dagblog - Comments for "Farewell, Pete Seeger. Peace Be With You."

Pete was an integral part of

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 11:48:08 +0000

In reply to Farewell, Pete Seeger. Peace Be With You.

Pete was an integral part of the DNA of the best of human kind. His banjo as a "weapon" as he would say, was a non-violent tool of peace and love. His voice and lyrics lit a path of hope. His gentleness made us stronger. His courage made us all stronger. I'm grateful to have met him many times. To have sat by his side as a child and sing the songs of our time. Yes, we shall over come one day, because Pete helped to light the way....

Lovely. Thanks,

Ramona — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:47:48 +0000

In reply to Death is a reflection and

Lovely. Thanks, Flower.

"Well, of course he passed away, but that doesn't mean he's gone."

Death is a reflection and

wabby — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:43:46 +0000

In reply to Farewell, Pete Seeger. Peace Be With You.

Death is a reflection and when somebody like Pete Seeger dies, every facet gets examined. Whether it be too soon, not enough, good, bad, what have you, really isn't the proper focus.

I can only dream that when I die, there is somebody left to say something warm about me like Arlo said about Pete.

After something like that, all the "was he - wasn't he, did he - didn't he" stuff all sounds kinda ...stupid. Unless one was in Pete Seeger's back pocket his whole life, one's opinion of the man's actions and deeds don't mean a whole lot. Everyone can have their opinion, of course, and that is mine.

Thank you.

Lurker — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 22:34:06 +0000

In reply to Lurker, I'm not one to shy

Thank you.

I'm done.

Ramona — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 21:46:55 +0000

In reply to Think I already said it.

I'm done.

It's bad that Communists

Aaron Carine — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:59:04 +0000

In reply to The photoshopped idea is a

It's bad that Communists supported Stalin, but even the Communist left may have been better than the right. Western Communists tended to be on the right side of things as far as their own countries were concerned--for the working class, for gender equality, against racism, against colonialism. Give them credit for that, even though they also supported one of the worst tyrannies ever.

Think I already said it.

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:19:34 +0000

In reply to The photoshopped idea is a

Think I already said it. "Lame & lazy", eh? chuckle.

The photoshopped idea is a

Ramona — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:14:37 +0000

In reply to Well, some people like their

The photoshopped idea is a lame and lazy comparison. Giving someone a respectful mourning period is not the same as putting them up on a permanent pedestal or pretending not to notice their faults.

You're not getting it about the timing, are you? I hated it when we had to hear about Mandela's feet of clay within hours of his death. As much as I despised Reagan, I didn't feel the need to go on the attack to people who were mourning his death. That doesn't mean I could never talk against him ever again. Showing respect for the dead is a virtue, not a weakness.

But if you keep feeling the need to dig deeper into Seeger's transgressions here on the page where I posted a tribute, well, you know--free speech and all. Dig away.

Well, some people like their

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 19:55:19 +0000

In reply to Indeed - the passing of

Well, some people like their photos all Photoshopped with unlikely postures and slimmed down paunches - I kinda like photos that look like the subject.

When Reagan died, there was no saying bad about him - we ended up with the venerable St. Ronnie with the false promise of his tax cuts now enshrined as an 11th commandment.

With Mandela, we supposedly can't take noticing that his career was based on some flirting with violence - not even to give him credit that he embraced it much less than his contemporary counterparts, and this mostly peaceful attitude made his exit from prison to the presidency much simpler. At the same time, if we don't see the violence, we might think that non-violence works well against thugs like the Afrikaans government up through much of the 80's - that's a bad wrong lesson to learn for the next wronged group going up against brutal criminals that have no problem disappearing or torturing a few thousand protesters.

With Seeger, he's a poster-child for the naïve left that fell for the Soviet Union as paradise - and part of why the right had such an easy time destroying the left as a bunch of fellow travellers and dangerous romantics. Sorry, being a propagandist for Stalin is more than just a tiny mistake, whatever you think of Seeger's songs. The man wiped out millions, but hey, we can sing about "organize organize" and feel good? Yes, I like my artists & musicians with romantic flaws, but I keep those flaws in the picture. Lennon was a true jackass for embracing & preaching Chairman Mao unquestionably, even as Mao pulled his 2nd round of atrocities in the Cultural Revolution. Yeah, Lennon looked great in a Mao jacket, but sometimes fashion statements are a bit too painful.

Anyway, Seeger did some great stuff, both in terms of union advocacy and simply his music and carrying the flame for folk music for decades. So carry on, I just brought up a footnote that I thought needed expressing (and your snippy comment about Prague not sympathizing with us kinda set that off - not enough Seeger sympathy for those Slavs to the east).

Indeed - the passing of

Ramona — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 19:32:45 +0000

In reply to I think Lurker's concern was

Indeed - the passing of people is time to reconcile the good & bad of their lives.

Really? I don't know, just me I suppose, but whenever I see this kind of ragging on about the newly deceased, especially in a post praising that person, I equate it to rushing into a funeral to shout out all the bad things the dead one did. For what purpose?

There is a time for everything, including a look back at the complex life of one admittedly unsaintly Pete Seeger. It just seems odd to me that we aren't allowed to mourn or celebrate a person's life without some downer always feeling the need to remind us that the person we're admiring at the moment wasn't really all that worthy.

It must give them some kind of perverse pleasure, but honestly, I can't imagine why.