in Hollywood were sensitive to the suffering of others.
>We all promise to watch and cheer you in your next play or movie, sir. We know how it is.
I strongly suggest you cease following Brando's example.
P.S. I'm in a couple of crowd scenes in The Green Berets. Whenever I need inspiration to take off weight, I look at a copy of that flix nd see sel at 6'4" 178 lbs!
<< “Whatever the reasons for their brilliance and success, I was never educated until I was exposed to them.” >>
Me too.
Blessings -- Brian
bttt
bttt
Me neither.
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