WHEN I WAS YOUNG, I LIKED TO TUNE THE FAMILY TELEVISION SET TO A PROGRAM CALLED 'HEE HAW' AND I REGULARLY, RELIGIOUSLY WATCHED THAT PROGRAM FOR THE MUSIC
IT WAS INCREDIBLE TO ME THEN, AS IT IS NOW, HOW A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE, WHO LIVED IN AMERICA, CONSIDERED THEMSELVES AMERICANS, THAT I CONSIDERED AMERICANS, WERE SUBJECTED TO THE MOST AMAZING FORM OF DISCRIMINATION: EVERYONE WAS SUPPOSED TO LAUGH AT THEM, THEIR WIERD WAYS, THE WHOLE NINE YARDS. THE MORE I WATCHED OF THEIR CULTURE, THE MORE I ADMIRED THEM. THE CRAZIER THE LAYERS OF PHONY HUMOUR THEY WERE FORCED TO ACCEPT IN TRADE FOR A TELEVISON SHOW DISGUISED AS A 'COMEDY HOUR', THE MORE SYMPATHY I FELT FOR THEM. AN IRONIC THING ABOUT HAVING TO ACCEPT CERTAIN PREJUDICES, LIKE BLACKFACE, SHUFFLING AND JIVING, AND BEING PORTRAYED AS LAZIER AND STUPIDER THAN EVERYONE ELSE,
AS AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE, WAS THAT AMERICANS IN GENERAL BECAME MORE SYMPATHETIC TO THE PEOPLE PORTRAYED SO BADLY, COUNTRY PEOPLE, CONSIDERED WHITE TRASH AND SO BEYOND REDEMPTION THEY ONLY DESERVED TO BE LAUGHED AT. WELL, THAT WAS MY IMPRESSION THEN, SO WHEN I FOUND A WHOLE COPY OF A 'HEE-HAW' I HAD TO PUBLISH IT BECAUSE IT HAD MERLE HAGGARD AND LORETTA LYNN ON IT. JUST BECAUSE I SUSPECT THERE IS A CERTAIN DISBELIEF
OUT THERE THE PROGRAM ACTUALLY WAS BROADCAST ON TELEVISION, INTO EVERY CORNER OF THE USA, INTO EVERY AMERICAN LIVING ROOM, AND FOR A WHILE, I FOUND ANOTHER SHOW IN ITS ENTIRETY, THANKS TO THE MAGIC OF 'YOU TUBE' AND PUT IT UP JUST FOR YOU OUT THERE WHO MAY DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH A THING. I DON'T CARE WHETHER YOU THINK I WAS 'PUTTING TOO MUCH ON IT' AS THEY SAY, TO FEEL THE ACTUAL PREJUDICE DRIPPING FROM 'THE ESTABLISHMENT'. THE SAME HAPPENED WITH BLACK PEOPLE, LAUGHED AT UNTIL ENOUGH PEOPLE DECIDED TO CALL THE SITUATION UNFAIR, UNAMERICAN. THIS FUCKED ATTITUDE, IF ANYTHING, HELPED 'WHITE-TRASH, COUNTRY-BUMPKINS' OVER THE 'PREJUDICE' BUMP AND ONTO A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL, WHEN ROCK MUSIC, AND MUSIC IN GENERAL, EVEN AS A SELF-SERVING, MONEY-MAKING ONLY BUSINESS, ELEVATED EVERYONES ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS FOR THE GOOD. LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE, THE BAD SIDE OF ALL THIS WAS 'HEE-HAW' ENDED ITS RUN.
OF COURSE, IN AMERICA, BLACK PEOPLE THINK THEY HAVE THE MARKET CORNERED ON PREJUDICE.
NOT SO, MY FRIENDS, JUST WATCH THIS EPISODE OF 'HEE-HAW'. BESIDES, PREJUDICE HERE, SEEMS TO BE A NEVER-ENDING SAGA, A COLOR-BLIND ONE, SO TO SPEAK
IGNORANCE, AND FORGETFULNESS OF HISTORY, IS WHAT THE PROPAGANDISTS BANK ON TO KEEP THE GP STUPID. UNFORTUNATELY, THE GP ARE AN IGNORANT, FORGETFUL, STUPID LOT
WITNESS THE IRISH, THE SHIT OF THE EARTH THEN, LOOKING DOWN THEIR NOSES AT AFRICAN-AMERICANS. WITNESS AFRICAN-AMERICANS, WHO THINK THEY ARE 'FREE' NOW, LOOK DOWN THEIR NOSES AT MEXICANS. IT SEEMS TO BE THE SAME OLD STORY, EACH VERSION WITH A DIFFERENT VICTIM. ACTUALLY, I WISH WE DROPPED THE WHOLE STUPID THING AND LEARNED TO LIVE TOGETHER, BUT THAT WAS WHAT MARTIN LUTHER KING'S WHOLE 'DREAM' WAS REALLY ABOUT OVER 40 YEARS AGO, BEFORE 'HEE-HAW' AIRED, WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE, OF DIFFERENT COLORS, DECIDED TO UNITE AGAINST DISCRIMINATION. TOO BAD IT DIDN'T WORK FOR LONG, CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION.
Jerry Lee Lewis Hee Haw Conway Twitty, Sheb Wooley & Susan Ray ° 1 of 5
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