Who is Tom Joad?

[Taverner]

&feature=youtu.be

[elehhhhna]

1. FUCKING BRILLIANT !!!! Let's go viral!

applause to you for this one

[Ohio Joe]

2. It says the video is blocked...

By FOX... I'm shocked... or not.

[RebelOne]

5. Just Google Tom Joad.

Lots of stuff about him. Don't Fox idiots know that we can just go to Google?

[elehhhhna]

25. no clip of fonda giving the speech at the end, though

[elehhhhna]

3. OMG The link says the video has been blocked by FOX

not kidding.

[Taverner]

4. Aw fuck...

[babylonsister]

52. You know what? That's actually

a pretty perfect message. faux can't handle the truth, as usual (disclaimer: I didn't see the video).

[Demoiselle]

6. Tom Joad is the iconic hero of "Grapes of Wrath"...

John Steinbeck's great novel of the Depression. Tom loads his family into their rattletrap car and leaves dried-up, starving Oklahoma for California. He's a decent man, but ultimately powerless in the grinding maw of poverty, no justice, and horrible luck.
It should be required reading/viewing for everyone in the country.

[sammytko]

7. It is my all time favorite book!

But, Henry Fonda is not how I picture Tom Joad. He's more Steve McQueen or even Paul Newman.

[Taverner]

13. He is all three and then some...

He is the resistance within us all

In the 30s that was Henry Fonda

Today, that is EVERYONE

I AM TOM JOAD

[Brother Buzz]

8. Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin' I been thinkin' about.

Tom Joad: I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled...

Ma Joad: Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.

Tom Joad: They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...

Ma Joad: Tommy, you're not aimin' to kill nobody.

Tom Joad: No, Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.

Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?

Tom Joad: Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...

Ma Joad: Then what, Tom?

Tom Joad: Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

Ma Joad: I don't understand it, Tom.

Tom Joad: Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin' I been thinkin' about.

[Taverner]

11. +1000

[nolabear]

43. Amen.

Now there's something I can get behind. I love The Grapes of Wrath.

[Brother Buzz]

55. You and me, both

One would do well to reread The Grapes of Wrath every couple of years.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. He's the main character in one of the greatest American novels.

The movie is great, but it still doesn't do the book justice. "The Grapes of Wrath" is a must read for any liberal or progressive.

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. Fuck Google and Fox sideways.

Here's the whole film

Alternately, Pirate Bay...


On edit; I find the opening scene especially relevant today.

[Taverner]

12. [phone] - go see the movie and read the book

It shows Capitalism for the reckless scion it is

[RebelOne]

14. Read the book and saw the movie a long, long time ago. n/t

[Taverner]

15. Awesome. So you are "here" then. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

16. Yeah, exactly........

And this is, AT LEAST, the third time it's happened like this. Every 3rd or 4th generation, capitalism busts it's restraints, kills the world's economy, and then DEMANDS that the working class and poor pick up the tab for it's fuck up. Because it's a CONTINUING problem, I'm ready to junk it and try something else. That's why I'm a commie.

[Taverner]

24. Yes. Exactly. eom.

[LeftInTX]

31. Grapes of Wrath is on Netflix right now

[byeya]

17. Woody Guthrie wrote a long song that summarized the movie for "people who didn't have enough

money to see the picture show"...good song(how could it not be?)

[DreamGypsy]

18. The Ghost of Tom Joad...

...Springsteen/Seeger.

[socialist_n_TN]

20. THAT was powerful........

I get chills every time I hear it.

[CBGLuthier]

19. He was an OKLAHOMAN

Treated like shit by CALIFORNIANS.

[Taverner]

22. No, he was a SOCIALIST treated like shit by CAPITALISTS n/t

[CBGLuthier]

27. who just happened to live in California

[Taverner]

28. YES - that happened to live in California

But in the end, it is the mindset, not the person that makes the crime

[Taverner]

51. CALIFORNIA IS FOR ALL!!!!

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. Exactly what the parasite class wants, I'm sure they appreciate it. n/t

[socialist_n_TN]

26. You and Tav are on FIRE today......

Call out the apologists for this rotten system at every turn.

[Taverner]

29. at EVERY turn! Seriously.

This shit needs to stop.

[Egalitarian Thug]

35. Thank you, I had the time and the resident faction of corporatist/authoritarian/fascists here

just constantly piss me off with their BS fabrications and ignorant celebrity worship.

I firmly believe that any hope we have lies with young people and they have generally been denied any factual information, thanks to these same fools and provocateurs that have converted education into indoctrination. To rip-off Battlestar Galactica, all of this has happened before and will happen again. The only way I know to break the cycle is be aware that it is a cycle of deliberate misinformation and distraction directed by a specific group for a specific reason.

[upaloopa]

30. Bakersfield Californians they are our tea party people

I use to live were the Grapes of Wrath movie and book takes place. Weedpatch Camp is still there. It's called Wheatpach in the movie
The book was banned in Bakersfield schools because it made the growers look bad.
The Okie kids were not wanted in Bakersfield schools because they were so poor and ragged. The Bakersfield Superintendent of Schools built a school for the migrant kids that lived at Weedpatch Camp. They built the first school swimming pool. He bought an old C-46 airplane and had airplane mechanics taught and other trades so the kids didn't have to follow in their parent's footpath. After a while parents of Bakersfield wanted to send their kids to the school to learn a trade.
The school is still there.
This is in a little book titled Children of the Dust Bowl.
The building in the movie where the Joads truck hits a speed bump going into the migrant camp is still there at Weedpatch camp, it use to be the post office. Every year in October Weedpatch Camp has Dust Bowl Days.
Californians (Dorothea Lange especially) were responsible for making the plight of the migrants know nationally. That's why the Fed Government built the migrant camps.

[Egalitarian Thug]

36. And half a century later the same parasites, grown from sociopathic growers

into sociopathic corporations, convinced the dim-witted and uninterested into passing their prop 13 that is still to this day the single most significant reason for California's economic insanity, and guess who they bought to sell it...

[Taverner]

47. He is the embodiment of modern evil. NT

[lhooq]

38. Thanks upaloopa

Thank you for your descriptions of Weedpatch Camp in Bakersfield. I remember that scene in the film.

[upaloopa]

56. Steinbeck dedicated Grapes of Wrath to the manager of Weedpatch Camp. They became Friends when

Steinbeck was there. It's in a town called Arvin on route 223 south of Bakersfield. I worked as a temp Accountant for the city of Arvin. The Mayor was Mexican as are just about everyone else in town. He told me 1/2 of the citizens were undocumented. The only grocery store has a huge tortilla machine.
The opening scene in the movie has Tom walking to a crossroads. The direction he is walking (north) leads to Lamont about tens miles away and the road east goes to Arvin. Lamont and Arvin are almost completely populated by Mexican immigrants. Weedpatch Camp and Arvin school (Weedpatch school) are on the next road up parallel to the one to Arvin.

I ended up being the controller of the largest labor contractor in the San Joaquin valley. I used to know most of the growers there. Keene which is mentioned in the movie is where the United Farm Workers union headquarters is located. Obama when there this year. Keene is about 20 miles from Arvin on route 58.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. And this is still happening with migrant kids

In agricultural camps today, in the US

[LeftInTX]

21. Fox doesn't block hard hitting Shirley Temple movies - LOL

<" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

[rdharma]

32. That's because she was one of Reagan's political appointees. nt

[LeftInTX]

33. Yep!

[lhooq]

34. Shouldn't Evangelicals love this novel?

Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath has been controversial since it came out in 1939. What's odd, this book -- one of my most beloved books -- is nonetheless filled with family values and old time religion.

There's Ma Joad doing her darndest to hold the Joad family together. She fails, but no one can fault her for not trying. Then there's Jim Casy, the preacher who had lost his calling at the beginning of the novel. Later on, he is born again, well sort of, finding his spiritual calling in organizing. There's Tom Joad, the novel's hero and sinner who has killed a man and does so again. Finally, there is the exodus from dust-choked Oklahoma, and the biblical wandering across the forbidding desert, along Route 66, to the promised land of California and its blossoming fruit trees. Only to find strike breakers, and piles of kerosene-soaked oranges rotting in the sun, and hungry children on the other side of the fence.

The brittle "good news" evangelical religion popular today shatters against hard truths like those in this novel.

[Taverner]

62. Yep. Pretty much.

[ananda]

37. Steinbeck riled up the California owning class farmers to the point that ..

.. he had to leave the state because of death threats, never to return.

That's how fucking great he was, always for the poor, the downtrodden,
and organized labor.

[Brother Buzz]

40. Never to return?

So, who's buried in his grave in Salinas?

[Taverner]

45. To be buried there is not to live there

He lived in Long Island, NYC until he died

Read "Travels with Charlie"

[oildummy666]

63. Bad Form Brother Buzz!

Boy this picture really bugs me. I can't believe you are actually squatting ON his grave. Common decency and respect dictates that you stand OUTSIDE the marker, not squat right on top of it. This is the ONLY picture I can find on the Internet of someone stupid and disrespectful enough to actually cross the line and violate this sacred space...all for the sake of a picture. Brother Buzz, you wouldn't want someone standing on your parent's grave sites; neither would the Steinbecks or the Hamiltons.

[redwitch]

64. I do not believe Brother Buzz is being disrespectful or stupid.

An interesting first post.

[uppityperson]

65. Good grief. Welcome to DU, may you learn something here. And, fwiw, Steinbeck is buried lower

than where Bbuzz is. At most, he would be near the top corner of a casket.

[oildummy666]

66. Good Grief, Indeed

First of all, Steinbeck was cremated so there is no casket. Secondly, common courtesy dictates that you don't SQUAT on someone's grave site. Common courtesy uppityperson, not your loyalty to Brother Buzz, is what rules here uppityperson.

[Taverner]

44. Steinbeck is my model

He was why I wanted to be a journalist

He was why I stayed in California

He is why I worked in the local industry, aka TECH

And he is why I will be carrying a bandera California

Hasta la victoria, siempre...

[nolabear]

41. It's been blocked by FOX. Anyone have it elsewhere?

Now I'm really curious!

[Taverner]

46. Do you want the t 0 rr 3 n+ link?

If so PM me

[Taverner]

48. Aw man, let me upload it to my Dropbox

It is here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-14h20m33s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-15h07m35s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-16h25m04s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

[nolabear]

54. Thank you!

[Taverner]

50. h3r3

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-14h20m33s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-15h07m35s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-16h25m04s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

[Cleita]

42. "This video contains content from Fox, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."

For those of us who were too late, what did it say?

[Taverner]

49. Here!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-14h20m33s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-15h07m35s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84808219/vlc-record-2013-05-24-16h25m04s-The.Grapes.Of.Wrath.1940.448x320.25fps.689kbs.96mp3.MultiSub.WunSeeDee.avi-.avi

[SummerSnow]

53. From The Grapes of Wrath...Wikipedia

According to critical River Ebert,both executive producers Darryl Zanuck and director John Ford were odd choices to make this film because both were considered politically conservative.Zanuck was nervous about the left wing political views of the novel, especially the ending.

[PufPuf23]

57. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. More American than the Bible. nt

[Taverner]

58. WAAAAYYYYY more AMERICAN than 'The Bible'.....

Nothing more to say, really

[dflprincess]

59. Someone using the name Tom Joad posts some great stuff on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/TomJoadLives?fref=ts

And he lives in Minnesota - but I have no idea who he really is.

[Generic Other]

60. Here's a version of "Tom Joad" my friend made

[Nevernose]

61. This is the 1st year in my teaching career I haven't taught it

It was just unavoidable *sigh*

At least I got to All Quiet on the Western Front.