Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Panther -- The film and the CIA's involvement in Drug Smuggling
I recently viewed the 1994 Mario/Melvin Van Peebles film "Panther". I highly reccomend it to anyone. It is an engaging film. It is a fictional but fairly true and autobiographical portrayal of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party. Finding the movie though might be a bit difficult, as the video and dvd are both out of print (the dvd fetches upwards of 200 dollars online and the video -- anywhere from 14-50 dollars-- a shame!)
I had been reading chapters in a book on the CIA and FBI's true involvement in the flow of drugs in this very country since the 1940s, and one of the essential points in "Panther" was how the rampant flow of illegal drugs had been brought about through our governments own very greed and need to keep "subversives" out.
In my opinion, it is drugs that have kept movements from happening. Of course, There are many other factors that attribute to a society that feels as though we need to let "business happen" as it is "none of our business" to "get involved". I believe this is what killed the anti-war/peace movement when many involved turned to drugs. Drugs keep people under a bind. The film ended with a statistic (early/mid-90s statistic)that over 300,000 addicts were in the US around 1970 -- that by the early/mid 90s there were over 3 million. This, I have a feeling has increased.
A lot of people think that today's society is just "more open" and accepting of drugs, as under recreational use as many think-- they are a fine thing that can expand the mind, creativity, can help attain a slim figure, make you feel relaxed, etc.
I am not going to argue a few of these factors. People obviously do them for various reasons -- one recurring one is to feel relaxed and escape reality for a bit.
I do think the war on drugs is one big joke. I do feel as though we are now being bombarded by nonillegal/prescription drugs from our very government and the pharmaceutical industry that want a new market of people to peddle to since the inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas are now rampant with illegal drugs.
I heard a news report the other week that people caught with crack cocaine receive more time in jail and harsher fees and sentencing than those caught with cocaine. Cocaine is more expenseive than crack, the harder form of an already hard and destructive drug. So crack is more an epidemic among poor people while wealthy business people and obnoxious party people with money choose cocaine. It is to me, still a racist and classist crime that this is happening. No one deserves to go to jail for drug use unless they are committing crimes, are violent, etc-- in thier use of it.
We need to look at drug abuse as a epidemic -- and I think our government needs to make reparations as part of the havoc they have helped create.
Playlist will be updated later today.
I had been reading chapters in a book on the CIA and FBI's true involvement in the flow of drugs in this very country since the 1940s, and one of the essential points in "Panther" was how the rampant flow of illegal drugs had been brought about through our governments own very greed and need to keep "subversives" out.
In my opinion, it is drugs that have kept movements from happening. Of course, There are many other factors that attribute to a society that feels as though we need to let "business happen" as it is "none of our business" to "get involved". I believe this is what killed the anti-war/peace movement when many involved turned to drugs. Drugs keep people under a bind. The film ended with a statistic (early/mid-90s statistic)that over 300,000 addicts were in the US around 1970 -- that by the early/mid 90s there were over 3 million. This, I have a feeling has increased.
A lot of people think that today's society is just "more open" and accepting of drugs, as under recreational use as many think-- they are a fine thing that can expand the mind, creativity, can help attain a slim figure, make you feel relaxed, etc.
I am not going to argue a few of these factors. People obviously do them for various reasons -- one recurring one is to feel relaxed and escape reality for a bit.
I do think the war on drugs is one big joke. I do feel as though we are now being bombarded by nonillegal/prescription drugs from our very government and the pharmaceutical industry that want a new market of people to peddle to since the inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas are now rampant with illegal drugs.
I heard a news report the other week that people caught with crack cocaine receive more time in jail and harsher fees and sentencing than those caught with cocaine. Cocaine is more expenseive than crack, the harder form of an already hard and destructive drug. So crack is more an epidemic among poor people while wealthy business people and obnoxious party people with money choose cocaine. It is to me, still a racist and classist crime that this is happening. No one deserves to go to jail for drug use unless they are committing crimes, are violent, etc-- in thier use of it.
We need to look at drug abuse as a epidemic -- and I think our government needs to make reparations as part of the havoc they have helped create.
Playlist will be updated later today.
# posted by zeke/zach @ 10:58 AM 
