A tasteful thread about the passing of Charlton Heston

[ShaneGR]

From Wiki:

Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American Academy Award-winning film actor

Heston is known for playing heroic roles, such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur. Early in his career, he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak out against racism and was active in the civil rights movement. During the latter part of his movie career, he starred in films such as The Omega Man and Soylent Green, which have a strong environmental message. However, he later became known for conservative politics and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003.

While Heston didn't endear himself to many of us with his stance on guns, he also took many roles in his career that highlighted the problems of race, nuclear war, and the environment. I might not like what he did while he was with the NRA, but overall he was a standup guy who said what he believed. For film lovers out there, his interpretation of Colonel Taylor in Planet of the Apes is fantastic.

[patrice]

1. He was the "hero" in Soylent Green.

I still have problems, though, with those who take it upon themselves, from whatever presumptions of their own superiority, to affect public policy in ways that go way, way, way beyond their own rights and priviliges. I'm NOT a gun control advocate, or at least I have serious reservations about controlling much other than assault weapons and some classes of automatics. But I still will always DEEPLY resent the influence of the NRA in local campaigns for elective offices. I want to give gun owners their rights, but un-due influence is not one of them and Charlten Heston was an advocate of the NRA's undue influence on local polity.

[angrycarpenter]

7. He was the public face of a wedge issue

that was used to put the conservatives in office. He helped convince many that the democrats wanted to take the guns away when they had no such plan. No matter what he did in the earlier parts of his life, Using second amendment paranoia to support the worst constitution killers ever elected makes him a bad man in my book.

[Lex Talionis]

2. Al least you have some class about you. Unlike a lot of others here. n/t

[patrice]

3. There are more than a few on this board who are out to make Democrats look bad.

They succeed quite nicely sometimes, don't they.

[seabeyond]

4. i say hands down, more people are respectful of heston than the few loud mouths spouting

off shit.

[seabeyond]

5. i watched a clip of heston with m moore today, i will add, i had more respect for heston

after that interview than i did going into the interview. heston tried to be respectful. moore did not.

[pretzel4gore]

12. bush said, 'you're with me, or against me' and Mike

opposed what bush has wrought (ruin for the richest economy on earth) while Mr Heston helped bush succeed. So let's not confuse the issue: Heston needed the NRA work, and sold out. Michael Moore put his life on the line for the country, defying bush- Heston was just a little collateral damage in a battle. Perhaps the choice Mr Heston was given, to revive his career as a rightwignut, should be examined in light of what has happened. Why is the ripoff right so fukken rich it can buy a Charlton Heston? Mr Heston was a Kennedy liberal, and the USA is poorer for allowing the rightwing to exploit the 'right to bear arms' issue to promote greedy psychopathic capitalism ...the NRA has lotsa secrets, you can bet....
(fyi, I also think Mike lost ground by throwing dirt at Heston, who, as you say, was a gentleman- but, mygod! BUSH INC STOLE THE PRESIDENCY!)

[Lex Talionis]

15. "Michael Moore put his life on the line for the country, defying bush" LOL!

Good one! Is he still in hiding? I haven't heard.

[ShaneGR]

17. Hmmm, this is about Heston, not Moore, but I'll comment

While I disagree with some of the tactics MM uses to get video for his documentaries, the good outweighs the bad for the most part. Yes, MM can be rude and incomplete, but at least he gets the issue out into the light for all to see. I wish more people had proper funding to make those kind of oped style documentaries.

[seabeyond]

20. again you are right. i can thank moore and still say..... heston

came out looking better. it is not hard to be truthful. i still think it was a kick ass movie at a time this nation really needed it, during a time few were speaking out

[Lex Talionis]

28. I was laughing at the silliness of saying Moore was putting his life on the line.

I believe he has the money to do such documentaries, too. Heston had class, no matter his politics. Moore's kinda like me in ways, I just know when to be respectful.

One of the problems we have as a society, is lack of respect. Some posters here act like they had a personal vendetta against Heston and hated him for his policies. And while I understand the power of the Internet, Dancing on a grave should be reserved for your worst personal enemy and not some old man. IMHO

[seabeyond]

19. or maybe heston believed in his right to own guns. and he stood by his belief

there is not a thing wrong with it and we have the right to disagree with it.

moore did a good job and i appreciate it. i had not said a single thing about that part of moores film that i did not think was good and that i felt heston came out looking better, as a more reasonable person. i only mentioned it when it has been brought up since the mans death.

but heston really is not a part of bush stealing the elections, even believing he had the right to have guns

[coriolis]

6. That sounds fine. I have never been in the NRA but I do cherish my 2nd Amendment just as much as

all the others. I'm new here, came at the suggestion of someone I respect (a longtime Democrat like myself) but seeing the outright hostility to gun owners expressed by some folks here is pretty frightening. Heck, I have owned guns for well over 50 years and so have most everyone I grew up with. Nobody I know has ever used one on a person in anger.
(I don't think military combat is actually anger)

[seabeyond]

8. we have done polls. a strong majority support 2nd amendment, just saying

i am totally opposed to guns. dont like them. dont own them. dont want them. my huby lifetime nra cardholder, until he got pissed at something they did end of the '90's. but he has always been a gun owner.

i can respect his right.

and he respects mine.

not a tough thing to do

i would protect his right to own them, even though i dont like them

[patrice]

10. I don't know how much experience you have with internet forums, but people who are not posting under

their own names can have all kinds of hidden motives in what and how they post.

:hi:

[coriolis]

11. Hi well she told me to make up a nickname so I did I picked one from my vocation

as a meteorologist. Most guys in my business are conservative types I don't know why but they are. I just had enough of Bush and his crap war in Iraq. One of my co-workers lost her son over there.

[patrice]

13. Oh, I didn't mean to imply that all posters with aliases have hidden agendas,

just enough to make a difference. Seriously, much of what we've been seeing ARE Troll Wars. Phonies on both sides going at it in order to give their ostensible "candidate" a bad name and newbies getting suckered in, while some old-timers indulge their more spiteful instincts (more than just a little in some cases). Complicated, but not hard to stay clear of if you don't like playing other peoples' games.

I know some users say it is bad here, but I for one have NO difficulty avoiding any BuShit I don't care to waste my time with.

It's all about personal priorities, i.e. whether you know what you want to do and have some ideas about how to go about accomplishing what you want to do. And whether that matters more to you than the rather transparent distractions and other games you see here.

[coriolis]

16. At this point I am just counting down the days until Bush is gone.

But honestly none of the likely candidates on either side impress me very much. Probably no matter who wins, around this time next year we will be bitching about how bad they are.

[patrice]

21. Yep. That's why local anything is more important. nt

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

18. I'm a pro-gun DUer. We do exist here. Welcome to DU.

[coriolis]

23. thanks. Not so much pro gun as pro rights I think.

From what I see here so far, nobody has much of a problem with people exercising their First amendment rights, it's odd that some treat the Second so different. It's weird.

[seabeyond]

24. just another sort of hypocrisy. i think it is as much an authoritarian attitude

that is what i find. both on the right and the left is the authoritarian person. lots and lots of those. me.... not so much. i trust people to figure it out themselves. most are able, some are not and we as a whole may pay the price, but it is the price that comes with..... dare i say..... freedom. lol

anyway, welcome

[coriolis]

26. Oh well thank you, I think we pretty much have to let people figure it out for themselves

most folks want their opinions to be their own...whatever they happen to be, don't they? The thing is there are good people with guns and bad people with them and then there are bad people who have none and good people too.
A kid was stabbed to death with a knife near here last month, I m pretty sure I wold rather be shot than stabbed.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

25. Well, just hang in there and give the site a try.

There are many many forums here, cruise around and try a few. Good Luck and Enjoy.

[benEzra]

30. Some are more vocal (and vitriolic) than others.

You may find this poll interesting:



FWIW, I'm one of those eee-villl "AK-47" owners that the repubs at the Brady Campaign are alway warning you about.

Welcome to DU! :toast:


----------------------
The Conservative Roots of U.S. Gun Control

Thoughts on Gun Ownership

Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)

[Lex Talionis]

22. The AG fundies will be here soon. Not much respect by some here either.

Its really a fascinating look at human nature, though.

[jody]

9. Heston endorsed Don Siegelman for governor of Alabama against Repug Riley. NRA graded Don A+ and

Riley A.

Heston supported the Dem Party platform that says "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms".

That's more than some high-profile Dem senators have done because they continue to introduce laws to ban handguns and others and opposition to the Dem party's promise to voters.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

14. Rest in Peace Mr. Heston. I loved his movies so much.

From a pro-gun Democratic voter.

[seabeyond]

27. me, not so much. hubby.... i was reading off list of movie for him to vote

he like em all. thought ben hur the best. but grafically ben hur or ten commandments, but thought omega? soylent green, ben hur.... all good. each time i would call one out ya... that was good. so heston certainly hit my hubby's entertainment group

[NaturalHigh]

29. I loved him in The Ten Commandments.

That's my dad's favorite movie of all time.

I also agreed with his stance on gun freedoms.