In an Instant.
June 5, 2008 11:41 AM Subscribe
In an Instant. "Would a doctor come right here?" David Steiner, 65, reflects on how the night of June 5, 1968, changed his own life forever. (LA Times reg. req.)
You can tell a good post on MetaFilter when there are no comments for 20 minutes and you know it's because everyone is actually READING the links.
Thank you, scody for the post and ericb for the fantastic "More Inside".
posted by ColdChef at 12:02 PM on June 5, 2008
Thank you, scody for the post and ericb for the fantastic "More Inside".
posted by ColdChef at 12:02 PM on June 5, 2008
Not to turn this Oliver Stoney, but in the context of the Business Plot, one wonders if the spate of progressive leader assassinations in the 60s can have been a coincidence. One is also grateful, if still wary, that Obama already has SS protection.
posted by DU at 12:12 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by DU at 12:12 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
I've often thought that the murder of RFK was the turning point for all those flower children of the sixties. I think a lot of them thought like this guy and said to themselves that "we aint ever gonna win", some joined communes but most just joined up with the enemy and proceeded to rape our national resources, treasury and culture to death. That generation had it within them to change the world - they were the last best hope for true democracy on earth - instead they've ruined it with absolute reckless abandon.
posted by any major dude at 12:20 PM on June 5, 2008
posted by any major dude at 12:20 PM on June 5, 2008
they were the last best hope for true democracy on earth
In other news, some folks still believe the U.S. is the center of the universe...
posted by jammy at 12:45 PM on June 5, 2008
In other news, some folks still believe the U.S. is the center of the universe...
posted by jammy at 12:45 PM on June 5, 2008
Eight men in all, including Rafer Johnson, an Olympic champion, and Roosevelt Grier, a 300-pound Los Angeles Rams football lineman, attempted to overpower the slight but lithe assailant.
I find it so amazing that both Johnson and Grier gave up their careers to fall in with RFK as bodyguards. It feels almost biblical. Is it possible that any celebrity or athlete would do such a thing today?
posted by grabbingsand at 12:46 PM on June 5, 2008
I find it so amazing that both Johnson and Grier gave up their careers to fall in with RFK as bodyguards. It feels almost biblical. Is it possible that any celebrity or athlete would do such a thing today?
posted by grabbingsand at 12:46 PM on June 5, 2008
ericb, thanks for that MSNBC link. I was born after Robert Kennedy was killed; the first picture I ever remember seeing of him (around age 5 or 6) is that chilling, awful image of him on the floor next to Romero.
posted by scody at 12:50 PM on June 5, 2008
posted by scody at 12:50 PM on June 5, 2008
It's not just a single assasination where you could say that's just a um hiccup you know, that's just a chance thing, that's never going to happen again. When it's happened five or six times in a row to the same kinds of people, asking for the same kind of change, when it happens it just says "You ain't gonna get it bro."
This time you will.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:14 PM on June 5, 2008
This time you will.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:14 PM on June 5, 2008
Thanks for the post.
This certainly stirs emotions and brings back a of flood of memories for me. I spent most of 1968 on the ground in uniform at Cu Chi, Viet Nam and learned of the assassinations of Dr. King and RFK via AFVN radio. A series of events that were life changing indeed.
posted by X4ster at 1:14 PM on June 5, 2008
This certainly stirs emotions and brings back a of flood of memories for me. I spent most of 1968 on the ground in uniform at Cu Chi, Viet Nam and learned of the assassinations of Dr. King and RFK via AFVN radio. A series of events that were life changing indeed.
posted by X4ster at 1:14 PM on June 5, 2008
It's not just a single assasination where you could say that's just a um hiccup you know, that's just a chance thing, that's never going to happen again. When it's happened five or six times in a row to the same kinds of people, asking for the same kind of change, when it happens it just says "You ain't gonna get it bro."
This time you will.
Be careful with that optimism.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:16 PM on June 5, 2008
This time you will.
Be careful with that optimism.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:16 PM on June 5, 2008
Be sure to check out the RFK Funeral Train FPP from earlier this week. Photos by Paul Fusco.
posted by ericb at 1:17 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ericb at 1:17 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
This time you will.
Be careful with that optimism.
In other words, continue to live in fear and expect the worst? I've been being careful with my optimism my entire adult life.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:36 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
Be careful with that optimism.
In other words, continue to live in fear and expect the worst? I've been being careful with my optimism my entire adult life.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:36 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
Be careful with that optimism.
Why? Optimism is a renewable (if limited) resource.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:40 PM on June 5, 2008
Why? Optimism is a renewable (if limited) resource.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:40 PM on June 5, 2008
Sorry, Pollomacho. It's just that this whole Obama thing has undertones of the "Kennedy promise" being fulfilled, which is probably why the LA Times ran this, and why it got FPP'd. I am sure we'll return to our healthy cynicism shortly, but for now, isn't nice to think that things might be getting better for once?
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:41 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:41 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]
If you hope for good things, you will rarely get them.
If you don't hope for good things, you will never get them.
posted by DU at 2:46 PM on June 5, 2008
If you don't hope for good things, you will never get them.
posted by DU at 2:46 PM on June 5, 2008
If you hope work for good things, you will rarely get them.
If you don'thope work for good things, you will never get them.
Fixed etc.
posted by anotherpanacea at 2:59 PM on June 5, 2008 [2 favorites]
If you don't
Fixed etc.
posted by anotherpanacea at 2:59 PM on June 5, 2008 [2 favorites]
[Slarty Bartfast:]...this whole Obama thing has undertones of the "Kennedy promise" being fulfilled, which is probably why the LA Times ran this...
It has nothing to do with Obama. The LA Times ran this, of course, because it's forty years ago today that RFK was shot in Los Angeles. Not trying to offend, but you didn't know that going in?
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 3:06 PM on June 5, 2008
It has nothing to do with Obama. The LA Times ran this, of course, because it's forty years ago today that RFK was shot in Los Angeles. Not trying to offend, but you didn't know that going in?
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 3:06 PM on June 5, 2008
Today's Democracy Now! devoted the entire episode to RFK. It was very interesting, and I just listen to the audio version.
posted by sugarfish at 3:31 PM on June 5, 2008
posted by sugarfish at 3:31 PM on June 5, 2008
I hoped someone would fix that for me and it happened! No work necessary. But wait...then I didn't need it fixed, so the fixing was bad. That means my hope was dashed. :(
posted by DU at 4:22 PM on June 5, 2008
posted by DU at 4:22 PM on June 5, 2008
Not trying to offend, but you didn't know that going in?
You're right, this thread is about Bobby, not what's his name. I am turning off my computer and going for a drink now.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:14 PM on June 5, 2008
You're right, this thread is about Bobby, not what's his name. I am turning off my computer and going for a drink now.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:14 PM on June 5, 2008
It may be simplistic of me, but I put the origin of modern America at RFK's assassination. Nixon, the second worst president we've ever had, goes in, and ushers in forty years of a poisonous conservatism. Carter and Clinton were moderates, but... where did progressivism die? When did we throw up our hands and stop hoping for anything better? I think it was at RFK's death.
Just think about it. Nixon. Ford. Carter. Reagan. Bush. Clinton. Bush. The only one of them for whom I have much admiration is Carter.
It's been a bad forty years.
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:51 PM on June 5, 2008
Just think about it. Nixon. Ford. Carter. Reagan. Bush. Clinton. Bush. The only one of them for whom I have much admiration is Carter.
It's been a bad forty years.
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:51 PM on June 5, 2008
Robert McElvaine: America's 40 Years War at an End
George Packer: The Fall of Conservatism
posted by scody at 7:48 PM on June 5, 2008
George Packer: The Fall of Conservatism
posted by scody at 7:48 PM on June 5, 2008
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posted by ericb at 11:50 AM on June 5, 2008