Rant re: Ignorance of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
On Thursday nights, 11 pm EST, WCSB FM in Cleveland broadcasts Einstein's Secret Orchestra "SWAMP RADIO", Chas Smith's show generally featuring Lonesome Cowboy Dave and sometimes Princess Wei R. Doe. Since this station streams over the Net via AudioActive, WELL, I always listen in and even tape it.
Last night they had bad weather in Cleveland, so Dave and Wei didn't make it in, and I decided to call in from Dallas. Usually when I do that, nobody picks up the phone, but last night Chas put me on and we rambled about the war against Mars for an hour or so.
Most of it wasn't especially great... in fact, listening back to the tape, Chas and I both sound like we're about to fall asleep (I WAS about to fall asleep, having just spent days Webberizing and/or mixing HOUR OF SLACK). HOWEVER, we SUSPECT that there was in fact a good spell of ranting for the ten minutes which we BOTH happened to miss on tape. We were both at the end of Side One of our 90 minute cassettes and I guess we got carried away and forgot to flip the tape for the ten minutes that mattered.
So... if anybody happened to catch the whole show, I'd love to get a cassette copy and will trade you something good.
I kind of doubt that anybody caught it, but no harm in asking.
The section I'm looking for, Chas and I were both bitching about how modern day college students are so ignorant, they don't know anything about even major events like World War 2, the First World War and the War of the Worlds. Seriously... I met some kids the other day who had NO IDEA that our planet had been invaded by Martians in 1900! Nary a clue! Thought it was a 1930s radio show or a 1950s movie.
I had gotten on the subject because I just finished a fun little anthology called THE WAR OF THE WORLDS -- GLOBAL DISPATCHES. It's various famous people talking about their experiences during the war. Jack London, Joseph Conrad, Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Teddy Roosevelt, the Dowager Empress of China, even Jules Verne (who was in his 80s but witnessed that weird event when the Martian tripods tried to "hump" the Eiffel Tower!). A fun read, albeit inconsistent.
Maybe the reason that kids are so ignorant of that particular war is that there are no MOVIES of it. As far as I know, that crappy Lumiere Bros. shot of the Martians in Paris (very far away) is the only actual film. (The George Pal fictionalization doesn't count!) Also, it wasn't like we actually "WON" the war or anything. We'd be Martian din-din by now if it hadn't been for the germs.
One thing I didn't know, and was very surprised to learn, is that there were Martians surviving in the Arctic Circle for at least a year after they died out everywhere else on the planet. In fact, the Martian "walking city" that was built in Anchorage and then trod North, was never actually found. It's presumed that it sank into Arctic Ocean and the Martians drowned. But for all we know, they could be down there still.
Honestly, it freaked me out when I realized these kids thought the War of the Worlds was some sci-fi routine. And these were kids from CLEVELAND. Hell, there's one of the fucking tripods there being used as a MUSEUM! What the hell did they think that thing was? A water tower?
Kids these days... they'll wear pictures of GREYS on their t-shirts but you show 'em a picture of an ACTUAL MARTIAN and they think it's an octopus.
PISSES ME OFF. My grandpa lost three brothers to the Martian heat rays. (Two in Grover's Mill and one in St. Louis.)
Anyway, if anybody got a copy of that show, please mail it to the Sacred PO Box.
Earth First. All Worlds Or None.
**** TOTALLY DEPRESSING POSTSCRIPT***
I wrote that stuff earlier, offline. Just now (Friday Evening in Dallas), Rev. Nickie Deathchick, Prof. Insanity (my daughter's math tutor and long time Sub) and Jesus Christ the Son of God came by, to pick up my wife and go to some demonic Masonic "barbeque" that Jesus had gotten involved in. I ask 'em, "HEY -- just for yuks -- tell me when the War of the Worlds happened." Nickie is a well educated, regular type of twenty-something deathchick. Actually WAY better educated than the average 1990s deathchick. "Uh, wasn't that the 40s?" she says. Matt is 30-something, should know better. "Uh, DUH, the '30s??" And JESUS of course, Mr. Arrogant Know-It-All, Coolest-Dude-on-the-Planet, Has-An-Answer-for-Everything, Died-On-the-Cross-for-You, says, "Yeah, deeeeuh... weren't that thang, that 1950s movie that you made fun of me about, uh, gleeee...uhhhh?"
CHRIST!!! It would be sickening were it not so deadening.
Jesus had seen the George Pal 1950s film, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, in a hotel room cable channel on our way up to the Drill. I remember Him saying, "GYAH, man, they used that SAME CORNY SOUND EFFECT for the laser rays that the saucers shoot! Deee... uhhh...!" DUH!!! DUH!!!
These kids, man. Not only do they not understand the historical aspects of the MOVIES about these events, they have NO EARTHLY (HA HA!) IDEA of the repercussions of the EVENTS THEMSELVES. They HONESTLY DON'T KNOW that there was a planetary war.
Original file name: War of the Worlds
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