Norman Lear turned 100 years old recently and is tweeting

[JoanofArgh]

Producer of All in the Family, Good Times, One Day At A Time, The Jeffersons, Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, Princess Bride - Author of Even This I Get to Experience

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=EW3J60Bw2U86ufqAW9m7nQ


Norman Lear
@TheNormanLear
·
41m
I was 9 years old when my dad was found to have committed fraud & was sent to prison for a few years. Alone in bed one night, my father away, I was playing with a crystal set radio and came across the vicious antisemitic voice of Father Coughlin railing against American Jews. 1/3

I’m confident that that horrifying moment resulted in my early enlistment in WWII and the 52 combat missions over Nazi Germany that followed. 2/3


Norman Lear
@TheNormanLear
·
40m
Today, having recently turned 100, I read Donald Trump’s appalling words about American Jews, and I am nine years old again. The phrase, a horse’s ass, was an everyday expression when I was nine and it occurs to me again now. 3/3

[hlthe2b]

1. Of course he must have heard that horrendous "Father" Coughlin. He's seen & heard a lot of good

in his life, but certainly lived through some of the absolute worst as well.

Hang in there with us Norman. We need your intelligence, grace, and voice.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. I can't imagine hearing that stuff at the age of 9.

It must have been horrifying.

Just recently I learned just how awful Coughlin was. If you can get it, read Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America. I knew there was an American Nazi movement but had NO idea how extensive it was.

Free on Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading

This was a real education on the American Nazi movement in the 1930s.

[hlthe2b]

15. I will check it out. Thanks. Rachel Maddows ULTRA podcast is touching on all this as well

Worth a listen. New episodes weekly.

[Sanity Claws]

23. I was going to recommend that podcast too

It shows how extensive the network of American nazis and their sympathizers were, including US Senators, local police.

[yellowdogintexas]

30. I started watching Ultra last night. Eagerly awaiting the

next installment

[cbabe]

19. Excellent book.

[yellowdogintexas]

28. aha! someone else who has read it! nt

[JoanofArgh]

29. Just downloaded this. Thanks for posting.

[SCantiGOP]

17. I remember Rev Carl Mcintire

He was a far-right fundamentalist minister on the radio in the 70’s. The one thing I distinctly remember him saying, as he was trashing hippies and anti-war protestors, was that Jesus wouldn’t be the simple, gentle figure we know from the Bible when he came back, but would be riding a tank as the head of a world-wide army destroying Communism.
So much for being the omnipotent Prince of Peace; he was coming back as Rambo.

[Marthe48]

2. Norman Lear has done so much to fight hatred

All in the Family, had a positive influence on people in my parents' generation, open-minded people, anyway.

[Mysterian]

18. All in the Family was a monumental accomplishment

That TV show rocked the whole country.

[Jedi Guy]

21. I recently had a discussion with someone about All in the Family.

Their position was that it is a racist relic of a bygone era and shouldn't be aired or available for viewing in 2022. When I watched the show as a kid in the 80s and 90s, I perceived that Archie and his racism were the butt of the joke. The show was mocking Archie and his fellow travelers rather than promoting their worldview.

In some ways the show surely is a relic of bygone days. One could argue it's not exactly progressive in terms of women's issues. And it's most certainly a relic in the sense that it depicts owning a home and raising a family on a single income. But it definitely didn't promote racism.

Also, it was and is funny as hell, so there's that.

[LisaM]

24. Maude was a spinoff

I think it was progressive on women's issues.

[Cha]

3. Good on Norman Lear!💙🕯🕊🌈 nt

[mcar]

4. An American treasure!

[yellowdogintexas]

14. He certainly is. We need more just like him nt

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. K&R

[blogslug]

6. He also runs a very good organization started in 1981: People for the American Way

https://www.pfaw.org/

Familiar with Right Wing Watch? That's a PFAW website.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_for_the_American_Way

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

[soldierant]

8. IIRC, when he turned 90, someone brought up the poem Edward Lear wrote

about himself. Much of it is quite specific to Edward, but the first and last verses aren't bad -

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear,
Who has written such volumes of stuff.
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few find him pleasant enough....

He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish,
He cannot abide ginger beer;
Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!

[Behind the Aegis]

9. back to page 1

Look, a Jewish man speaks out against anti-Semitism!

Good for him!

[uponit7771]

10. K&R,

[nightwing1240]

11. Norman Lear did so much good with the character of Archie Bunker

In doing so, Mr Lear showed quite clearly the ignorance and stupidity of many many racist, misogynistic and homophobic views and stereotypes. My father at first didn't get it but as time went on, his views changed seeing how ridiculous and stupid Archie was. That made me quite proud and happy. Thank goodness my father was open minded and passed that on to myself and my brothers.

Happy Birthday Mr Lear!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

25. Compare Lear's work with the crap that was on tv at the time. He did good.

[70sEraVet]

12. Too bad we can't go on bombing raids over Mar-a-Lago.

[calimary]

20. Indeed!

[Heather MC]

16. As disgusting as it is I think the Orange monkey sent that tweet out because K West

Was getting too much attention for his antisemitic comments.

And the giant Orange man baby got jealous

[burrowowl]

22. I was 5 and I remember hearings by the house on

Unamerican activities, scared me. Same crap still does.

[yellowdogintexas]

27. Same here with Army-McCarthy hearings (I was 8)

She also explained why.

That was the beginning of intense political discussions over the rest of her life. I still think it was very cool that she explained to an 8 year old kid why the hearings were much more important than watching cartoons. Of course as it turned out nothing else was on.

I learned from her about the Holocaust & why she hated Nixon.