The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by Flex »

eumaas wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:20pm
probably the inventors of the transistor at Bell Labs.
Flex wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:16pm
well, me, obviously.
Heston wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 6:48pm
Whoever wrote "More Than a Feeling."
Flex wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:16pm
well, me, obviously.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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eumaas wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:20pm
probably the inventors of the transistor at Bell Labs.
Funny, in my rock class, I've suggested that, in addition to legal and regulatory changes, technological developments like the transistor (or digital reproduction later) were as important as any single artist. But I have an aversion to overstating the significance of technology because it can devalue the importance of human beings in our own story and lead to technological determinist arguments. It's a fine line to walk, but there you go.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Flex wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:26pm
eumaas wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:20pm
probably the inventors of the transistor at Bell Labs.
Flex wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:16pm
well, me, obviously.
Heston wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 6:48pm
Whoever wrote "More Than a Feeling."
Flex wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:16pm
well, me, obviously.
If I can't come up with a solid fifth, I'll offer you up to my students without explanation.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:22pm
revbob wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:08pm
:naughty:
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 8:53pm
revbob wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 8:32pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 7:54pm


I always seek to model good behaviour, so I can't dodge this.
Rosa Parks, MLK two that obviously come to mind for advancing civil right struggles.
Important in their time, but over the entire sweep on 75 years? I'm skeptical. The Boss has suggested to me that Malcolm X is the most significant African-American political figure for both his time and afterwards. I'm a bit guarded there, too, but I think he has a greater claim than Parks or King.
Umm is this some kind of trick Heston thing?
Not intentionally, but if you're narrowing the list to five people, you'd want people whose influence is longer as a way of distinguishing them from those who were significant over a shorter period. So I've kinda skipped directly to thinking of people whose ideas and contributions can be felt over multiple decades, especially up to the present.
So any civil rights leader would have done just that. I mentioned Rosa Parks earlier because unlike some other leaders was not assassinated and continued to be active and a source of inspiration. That said despite MLK and Malcom X being assassinated the legacy and influence of the work they did continued long ater their deaths.

I'll also put out Angela Davis.

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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:06pm
Okay, last week my seminar discussed a book about Hugh Hefner and Playboy, and I made the comment that I think Hefner is one of the five most important people of the past 75 years. Importantly, that's not necessarily a compliment, only a comment about his widespread significance; Hefner represents a deliberate effort to normalize consumption and hedonism in American life. Before the class finished for the week, one of my students asked me who my other four were. I admitted that I don't actually have a list, but said that I'd come back to our final meeting (tomorrow) and share my list. Which I've completely stumbled on. And so I turn to you to help fill in the blanks. Here's what I've got (in no particular order):

Hefner (explained the rationale above)
Nixon (he represents the crude, cruel, and calculating character of American politics, appealing to people's worst qualities rather than something higher)
Manson (fantasy, celebrity, violence, the normalization of fame and decline of infamy)

That's all I got. My list is very white and male, I know, tho all three are assholes. Suggestions?
How about Martin Luther King Jr?
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by revbob »

Sparky wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 10:16pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 4:06pm
Okay, last week my seminar discussed a book about Hugh Hefner and Playboy, and I made the comment that I think Hefner is one of the five most important people of the past 75 years. Importantly, that's not necessarily a compliment, only a comment about his widespread significance; Hefner represents a deliberate effort to normalize consumption and hedonism in American life. Before the class finished for the week, one of my students asked me who my other four were. I admitted that I don't actually have a list, but said that I'd come back to our final meeting (tomorrow) and share my list. Which I've completely stumbled on. And so I turn to you to help fill in the blanks. Here's what I've got (in no particular order):

Hefner (explained the rationale above)
Nixon (he represents the crude, cruel, and calculating character of American politics, appealing to people's worst qualities rather than something higher)
Manson (fantasy, celebrity, violence, the normalization of fame and decline of infamy)

That's all I got. My list is very white and male, I know, tho all three are assholes. Suggestions?
How about Martin Luther King Jr?
He doesn't pass the Heston rules.

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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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revbob wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 10:11pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:22pm
revbob wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:08pm
:naughty:
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 8:53pm
revbob wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 8:32pm


Rosa Parks, MLK two that obviously come to mind for advancing civil right struggles.
Important in their time, but over the entire sweep on 75 years? I'm skeptical. The Boss has suggested to me that Malcolm X is the most significant African-American political figure for both his time and afterwards. I'm a bit guarded there, too, but I think he has a greater claim than Parks or King.
Umm is this some kind of trick Heston thing?
Not intentionally, but if you're narrowing the list to five people, you'd want people whose influence is longer as a way of distinguishing them from those who were significant over a shorter period. So I've kinda skipped directly to thinking of people whose ideas and contributions can be felt over multiple decades, especially up to the present.
So any civil rights leader would have done just that. I mentioned Rosa Parks earlier because unlike some other leaders was not assassinated and continued to be active and a source of inspiration. That said despite MLK and Malcom X being assassinated the legacy and influence of the work they did continued long ater their deaths.

I'll also put out Angela Davis.
I’m just not convinced that King’s legacy beyond reputation or status continues to inform current debates. Hell, the right cynically invokes/co-opts him to discredit social justice efforts today. I’m not saying it’s proper, but King is a figure largely bound to the 60s. Malcolm X makes a bit more sense to me given that his argument wasn’t truly integrationist for its own sake but an acceptance of a type of segregation on people’s own terms, of people charting their own path from their own experiences and interests. Given that American life since the 1970s has been dominated by fracture and that kind of personal liberation rather than a more group-oriented ideal, I think his vision has a longer reach into our current period.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by gkbill »

Hello,

The Nature Boy, Ric Flair, has to be in the discussion.

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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by Silent Majority »

If we're talking about a legacy that's defined the 21st century, I'd say Newt Gingrich.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Garth Brooks.

Seems to be getting through to a few people.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

Post by Marky Dread »

eumaas wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:20pm
probably the inventors of the transistor at Bell Labs.
This answer is so great. As it's exactly 75 years ago. Well played eumass.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Silent Majority wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 2:50am
If we're talking about a legacy that's defined the 21st century, I'd say Newt Gingrich.
He'd be a solid alternative for Nixon if I want to go for the less obvious option for cynical grievance politics. If there's any single individual who poisoned Congress as a site of collaboration, it was him.
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Marky Dread wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 6:39am
eumaas wrote:
30 Nov 2022, 9:20pm
probably the inventors of the transistor at Bell Labs.
This answer is so great. As it's exactly 75 years ago. Well played eumass.
thanks man
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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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This is a bit of a stretch for top 5, but I'd make a case for top 10: Ian MacKaye. He's offered and modeled a counter-hegemonic way life distinct from the dominant neoliberal order, but also something separate from conventional socialist ways. Very traditional small-r republican ideals of self-reliance, modesty, and virtue. The significance is in his living it and showing how it could be done.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: The most important Americans of the past 75 years

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 9:20am
This is a bit of a stretch for top 5, but I'd make a case for top 10: Ian MacKaye. He's offered and modeled a counter-hegemonic way life distinct from the dominant neoliberal order, but also something separate from conventional socialist ways. Very traditional small-r republican ideals of self-reliance, modesty, and virtue. The significance is in his living it and showing how it could be done.
As fantastic as I think Ian Mackaye is his influence is diminished because he's only talking/playing to those mostly already converted.

I had this discussion with my son only yesterday. My son is a vegan and a fan of hardcore bands like Fugazi etc. He DJs at the hardcore events.

I argued with him that if Ed Sheeran wore a t shirt that supported vegans then overnight there would probably be more vegans than all the Fugazi shows put together. Or if Fugazi got a support slot with Ed they would reach a much wider audience. He wasn't impressed as he dislikes Ed Sheeran. I'm no fan either but explained in order to get your message across you need to use the biggest platform (sleeping with the enemy) to be heard. This in no way means that bands like Fugazi shouldn't try.

I argued that bands like the The Clash/Sex Pistols understood the need to use a big labels like CBS/EMI to get heard even though they were at odds with those organisations.

My son also likes Slipknot and I pointed out that Corey Taylor likes Ed Sheeran and there is talk of both artists working together. Again my son was not impressed.

Being a boring old fart dad can be fun. 🤣
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Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

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