Posted on 09/13/2012 9:17:37 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan says the stigma of slavery ruined America and he doubts the country can get rid of the shame because it was “founded on the backs of slaves.” The veteran musician tells Rolling Stone that in America “people (are) at each other’s throats just because they are of a different color,” adding that “it will hold any nation back.” He also says blacks know that some whites “didn’t want to give up slavery.” The 71-year-old Mr. Dylan said, “If slavery had been given up in a more peaceful way, America would be far ahead today.” When asked if President Obama was helping to shift a change, Mr. Dylan says: “I don’t have any opinion on that. You have to change your heart if you want to change.” The magazine’s new issue hits newsstands Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“Don’t ask me nuthin’ about nuthin’ I just might tell ya the truth!”
” stigma of slavery ruined America”
I actually agree with that part, although we diverge at that point. This has been demagogued to the point of The Entitlement Culture with politicians and the media to have that “frank discussion on race” as Holder claimed to want. We see now in full view the phoniness of “hope” “unity” and “yes we can” The embracing of losers like Rodney King and OJ Simpson, the failure to call out bigots like Jesse, Al and Ben Jealous. The hypocrisy of “affirmative action” and “diversity” The lionization of the character defective MLK. Also the failure of the political system to even dare mention, crime, drugs, quotas etc. Notice how those are totally lacking in this election cycle? These are real issues that affect real people, but the powers that be just give lip service or look the other way about the true status of race relations in this country. A one sided street approach where racism is defined only in connection with whites as perps and blacks as victims has led to this. Just watch what happens with George Zimmerman’s case if you don’t believe me.
So who cares what a washed-up drug head thinks?
He can’t even tell anyone what his lyrics mean.
He wrote all of those “controversial” lyrics while on a drug-induced, alcohol-induced “high” or “low” as the case may be. He admitted as much on the Johnny Carson show.
Thanks, wideawake. I agree with you.
So leave already...
We don’t want to pay for your nursing home care after all the drug use anyway...go away!
I agree.
Dylan is more conservative (and intelligent) than most people here are willing to believe. And he, fortunately, has little concern for political fashion or what others think of him; he is his own man.
Read Johnny Cash's dedication to him on the Nashville Skyline album cover sometime.
Really, Mr. Dylan? Even in this day there’s a great portion of humanity that pays nothing more than lip service to the ideal of civil liberty. Do they not also have little but scorn and contempt for the American ideals “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...”?
Where do we find any great regard for these American Ideals in the chaos that exist in great parts of the basket case that is Africa? But, that’s hardly a civilized part of the world. Aside from murderous tribal pogroms, ‘blood diamonds’ and other tales of human atrocities come to mind.
Can we say that the Islamic world has let go its affection for slavery? How can we be sure . . . given that the Islamic culture has no scruples in lying to foreign cultures? And, God knows, Islamics abuse their women and the “infidels” in their own territory without mercy, while engaging in widespread human servitude behind the closed doors of their compounds.
Asian cultures are notorious for poorer families selling their daughters into servitude, and even the most advanced Asian countries seem to display an amazing tolerance for women held in bondage for the purposes of prostitution. We see the same attitude rampant in Eastern Europe.
On a wider scale, it’s problematic how much the world holds slavery an abomination when so many societies around the world routinely indulge in speculations about how much of their members’ energies, wealth, and labor should be harnessed for the benefit of other members of those societies.
In our own experience, for at least the past one hundred years, we have been witness to a government and a bureaucracy engaging in every scheme they can devise to control as much of our lives as they can muster. These are not American Ideals.
But, to the extent the world really does think slavery an abomination, whence came its inspiration if not from American Ideals? Was Abraham Lincoln a Slaver, Mr. Dylan?
BOB!
Here we go.
“What the world needs now is another folk singer, like I need a hole in my head.” - Cracker
Hear! Hear!
Find me an example of a country that was not founded on some sort of forced labor: slaves, serfs, indentured servants, castes tied to menial jobs, and the like were the norm throughout human history until British and American Christians decided to abolish the practice and the Tsar finally liberated the serfs, all in the mid-19th century.
Okay, maybe New Zealand, but that's about it. If some Kiwi wants to bash the U.S. for our "history of slavery", I suppose we should take our lumps, but the rest of the world can shut up about it.
No, actually the British fought to get rid of slavery, going to the trouble of sending their fleet to suppress the Muslim slave trade. And, I’m not sure taking credit for our abolition puts us ahead of countries where slavery gave way to serfdom and serfdom was abolished peacefully.
My points are (1) Yes, Britain DID fight to eradicate slave traders from shipping lanes, (2) we did not fight an internal war over the issue because there was a widespread consensus that slavery was immoral and the focus of the debate was over the impact that freeing a large slave population would have on society, and (3) yes, slavery does happen but it is illegal in countries where it is practised with Saudi Arabia the last country to ban it.
I am don-o and I approve this post. I was just about to sigh and move on. Well done. And spot ON RE: the level of discourse. I am see drool dripping on many keyboards.
Lots of stuff illegal happens every day without a word from those condemning something that happened elsewhere 100’s of years ago
Like Italy, Greece, Egypt, and the rest of the Middle east and North Africa. I can go on.
I’m offended that one would think and influence others that America was founded on the backs of slaves. My family, like many other Europeans, came to this country for the opportunity to work and have a chance for success. They brought with them what little wealth they had accumulated, skills, desire to own their own business, and a serious work ethnic. In my opinion this is what built America, not slavery.
Some of these idiots speak like they think slavery was a phenomena particlular to the US.
They don’t realize that what distinguishes the US is the abolition of slavery.
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