his activity as a “critic” and theninhumanity that is spreadingnaround us via pop culture. LilcenPresident Carter, he blames thenAmerican people for what hasnhappened to them under hisnguidance of their cinematicntastes. He chooses not to remembernwhat he himself wrotenabout his reviewing:nThis column has routinelynsupported the new permissivenessnin movies . . .nHe, of course, is not guilty. Hencasts the stones.nPatience and SacrificenRolling Stone is the house organnof the multibillion-doUar,narchcapitalistic, outrageouslynexploitative and manipulativenrecord industry. It also performsnas perhaps the most successfulnoutlet for Guccione’s Caligulalifestyle-for-allnphilosophy. Itnalso pays the highest commissionsnin the magazine businessnfor inspired pieces of communistnpropaganda. In RS’s May 1980nissue, the visiting cultural commissarnis Mr. Gabriel GarcianMarquez, a gifted Colombiannnovelist and Castroite agitpropnoperative. This time, he sets outnto give the “truth” about postwarnVietnam to Rolling Stone’snreaders. The boat people, accordingnto Mr. Marquez, werencapitalist hyenas, bloated “bynMarch 1978 Iwithl almost allnthe gold and foreign exchange innthe country …” The communistngovernment handled thisnproblem, like everything else,nwith “limitless patience and sacrifice.”nThe American press misinformednthe world about everything—notna totally incorrectnaccusation, but rather false innthis case. The real gem comesnwhen Mr. Marquez informs usnabout the proceedings of thencommunists in the realm of nationalneconomy:nIn early 1978, the army andnChronicles of Culturenpolice dismantled the enormousnspeculative apparatus,nand the state took overncommerce in food. No judicialnaction was taken againstnthe profiteers; instead, thengovernment paid them forntheir merchandise.nMr. Marquez might be considerednright about this, althoughnhis correctness is of anbloody and perverse nature. Accordingnto all the news thatnreached any unbiased journal innthe entire noncommunist world,nthere was, indeed, no judicial actionnagainst the Vietnamesenmerchants. Their goods werenconfiscated, and they were shotnon the spot. Others went to reeducationncamps where theyneither starved to death or werenfinished off by forcible exposurenand thirst. Still others desperatelyntook to the China Sea in tinynvessels, choosing unspeakablendanger, suffering and the possibilitynof a cruel death—anythingnto escape the communistnpayment for their merchandise.nThey are thus engraved on thenworld’s conscience as the boatnpeople. Mr. Marquez can decidenwhich of these three patternsnof human destiny he feels bestn.lournaiismnGannett’s Moderationnfits as an illustration of thenlimitless patience and sacrificesnof the Vietnamese communistntorturers.nThought Control—nAnd now —the newest andnmost in notion of education asnproselytized by Pink Floyd, anrock group very much in favornwith teen-agers and the liberalnmedia:nWe don’t need no education.nWe don’t need no thoughtncontrol.nNo dark sarcasms in thenclassroom.nTeacher, leave those kidsnalone.nMind control.” Wouldn’t suchnan atrocity justify a full-scalenrevolution against the yoke ofnalgebra and its henchmen, thenAmerican Gestapo, institutednby the corporate pbwer structurenjust to oppress kids.-“nActivismnA retrospective on studentnactivists of the 70’s was offerednin a recent issue of Time magaÂÂnIn the mid-American, patriotic,nmoderate, nonpartisan, First Amendmentndefender Gannett newspapernchain, a certain Mr. Gary Deeb, a selfstylednTV “critic,” heaps abtase on CBSnbecause—after years of portraying CIAnagents as the murderers of every littlenschoolgirl in Chile and Zimbabwe—nthe network decided to show the agency’snside of the story.nWe think that Mr. Deeb is wastingnnnzine. The article detailed thenmetamorphosis of a certainn”Chip” Marshall, former SDSnleader, a defendant in the “SeattlenEight” conspiracy trial, intonan average American businessman.nCommenting on the transformationnis an erstwhile fellownactivist:n’Basically, I think we werenon the right side of history,’nhe says of his and Marshall’snsupport of Hanoi duringnthe Viet Nam War.nMarshall doesn’t seem to agree:n’Sometimes I feel really terrible.nMaybe we were completelynwrong on VietnNam.’nBut here’s another view ofnthe 70’s activism, provided bynan 18-year-old University ofnWashington student:n’I feel kind of jealous Inwasn’t there. The campusnactivities had the air of ancarnival.’nThat’s true. It was a binge ofnblind frenzy unparalleled in history—anrevelry for which we arenstill paying. A festivity whichnmay still exact from all of usnsome unforeseen dues. (BK) Dnhis time with Gannett. We’re prettynsure that Pravda and Izvestya would bendelighted to reward him much morengenerously for what he has to say aboutnthe CIA assassins and about CBS’sn”licking their boots”; he matches thenSoviet agitprop style to perfection. However,nthey would not want him to relocatenunder any circumstances. Havingna soul brother like Mr. Deeb in Chicagonis their best guarantee that the KGBnwill have no trouble in New York,nPeoria or anywhere else between thenshining seas. Dn
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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