John Wayne: Iowa's cultural icon or a 'rotten SOB?'

[rurallib]

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/07/06/john-wayne-iowas-cultural-icon-or-a-rotten-sob/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5bb78a94-e2b4-4a3c-b8d5-4018543e1851

My answer: A rotten SOB.

Quit watching John Wayne films when I was @ 12. Why you ask?
1) Wayne played the same character in every movie. The clothes were all that changed.

2) Even in the early 60s his reputation as a grade A asshole was well established. I saw enough of those folks in church each Sunday.

For those who don't know Wayne (nee: Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset in 1907) is a native Iowan. The recent 'controversy' about the airport being named after him in Orange County California put his name and legacy back into circulation.

[Beakybird]

1. The latter. Next?

[stopbush]

2. He was and is a cultural icon and a great actor at times.

You say Wayne played himself in every movie he made, yet you admit you stopped watching his movies at age 12. What else did you determine before you hit your teens that you’ve carried through your adult life as being absolutely true?

The Quiet Man, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, El Dorado. I wouldn’t be without them.

[brush]

4. FYI: He was a well known racist. Black people weren't allowed in his movies or even on the set.

That old, cultural icon thing ignores who the man really was.

[stopbush]

6. How do you explain Althea Gibson's appearance in The Horse Soldiers?

Or Raymond St Jacques in The Green Berets?

Or Jester Hairston in The Alamo?

Or Woody Strody in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence?

Or Roscoe Lee Brown in The Cowboys?

All black actors.

Who is ignoring reality? Is that a lie you thought up all on your own?

[brush]

7. He still was a known racist. Why dispute it?

“I believe in white supremacy,” he said, and spoke harshly about African Americans, saying, “We can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks.”

“I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people,” he said.

Of slavery, he said that he didn’t feel any guilt about the U.S. history.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/02/20/i-believe-white-supremacy-john-waynes-notorious-playboy-interview-goes-viral-twitter/

[stopbush]

8. Why lie, like you did? There's plenty to dislike about Wayne without lying about him.

And the lies you told were disgusting. Not what I expect from a DUer. And easily disproved lies. The kind one hears from tRump all the time.

[brush]

9. Here are some of his words from a Playboy interview. I'm hardly lying. You need to do some research.

“I believe in white supremacy,” he said, and spoke harshly about African Americans, saying, “We can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks.”

“I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people,” he said.

Of slavery, he said that he didn’t feel any guilt about the U.S. history.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/02/20/i-believe-white-supremacy-john-waynes-notorious-playboy-interview-goes-viral-twitter/

[stopbush]

10. Just stop. I know the quotes. They don't excuse your lying.

Yes, you lied when you said he would not work with blacks or allow blacks on the set. That was a lie. Period.

You’re sounding like tRump.

[brush]

11. That is also a quote. I'll find the link for you. But are you just going to look past...

his saying “I believe in white supremacy”? Admit it, your hero was a racist. And you're on a progressive site defending it. Too much. Why don't you know this stuff?

[fleur-de-lisa]

3. An asshole and a mediocre actor.

[progressoid]

5. +1

[47of74]

12. He kind of reminded me of my uncle

But my uncle is a much nicer man and is a Democrat who shares my strong dislike of Fuckopotomus von HorseFucker und #BunkerBitch.