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    IAmNotADamnWriterAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 11:09am

    Because of the Weavers, and "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "If I Had A Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." And the Hudson River. And not actually chopping the power lines at Bob Dylan's electric debut at Newport in 1965. And for giving a big "fuck you" to so many fascist assholes for so long a time. RIP Pete.

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      IAmNotADamnWriterIAmNotADamnWriter
      1/28/14 11:10am

      Oh, and excellent list ... which I am sure could go on!

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      IAmNotADamnWriterIAmNotADamnWriter
      1/28/14 12:33pm

      Credit where credit is due: "Turn, Turn, Turn" is taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes (3: 1-8) set to music by Seeger (and popularized by the Byrds in the mid '60s, among others). Seeger wrote "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song) with Lee Hayes of the Weavers (popularized by Peter, Paul & Mary and Trini Lopez, among others). "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" was written with Joe Hickerson, and was drawn from Mikhail Sholokov's novel "And Quiet Flows the Don" about Czarist Russia.

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    DanCopelandAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 10:57am
    1. Because it's never too late to admit you were wrong about a brutal dictator.
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      WaterWishDanCopeland
      1/28/14 11:03am

      In 1982. Good for him.

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      Adam WeinsteinDanCopeland
      1/28/14 11:06am

      Because that's a lesson even George W. Bush can take to heart.

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    raincoasterAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 6:31pm

    Fuck you for making me cry again about Pete Seeger.

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      sudden_eyesraincoaster
      1/28/14 7:36pm

      I know, right? I was doing OK ... no, I wasn't really. This one has hit me hard. Much harder than I'd thought it was going to. There's a certain kind of human decency that's a) desperately needed and b) in short supply, it appears. Man, did he have it. Also, my dad died last year, and he had it to (and used to sing Weavers songs of an evening).

      I spent a fantastic half-hour today reading through Seeger's 1955 HUAC hearing:

      MR. TAVENNER: I hand you a photograph which was taken of the May Day parade in New York City in 1952, which shows the front rank of a group of individuals, and one is in a uniform with military cap and insignia, and carrying a placard entitled CENSORED. Will you examine it please and state whether or not that is a photograph of you?(A document was handed to the witness.)

      MR. SEEGER: It is like Jesus Christ when asked by Pontius Pilate, "Are you king of the Jews?"

      CHAIRMAN WALTER: Stop that.

      MR. SEEGER: Let someone else identify that picture.

      MR. SCHERER: I ask that he be directed to answer the question.

      CHAIRMAN WALTER: I direct you to answer the question.

      MR. SEEGER: Do I identify this photograph?

      CHAIRMAN WALTER: Yes.

      MR. SEEGER: I say let someone else identify it.

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      raincoastersudden_eyes
      1/28/14 8:14pm

      Yes, I'm reading it all now. A great man, a decent man. And not a vainglorious man in the least; he was great in humility as well.

      This was also one of the best posts I've read on Gawker. Who'd have thought a listicle would make me cry?

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    Post-NukedAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 11:08am

    I just want to cut off the idiots who will throw up that repudiating Stalin quote to say Seeger's leftist politics were pointless or wrong or misguided. Pete was always a communist, until he died. People will put up the first part of the quote, repudiating Stalin, but not the second part. The second part (from '95) is: "I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it."

    The American Communist Party is a large part of the reason why we had a labor movement, the 8 hour day, overtime pay, the New Deal, and on and on. You want people to think of Bush when they think of American democracy? No? Then don't equate an entire philosophy with one guy.

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      DanCopelandPost-Nuked
      1/28/14 11:48am

      Indeed. Marx himself decried much of what was done by various groups in the name of communism. Stalin established a ruling elite, gave that elite control of industry while proclaiming it belonged to the people, and abused and murdered those people. It had as much in common with Marxism as the DPRK has with democracy. The failures of Stalin are as representative of communism as the KKK is representative of Christianity.

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      sudden_eyesPost-Nuked
      1/28/14 11:51am

      Thank you. (I posted a reply to the commenter currently at the top, but he probably won't approve it.)

      ETA: He did approve it, actually, and pulled back a bit on what he originally said. That's what I get for getting cranky.

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    trudibell_Adam Weinstein
    1/28/14 11:32am

    #25 is bullshit. Dowton Abbey is basically a period soap opera. Nothing high-brow about it. Also, the Dowager Countess is my fucking hero. As far as growing into an uppidy old lady who gives no fucks. Not the whole having servants thing. Or the hats.

    Folk music is highly under-rated these days. You probably could have left off Bieber, but Seeger's message was way more parallel to Christ's than the drivel you see claiming to proclaim the Good News on TV.

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      WaterWishtrudibell_
      1/28/14 12:34pm

      Haha, yeah, #25 was the only thing I had trouble with. I love Downton Abbey and I'm not afraid to admit it.

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      bad jujutrudibell_
      1/28/14 12:38pm

      Yeah, I was super on-board with everything until I got to this. I don't think peoples' personal tastes in television shows deserves to be placed on the side of evil and injustice. Judgy much? How about we focus on the real problems or the world, which are numerous. It cheapens this whole list.

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    WaterWishAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 10:55am

    I am an old and a bleeding heart, so it should come as no surprise that I have something in my eye, but really, I don't often find my allergies kicking up when I read stuff on the Internets. Excuse me, I have to full-on blubber now.

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      csp69WaterWish
      1/28/14 12:30pm

      "I cannot sing the old songs I sang long years ago, For heart and voice would fail me, And foolish tears would flow"

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    SuffersfoolsgladlyAdam Weinstein
    1/28/14 11:29am

    Pete was a trip. I went to school with one of his kids, so he showed up for stuff and was just a lovely man.

    I went skiing with him one time..I was about 14 years old. He yodeled ALL the way down the slope, which is pretty much him in a nutshell..a person who, while aware of life's brutal inequalities, took great joy in it's beauty as well.

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      Red-Indian-GirlAdam Weinstein
      1/28/14 11:10am

      Ummm... I hate to point it out because this list is awesome, BUT — this land was stolen.

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        WaterWishRed-Indian-Girl
        1/28/14 11:20am

        A true statement.

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      homomanAdam Weinstein
      1/28/14 11:05am

      It really does amaze me that so many people don't understand that sixty years ago Pete Seeger was against the establishment and their status quo along with decrying the rise of the corporate overlords. His campaign to clean up the Hudson River from the open sewer that it was and from the GE manufacturing plants industrial waste has lead to a chance that we might actually see the Hudson become a viable river if the Clean Water Act of 1972 is not gutted by the GOP. Seeger took stances that really made him unpopular with many people. His legacy is staggering just in the fact that the Hudson and other rivers in this nation no longer burn your eyes as you near them.

      http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts…

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        pinglyhomoman
        1/28/14 12:57pm

        Who doesn't understand that he was anti-establishment?

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        homomanpingly
        1/28/14 1:58pm

        Half of the morons who grew up singing his songs and are now the Tyrants (some say Tycoons) of Big Business.

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      DoctorNineAdam Weinstein
      1/28/14 3:20pm

      Thanks, Adam.

      I'm particularly fond of Number 71.

      People forget, singing is a fundamentally spiritual thing. It cleanses the soul. Doesn't really matter what you are singing about. If it's about hate, it'll clean that out of you. If it's about fear, it'll give you strength. If it's about joy, then you'll rise brilliant, like an incandescent bulb.

      That's why Pete was always trying to get everybody to sing. He knew that.

      So listen. Pay attention.

      And lift up your voices.

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