I Can't Even Believe What I Just Saw

[livius drusus]

A sex scene. On PBS. In a documentary. Specifically, a "reenactment" of the first time Emma Goldman got it on with Ben Reitman (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/p_reitman.html). Other than that shudder-inducing moment, it's an excellent episode of American Experience about a fascinating, magnificent woman.

[livius drusus]

Great moments in historical irony: Hoover called Goldman (and anyone else not toeing whatever political line he considered right) "intellectual perverts".

[LadyShea]

Pretty steamy for PBS.

You know what hit me more than anything watching this? Has there ever been, anytime in US history, a time when we came even close to the "freedom" and "liberty" we are supposedly so known for? Those raids on radicals; no warrants, no counsel, not even a hint of due process. Goldman's apartment broken into and her incarceration and eventual deportation...for having unpopular opinions. J. Edgar Hoover having power.

It depressed me :(.

[godfry n. glad]

J. Edgar Hoover?

In 1919? During the Red Scare?

Really?

What year did Eugene V. Debs run his presidential campaign from a jail cell?

That's the same era.

Damn.... I missed it. I was gonna watch that. I'll have to see if they're repeating it. I'd like to know more about Emma.

[livius drusus]

You know what hit me more than anything watching this? Has there ever been, anytime in US history, a time when we came even close to the "freedom" and "liberty" we are supposedly so known for? Those raids on radicals; no warrants, no counsel, not even a hint of due process. Goldman's apartment broken into and her incarceration and eventual deportation...for having unpopular opinions. J. Edgar Hoover having power.

It depressed me :(.

I know the feeling. Honestly Shea, I don't think anyone can point to a time when the US has lived up to its billing. Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917 to make the world "safe for democracy". Meanwhile, back at home, he had resegregated all federal buildings for the first time since Reconstruction and signed the Espionage and Sedition Acts which basically made anyone who disagreed with the war a criminal. John Adams signed the first Sedition Act in 1798 and that one was even worse.

And that's just at the federal level. A lot of the harassment Goldman received sprang from state and local laws. Yeah. It's depressing.

[livius drusus]

J. Edgar Hoover?

In 1919? During the Red Scare?

Really?

What year did Eugene V. Debs run his presidential campaign from a jail cell?

That's the same era.

Yessir it is. Hoover was an up and coming young fascist pigdog at the time, a special assistant to attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer. It was Hoover who collected the evidence and presented in court the case for Goldman and Berkman's deportation. He didn't get the FBI director gig until 5 years or so later.

Damn.... I missed it. I was gonna watch that. I'll have to see if they're repeating it. I'd like to know more about Emma.

I don't know when they rerun American Experience, but here's (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/filmmore/pt.html) the transcript. It doesn't do it justice, though. Barry Pateman was my favorite of the interviewed historians: really passionate and understanding.

[godfry n. glad]

J. Edgar Hoover?

In 1919? During the Red Scare?

Really?

What year did Eugene V. Debs run his presidential campaign from a jail cell?

That's the same era.

Yessir it is. Hoover was an up and coming young fascist pigdog at the time, a special assistant to attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer. It was Hoover who collected the evidence and presented in court the case for Goldman and Berkman's deportation. He didn't get the FBI director gig until 5 years or so later.


The Palmer Raids.

That was also about the same time we were illicitly sending American troops into Russia to help defeat the nasty Bosheviks.

Well, thankee... I was not aware of that little tidbit. That must have been back when he still fit into the black teddy, huh?

Fascist pigdog in a black teddy.