Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles"

[bmbmd]

has a chapter entitled "Way in the Middle of the Air". In it, all of the black people on Earth migrate to Mars in the middle of the night. I believe the name of the ship in the story was "Over Jordan". As the last passenger is loading, he turns to the town bigot and yells "Who you gonna hate now?" For some reason, I was reminded of this yesterday as I drove past the local Mexican eatery, only to see it closed due to the strike. Indeed, who are we going to hate if all of the immigrants go home?

[NYCGirl]

1. Bigots still have plenty to hate. Different religious beliefs? NT

[Sequoia]

2. Why the Irish of course!

[Southsideirish]

27. Yikes - we already had our turn - pick on somebody else, please.

Thanks!

[Sequoia]

33. I know, just seeing who's awake out there!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. belgians

[flamin lib]

5. A Douglas Adams fan I presume? nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. damn the fish is falling out of my ear and my towel is missing

[rkc3]

15. Stinking fat belgian bastards - to be precise.

One should always insert Monty Python if given the chance.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

34. in that case, sheep falling out of trees, with tennis playing alien -

never mind. Something about the tattoo behind one's . . . .

[The Straight Story]

4. The Poor

And when they are all gone, then the hate will be directed at those who don't come with a history of wealth in the family for generations (oh, those horrid new money folks are so hickish) and so on.

Fear is the breeding ground of hate.

[Dr Fate]

7. I say we go after people who are queer for hats.

Those un-American types who wear top-hats, beanies, tri-corns, pope-hats and the like.

[Richard Steele]

11. You'll get my top hat when you pry it from my cold, dead head!

Unless, of course, I happen to be wearing my fedora, my bowler,
or one of my hombergs at the moment of death...

In which case, you'll find my top hat
in the hall closet, TOP SHELF!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Dr Fate]

13. LOL- that was tops. I'm a fez man myself. n/t

n/t

[phantom power]

8. I've always dreamed of giving the White Power nuts exactly what they want.

Put them on some island. Let them self-segregate and give them the chance to run their own little utopian aryan nation.

I guarantee you they'll implode. Because their addiction to hate won't leave them. They'll start eating their own, using smaller and smaller differences as basis for their biggotism. Too tall? Too short? Dark blue eyes in stead of light blue? It doesn't matter. They'll turn on themselves.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. I think about the Martian Chronicles every once in a while.

I read it years and years ago and yet it still is there in my mind. Along with The Illustrated Man and October Country and all the other Bradbury greats.

His short stories are just wonderful.

[RebelOne]

10. The Martian Chronicles was always one of my favorite books.

And Ray Bradbury has always been one of my favorite authors along with Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and

"Dandelion Wine" Were both just grreat.

[ellenfl]

14. i have read the martian chronicles a million times. i never

get tired of bradbury. too bad about the miniseries. it was horrendous.

ellen fl

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. Yea, I can read his stuff over and over, too.

I love the way he plays with words.

He lives in LA and doesn't even drive. Did you know that. And I don't think he will fly either. Course he is kind of getting up there now.

[ellenfl]

23. delete

[Frank Cannon]

31. There is a "Martian Chronicle" story for about every societal ill

Greed, war, racism, technology applied without the wisdom to use it, trashing of the environment, loss of innocence and wonder--all of these and more are addressed in that book, along with all of their consequences. In the end, the lesson is to watch our step or we will end up just like the Martians.

It's one of my favorite books of all time. It's just such a horrible shame that the author has become such a crazy wingnut in his old age.

[Shakespeare]

17. That's not his only short story on the topic, either.

There's another one (and I can't even remember which collection it's in, because he's had so many) about a model who goes on a fashion shoot in either Puerto Rico or Cuba (can't remember which), using the quaint, poverty-stricken barrio for a background. An elderly hispanic man follows them from scene to scene, standing in the background, and dropping his pants every time they try to take a photograph.

[Flavin]

18. "no stone will hide them"

I think that was the title.

A typical ugly american couple in mexico, the Nukes fly, and all of the sudden the locals don't shuffle and arn't polite and the couple, of course, didn't pack their coping mechanisms.

Tables turned, roles reversed.

Flavin

[DUHandle]

19. Robert Heinlein is a real piece of work n/t

[Cleita]

22. Ray Bradbury wrote "The Martian Chronicles". n/t

[DUHandle]

24. Yes, yes he did

and Heinlein is regarded by many as the first Grandmaster of Sci Fi, and he is one bigoted S.O.B.

[pocket]

26. Heinlein seemed pretty non racist to me

from reading 'starship troopers'

The two biggest heroes in the book are Hindu and Filipino, and just about everyone is represented.

'The Moon is a harsh mistress' is very explicit in it's disdain for racism, and promotes race mixing to the point of homogenaety.

[Cleita]

29. I had to read one of Heinlein's novels for a class because he

went into detail about genetic engineering in it. I prefer Bradbury. He's a better story teller, IMHO.

[TechBear_Seattle]

20. Gay people won't be leaving any time soon

Those damned heterosexual breeders will just keep squirting out more of us. :hi:

[Cleita]

21. Probably all the Asians sneaking in here illegally, but not

under the gun right now and able to go about their business anonymously. I went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday to get some food to go and the people working there barely speak English. I'm not going to speculate on their legality, but I'll bet that they aren't especially if they are from mainland China.

[sojourner]

25. believe me, hate will find a way.

first it's the blacks, then brown-skinned people, then non-Christians, then Christians who are not the "right sort" of Christians, then people with brown eyes, (or will it be those with blue eyes?) -- and on it goes. (sigh)

[MilesColtrane]

28. Who to hate?

Why us of course.
Ain't never do it without the Fez on.

[mcscajun]

30. Who? Check out this related thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1082173&mesg_id=1082661

Your point is well made, though. :)

[mcscajun]

32. And then there's this tale from "Conspiracy"

In the penultimate scene, Kenneth Branagh's character (Colonel Heydrich) relates a story that was told to him (off camera) earlier in the movie by a somewhat reluctant conspirator. I will paraphrase, as I cannot recall the precise dialogue from the film:

Heidrich recalls the story told to him of a boy with a devoted mother and a violent, abusive father. When the boy grows up and is in his midlife, his mother passes away. At her funeral, though he was very sad, he could not shed one tear. Much later in his life, when his father passes away of old age, he cannot control his tears. We wept and wailed and was inconsolable. Why?

The driving force of his life, his sole purpose, was his hatred of his father, and now the object of that hate was gone. How would he go on? He wept for his empty future.

[Upfront]

35. Bush

Bush works for me.