It showed an ancient-looking American Indian named Iron Eyes Cody paddling a canoe on a polluted river along banks covered with garbage. A single tear rolls down his face.
Maybe an ad campaign that packs a similar emotional wallop is needed today to win over new generations.
Iron Eyes wasn't Native (but he was pretty cool!)
ReplyDeletedid you ever hear that joke by chris rock? "Iron eyes cody wasn't crying over trash, he was crying b/c the white man stole his land and raped the women!" and yeah, I heard he was Italian - the dye job isn't that great either- maybe we could use a different stereotype(instead of the noble savage) to promote earth friendly practices, like maybe the land o lakes maiden - she could be Asian and have implants and wear a beaded bikini and cry about the melting polar ice cap! ;)
ReplyDeleteWriterfella here --
ReplyDeleteWhich brings writerfella to an (outdated) anecdote, the kind Rob hates. In 1972, when writerfella's brother David was attending UOSA (the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma) over in Chickasha, David and writerfella and three friends attended the on-campus college bar called the Library. It was a beer joint, at the best description. A cousin, Larryl Yernipicut, had gotten so drunk that he almost was incoherent and so we all were watching out for him. But he managed to slip away, only to challenge a tableful of rednecks thusly: 'I hate you white SOBs because you think you own this land! But you own it because you killed our buffalo, and raped our women, and killed our warriors, and burned our villages, and...' At which point, writerfella walked up behind Larryl and dragged him back to our table, saying, 'Yeah, yeah, and they popped our corn! Come have another beer!' And the whole place went up in laughter, defusing the situation so much the the aforementioned rednecks came over, made friends, and then bought us all a few rounds.
That is one of writerfella's secrets, in that many times, he usually knows exactly what to say...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Yes, it's another irrelevant anecdote. You're lucky I'm so tolerant. Some bloggers would delete such things.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Indians popped corn before the white man did. See
http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/History/PopcornHistory.htm
for details.