mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (01/06/86)
Well, sorry if a bunch of you got bent out of shape at my using the term "folk hero" in the same sentence as the name Emily Harris. But Robin Hood, Ethan Allen, Malcom X and Augusto Sandino had bad PR in their day too. Not that I contend the SLA will ever be looked upon in the same light -- they'll probably appear most similar to someone like John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame. Like Ken says, it depends on who's folks. I'll concede my critics were largely on track. The only serious objection I have is to the gal who recommended reading the pseudo-biography of Patty Hearst. I read that book. Total propaganda. It could have been written by the FBI. Don't believe everything you read. Speaking of which, remember last year (or was it the year before) when a US helicopter was following a road on the Salvador side of the Nicaragua-El Salvador border? The wind blew it into Nicaraguan airspace where it took some gunfire. It was forced to land just within El S. The gunfire continued, and an american "adviser" was fatally wounded. What gripes the hell out of me is the lies told during the aftermath of that incident. Nicaragua said the chopper didn't have any markings. The Pentagon said it was "splattered with mud". I saw the video on the news as another chopper came to carry it away. It wasn't like it was painted. I guess I was pretty naive. I was outraged (and still am) that the U.S. government would tell a lie, any lie. But to tell a lie over such a small matter! They'd tell a lie as easily as they'd tell the truth. Easier. Arrgh! Someone recently posted an article saying I advocated sending weapons to the contras. Nope, I just passed on a piece of information I had in response to Arlen's flame about communists on the net. That incident with the chopper finished off any support I would have for "our side". Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) (01/09/86)
> Well, sorry if a bunch of you got bent out of shape > at my using the term "folk hero" in the same sentence > as the name Emily Harris. But Robin Hood, Ethan Allen, > Malcom X and Augusto Sandino had bad PR in their day > too. Not that I contend the SLA will ever be looked > upon in the same light -- they'll probably appear most > similar to someone like John Brown of Harper's Ferry > fame. Like Ken says, it depends on who's folks. > > Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm) The SLA murdered Marcus Foster, superintendent of the Oakland School District, because he wanted to make students carry ID cards. They kidnaped Patty Hearst, and beat up Steve Weed badly enough for him to be hospitalized. They kept Ms. Hearst in a closet and repeatedly raped her. They robbed banks and, unlike the mythical Robin Hood, kept the loot for themselves. The only thing they did that could be considered remotely constructive in nature was to force a food giveaway by William Randolph Hearst and some of his rich buddies. It was a fiasco, mainly due to disorganization. I believe that this disorganization was intentional on the part of the organizers, because they didn't want the giveaway to succeed. One can only wonder whether the SLA would have spent some of its own hard-stolen money on the poor. The SLA was a band of thugs with pretenses of being revolutionaries. Mark Thorson's remarks remind me of a comment a friend made to me in high school. She told me she stopped reading the Berkeley Barb when it ran a headline saying, "Free Charles Manson and All Political Prisoners". -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent..." {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff