50 year old cartoon about American Life - Must See!

I woke up this morning to find this cartoon sitting in my inbox. I was absolutely shocked to find out how relevant it still is, despite the fact that it's roughly 50 years old. It encapsulates a particular charm and wit (not to mention nostalgia) alongside a perfect 10 minute summary of the golden age of 'American Life'.

This is a must watch for anyone, and should be shown to children of all ages in schools. Perhaps if we had cartoons like this, instead of shows like YuGuio, Digimon (and whatever other garbage they shovel our kids), they wouldn't grow up to be slaves.

How true that cartoon was. Im only 17 years old and even I see what the hell is going on in our country. I was born free and will die free. That is not my quote but I use it as mine because that is how I feel. The restrictions and erosion of our rights is unexcusable and must be stopped right now. The American people need to see that we are a very unique country, and why we are the best is because we are free. Star and flag for this one.

I will have to check this out later when I am not on the mobile setup. Darn slower connection speed. And I checked it out.

Horatio Alger-ism at its best. The modern commentary was interesting. A surprise that people in 1948 still had not returned the trust in banks was no shock to me. Many people that came through the depression did not return to banking. In fact, I would argue that banks did not fully recuperate until the dropping of the gold standard and the rise of the credit card and of course inflation.

Prior to the dropping of the gold standard, an average fair was for the week was roughly an ounce of gold in purchasing power. Quite different than today's average wage. With the credit cards and the extra printing of money throughout the 1970's , inflation rose to all time highs. Not only because there were more physical bills in the system but virtual money was being created at an exponential rate. 70's, 80's 90's up until about 2008 actually.

With 40 years of imaginary wealth, someone was bound to want to see it for themselves.

Now let's couple that with 50 yeas of rapid change. Post-WWII boom (lack of industry in other first world countries meant the US carried the slack for the world) Sexual revolution and Civil rights movement . (neither of these events were wrong and should have happened far earlier than they did but it added racism and sexism t the mix) Nixon caught with his hand in the cookie jar (yes there was other political corruptions previously--but this real brought out the Rep. vs. Dem. to the forefront--politism) and toady corporatism and globalism and environmentalism.

Sure the cartoon does warn against these things, but failed to prevent them. But we got the bigger houses, shiny items and fancy cars right?

An unheeded warning is as useless as ignoring the problem. Sadly, this is all this cartoon is.

[edit on 23-10-2009 by Ahabstar]

This "cartoon" should precede every US political thread here, actually it should just be on the home page ready to view at any time.

reply to post by patmac


Wow. It is uncanny how relevant that old cartoon still is today. I wonder what would happen if Fox News featured it as a reminder to the people? I bet Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity, and maybe even O'Reilly would. That would be one more reason for the current administration to villify them along with Fox News.

[edit on 23-10-2009 by gazerstar]

This is a very good video. It makes me wish I lived during the years this was made, before we all bought Dr. Ism's cure-all. The only good thing about living now is that we can (try to) stop things before they get so bad that nobody will remember how things used to be.

S+F

WOW...that was awesome and definately worth watching.
thanks for posting it.
The same threats from 50 years ago have gained footing.
If only we could give people some "ism" so they know what it is REALLY about.

Originally posted by gazerstar
reply to post by patmac

 

Wow. It is uncanny how relevant that old cartoon still is today. I wonder what would happen if Fox News featured it as a reminder to the people? I bet Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity, and maybe even O'Reilly would. That would be one more reason for the current administration to villify them along with Fox News.

[edit on 23-10-2009 by gazerstar]

This would be the last thing they would show you. Everything Fox news has built has been possible by dividing us. Obama wasn't President for 2 days before I started to hear them rant about socialISM.

ism's are bad.....except capitalism, nothing to be ashamed of there

propaganda movies are so much fun. this one's particularly good. you guys are so right, this should be shown in schools, it's the perfect example of what to watch out for if you want to avoid being brain washed.

i can't believe people on ATS are happy for children to watch this drivel in the context which it was intended to be watched, it's blatant pro-NWO claptrap.

reply to post by patmac


An excellent video and thank you for posting it. S&F. Greed seems to be the source to sale the soul. The love of money. Other countries have come up with ways that better government and they implement them. It would be nice to live in those times and have a job, or own a business, or be elected official. But change, according to evolution, is a natural change that will happen no matter what. So if we do not change with the world, politically speaking, we will not evolve to a more perfect government. We would remain stagnant, enjoying the freedoms that our government would only allow us to enjoy. True freedom would never be achieved.

Originally posted by pieman
i can't believe people on ATS are happy for children to watch this drivel in the context which it was intended to be watched, it's blatant pro-NWO claptrap.

How is this "pro" NWO claptrap?

Also, what is a claptrap?
I'm having a hard time understanding your perspective. Particularly because you call this 'propaganda'.

i say it's a propaganda movie because that's what it is, it says so on a little caption at the start of the movie.

the clap trap element is is the misleading and inaccurate way it describes "america". it didn't even exist, as described, in 1948, when that movie was made. where's the mention of "to some, america is share cropping and coal dust pneumonia"?

do you need me to critique it scene by scene or will a general summation do, if you want it scene by scene you'll need to give me a day or two.

generally, the problem is that the movie reinforces the view that in order for there to be freedom in society there must be gross inequality and an elitist pyramidal structure. NWO claptrap.

[edit on 23/10/09 by pieman]

Originally posted by pieman
i say it's a propaganda movie because that's what it is, it says so on a little caption at the start of the movie.

the clap trap element is is the misleading and inaccurate way it describes "america". it didn't even exist, as described, in 1948, when that movie was made. where's the mention of "to some, america is share cropping and coal dust pneumonia"?

do you need me to critique it scene by scene or will a general summation do, if you want it scene by scene you'll need to give me a day or two.

generally, the problem is that the movie reinforces the view that in order for there to be freedom in society there must be gross inequality and an elitist pyramidal structure. NWO claptrap.

[edit on 23/10/09 by pieman]

The cartoon (excluding the captions of course) doesn't contain "an elitist pyramidal structure". It personifies the multiple social branches of a civilized community and points out that their reliance on each other actually improves the quality of life for the sum of it's parts. The video cites an emphasis on community, not a hierarchy. What video were you watching?

Did you watch the first 10 seconds and then become a fireball of cynicism and ignore the rest? If you need to dissect it scene for scene, please do.

Originally posted by gazerstar
reply to post by patmac

 

Wow. It is uncanny how relevant that old cartoon still is today. I wonder what would happen if Fox News featured it as a reminder to the people? I bet Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity, and maybe even O'Reilly would. That would be one more reason for the current administration to villify them along with Fox News.

[edit on 23-10-2009 by gazerstar]

Actually lots of this goes against what those folks you mention stand for....

I see Glenn Beck, Hannity, and Orielly as the Snake oil Salesman.

Originally posted by pieman
ism's are bad.....except capitalism, nothing to be ashamed of there

propaganda movies are so much fun. this one's particularly good. you guys are so right, this should be shown in schools, it's the perfect example of what to watch out for if you want to avoid being brain washed.

i can't believe people on ATS are happy for children to watch this drivel in the context which it was intended to be watched, it's blatant pro-NWO claptrap.

+1

This thread reminds me of the "Traditional America" thread. Things were just as crooked back then as they are today. They cracked heads back then as they crack heads today. They weren't as far along with the stripping of rights I'll grant you. But the idea being foisted by cartoon that Capitalism isn't another form of ISM is pure propaganda. We have a corporatist/capitalistic society and all the same crap is still happening.

Trying to hearken back to some half-remembered fuzzy fantasy of what America was is not seeing it's policies and practices for what they were then.


[edit on 23-10-2009 by wanderingwaldo]

Everyone needs to watch that video!

reply to post by pieman


You're right about this being propaganda. If any of you disagree, let's take a look at the definition:

prop·a·gan·da (prŏp'ə-gān'də) n.

1. The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

2. Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause

dictionary.reference.com...

I'm not saying this necessarily supports the NWO, but either way it's still propaganda.

Already being discussed here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Although it's in a different forum, so I dunno. It's a bit unfair for that guy to get less replies and flags than a duplicate thread made months later, though.

isn't this cartoon itself a -ISM?

as of American Traditionalism?

freedom and liberty is great, but far more regulation is needed in today's society than yester-years beause of massive global issues we have, that we caused, mostly resulting from the very same thing that gave us the economical power to debate the idealogy of freedom today... the industrial revolution.

Originally posted by curiousaboutsky
isn't this cartoon itself a -ISM?

as of American Traditionalism?

freedom and liberty is great, but far more regulation is needed in today's society than yester-years beause of massive global issues we have, that we caused, mostly resulting from the very same thing that gave us the economical power to debate the idealogy of freedom today... the industrial revolution.

too bad there is substantially less industry in America today. wonder why that is? hmmm...