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heston bites the dust


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Racism isn't an exclusively right-wing trait. I can think of plenty of examples of racist left-wingers who wanted to maintain the laws on segregation. I think he'd probably be best described as a Classical Liberal.

I never said it was, but classical liberalism really has no place in a discussion about Charles Heston. I think anyone labelling him "right wing" here is doing so because of his NRA involvement and that common perception of "right wing" also includes racist attitudes. He'd best be described as a Gun Nut. :guns:

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I never said it was, but classical liberalism really has no place in a discussion about Charles Heston. I think anyone labelling him "right wing" here is doing so because of his NRA involvement and that common perception of "right wing" also includes racist attitudes. He'd best be described as a Gun Nut. :guns:

He certainly wasn't racist anyway.

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I'd have to disagree there. I think Charlton Heston was the modern embodiment of a classical liberal. Time and again he challenged the orthodoxy of establishment thinking in order to promote the freedoms denied, or at the very least obstructed, to the common man, and sought to remove himself and those like him from the auspices of an over-regulatory government, while at the same time espousing traditional values and respect for the rule of law.

I'd just like to say at this point, I did not support the standpoint he took in regards to the NRA. I always felt their actions, especially at extremely sensitive points such as Columbine, were ill-judged and insensitive. However, he and his fellow members did have a right to speak up for what they believed in, and while we can condemn the timing and motivation, we can't reasonably deny them the right to do what they did, especially if we hold dear the concepts of freedom of speech and expression. If I were a member of Congress right now I would be voting in favour of much stricter gun control laws, and possibly a constitutional amendment, but anyway, back to the point...

In an era when constructs such as "right" and "left" are becoming increasingly irrelevant, people are going to start finding different ways in which to encapsulate their political modes. The "classical liberal", or the more modern "libertarian" is going to find his or herself increasingly at odds with those still stuck in an absolutist culture of 20th century political polarity, and those who dismiss Heston as a "right wing nutjob" (or whatever adjective/noun they choose) do themselves a disservice by refusing to acknowledge that the terms of engagement in this field have evolved beyond the point that they may have been parsed in initially.

Yeah, just what I said, except i then called him "a nut" myself, but that entirely in jest.

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