Bob Dylan is the Anti-Gates: What CNN Doesn’t Want You to Know
by Michael McGruther
On a rainy day last week in Long Branch, NJ, Bob Dylan, wearing a hood, was peering into a for-sale home when a neighbor called the police fearing he might be a burglar. Two young officers arrived on the scene and neither of them knew who Bob Dylan was. They asked for I.D. – he had none but explained he was a musician on tour with John Mellencamp and they were set to play at a nearby stadium in Lakewood. Without fuss or anger, Mr. Dylan was escorted back to his tour bus where he produced I.D.
That was that. End of incident.
The way CNN reported it made certain you’d never see the obvious correlation to the Professor Gates incident in Boston. How did they do this? With the headline, ”Bob Dylan a Complete Unknown in NJ Town,” which is a pretty vague headline and gives no indication police were even present.
The story is not that the officers were too young to know who Dylan was — it’s the fact that Dylan didn’t mind proving who he was. If we’re ever going to rise above race-baiting, news outlets have a duty to shine an even brighter light on decent behavior.
But CNN made sure you’d never know Dylan was the anti-Gates.
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173 Comments
Gee, no race baiting? No comments on the race of the police officers? No ID?
Somehow, no story.
I can see a future Marijuana Summit at the White House over this incident…………….
inb4 But Dylan is whiiiiiiiiiiite!
Papa, what's a rolling stone?
Personally, Michael, I'm just impressed that you still watch CNN.
I believe it was Thomas Aquinas who said something to effect that you must know the other sides argument just as well as your own in order to prove it false. But I actually read this one on CNN.com
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!
Rule number one of dealing with cops: BE POLITE
Sounds like he was!
what?! someone showed common sense when the police asked for identification?! huh, so that's the way it's supposed to play out….
Yeah, but he's a Jooooooooo!
/sarc off
But you see Dylan doesn't accept holiday party invites, able to attend a cocktail party from his Manhattan flat or go to clam bakes on Martha's Vineyard like Professor Skip-to-my-race "Tricycle" Gates. Honestly, do you expect msm to socialize among themselves?
Surely the police must be anti-Semitic! What else could explain those harsh Nazi-like interrogation techniques? "Vere are your papers?" They're stupid.
Everybody must get stoned (even Biden).
Bob Dylan knows who he is. He's a down to earth guy with no chip on his shoulder and nothing to prove. Plus he has common sense. The same can't be said for the good Professor. CNN What the hell do you expect unbiased reporting. Lol. Come on.
Given the Obama administration's tendency to instantly glom onto a headline to score political points (even though they usually botch it) I'm kind of suprised Barrack didn't weigh in on this one.
See what acting like a rational adult can get you? Dignity.
Surely, Biden is already stoned.
Since race couldn't be used in this instance, it should be noted that Dylan didn't take the out he could have by saying don't you know who I am?? Which shows some class on Dylan's part. I think Gates even trotted out a line similar to that by saying you don't know who you're messing with, or something to that effect.
A guy a million X's more famous than a rabble rousing professional victim acts like a gentleman and doesn't play the "don't you know who I am card" under eerily similar circumstances shows the depravity of the left and it's intent on damaging our country…
A guy a million X's more famous than a rabble rousing professional victim acts like a gentleman and doesn't play the "don't you know who I am? card" under eerily similar circumstances shows the depravity of the left and it's intent on damaging our country…
So, who is acting "stupidly" now Mr. Obama?
Why wasn't obama notified of this!?
What's really interesting is that equivalence reasoning is so popular! Let's see, Bob Dylan in NJ is equivalent to Henry Gates at Harvard, and somehow after Dylan gets escorted back to the bus (as opposed to the BACK of the bus, heck I've gone equivalent too!) Obama shows up as the joker.
What was it Springsteen sang, 57, 58 channels and there's nothing on? Oh Bruce, yes there is something on. On every channel and every conversation: the same twitter broadcast. Everywhere it is the same blabbering.
Just as an aside, I can't stand Bob's singing. Absolutely HORRIBLE.
Just as an aside, I can't stand Bob's singing. Absolutely HORRIBLE. Great Song Writer though.
CNN and Obama are trying to save this country from the NAZI Republicans!!!!
Don't attack a news organization that is non bias and shoots straight from the middle. CNN and MSNBC have NO agenda like FOX news. CNN is an honest news source and are trying to help an American President win his just cause for social justice!!!
I just wish the fairness doctrine could be passed and FOX news could be taken off the air. Rush also needs to go because he is not helping this great President fix this disgusting guilty country!!!!
Why does CUBA have free health care and not the USA????????????
Pres. Obama, may God keep him blessed and may hope and change remain. We need more laws to fight against talk radio and FOX news and all that disagree with our President!!!
America, you need to pay for your crimes of the past. Obama will save us and will show the world America is sorry for all she has done wrong.
I pray the world will forgive America, I would not if I were in their shoes.
I hope that this was written sarcastically. Either that or you have drunk so much phucking liberal Kool-Aid that you are well beyond clueless. You would be a poster child for involuntary sterilization!!!
There is another connection between the two cases. Dylan was walking along a public street, causing no problems, breaking no laws, what probable cause did the police have to demand his ID?
In America we don't have to produce "papers" any time a police offers demands to see them. This is a clear violation of the fourth amendment prohibiting the government from unreasonable search and seizure.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. "
If he was creating a disturbance, sure. If he was committing a crime, yes. But walking down a public street?
Dylan spent most of his career writing lyrics that were ambiguous enough so that he never had to cop to their obvious meaning. HIs MO was to guilt trip White America into a Leftist Agenda – an agenda that among any number of atrocities (including the murder of 2 to 6 million of America's allies in South East Asia) forced integration into our neighborhoods with Black barbarians like Gates.
Jagger at least admits that drugs are debilitating. Dylan has never once apologized.
I think you actually proved Gates side of the story. Dylan is WHITE. I can not be dumb enough to believe that a black person and a white person will have the same experience with the police. Ok, so if Gates is baiting race, then so are you. Your just baiting the opposite extreme.
I really like the range of news on this site. but it seems to be read (or at least commented on) by the not so bright people.
best comic post of the day…
Even Obambots don't buy this stuff…
Who watches CNN? I was unaware they still viewer other than friends and family of the staff.
Who watches CNN? I was unaware they still had viewer other than friends and family of the staff.
Hey idiot: Gates proved who he was, too. When asked by the officer IN HIS HOME to prove that he lived there, he gave him several pieces of positive identification.
So why was Dylan sent on his way, but Gates taken to jail.
Ignoramus
I was concerned about need to produce your papers on demand until I read that he was peering in windows. Even of vacant houses that is reasonable enough for an id request.
I saw a picture of the officer. She is known for looking about 16-yrs old at 24. So not only did Dylan respect the police, he wasn't upset at some youngin' questioning him either.
He's got no secrets to conceal,
he's a complete unknown, Like a Rolling Stone.
Guess he meant it.
NO!!!! I and you must of course join as one flesh for GREAT SUCCESSFUL leader Brack Obama!!! Only his wisdom shines a light on the shame of FOX news and sanctions it to leave!!!
Obama am great leader!!!! Me am no Bizarro!!!!
Biden’s not stoned he just forgets his helmet when he goes outside, it’s really kinda sad.
"Two young officers arrived on the scene and neither of them knew who Bob Dylan was."
The times they are a changin'
Uh I mean changed….& hope?
The context of the comparison was the professor's and Bob's reaction to being questioned by police. If you cooperate and don't become combative, in most cases things turn out just fine.
maatkare, does the fact that the CNN headline was a pun based on Dylan's song change the point of this article?
Your comment on Dylan looks like a "creepy weirdo" simply accents the point. What if someone referred to Gates in a stereotypical and insulting manner?
Nice job; Michael McGruther's article intended to point out the double standard. You just proved his point.
Can you give me an example where Bob Dylan's lyrics attepmted to "guilt trip White America into a Leftist Agenda"????? Quote me something you guilt ridden idiot.
Yo Bob! Don't forget to chew gum next time you're in Jersey.
Hey Joe Ignoramous…….the only thing Gates gave the officer was a load of black attitude. He went to jail because he was a belligerent asshole.
If Dylan had said, "I did the song for the Watchmen movie," they would have taken their pictures with him.
Because you don't agree with someone does not make them "not so brite people"
Your opinion ain't exactly heavy on substance or intellect either.
But nobody's forcing you to read or agree with other peoples opinions but like most liberals you name call because your right and everyone else is wrong. You don't want to debate you want to stifle it.
if he was black, he would have run from police
Gee, coming from CNN….. I take anything I hear from them with a grain of salt…. srsly, CNN??? they where the ones that played up the Crowley was/is a racist…
I better be invited
Ed, Not to dispute you too much, But, I "Think" there is a law that says that when you are stopped by the police you "Should" be able to produce some form of ID. If there those out there who know more that I do, (Police officers, County Sheriff Deputies are welcome) Please correct me.
No, actually "the story" was about the fact that the police were too young to know who Bob Dylan is. The story had nothing what-so-ever to do with Mr. Gates, race-baiting, or anything else. It is time for biased people in the media, like Michael McGruther, to stop twisting stories to enforce and project their political opinions.
My wife was working at a club once, checking ID's and collecting covers at the door. An sports figure (I will not say who) and his "posse" came up and when she asked for ID and charged the cover, said person's publicist chimed in with "dont you know who this is?". She promptly answered, "no, which means you might be looking for a new job real soon." As said entourage member stood there with that mouth-open-deer-in-the-headlights look, said sports personality was laughing so hard as he took out his ID. He included a decent tip when he paid all the covers as well.
omg! I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing while I answered my phone. Life imitating art, perhaps.
Have you seen how hard it is to leave Cuba, much less not follow the laws there? And, did you just advocate silencing your opposition? Your option is to listen or not to listen, so is mine. But you are actually for taking away my rights to choose what I hear or watch?
Your very first point – CNN & MSNBC have no agenda, just an honest news source trying to HELP an American President win his just cause for social justice – NO AGENDA??
Your forgiveness appears so shallow, propably not worth having anyway.
Really, what the he|| are the cops doing stopping white people? We all know, from Gates, that they only stop black people because they are black. If someone called the cops to say there was a suspicious person in the area, the cops should have acted properly and asked if the person was black so they could determine if they really should bother to make the call, after all they are not supposed to stop white people. That is in the handbook, isn't it?
My guess is that he did have a secret to conceal, rolled up in a baggie in his pocket.
Appearantly, he was not invisible though.
You owe me a new keyboard. And another cup of coffee. I haven't laughed that hard since congress promised to remove the "death panel" language they insisted wasn't in the bill to begin with.
Either properly identify yourself or sit in jail until the prints are processed and/or a judge is satisfied that you have complied with the law in all 50 states. And that's been the law for many years. Not sure what the commenter is smoking, but it doesn't have any label and I wouldn't depend on his/her legal expertise as it relates to the subject at hand. Dylan was approached; his ID REQUESTED (not demanded) by a police officer; he complied; end of story.
Michael McGruther writes: "On a rainy day last week in Long Branch, NJ,…"
Very "evocative" and all, with that "rainy." Except the incident occured on July 23, which sure as s**t wasn't "last week." But don't worry, it's not as if you're a never-was no-talent who also can't read. Oh, wait, it actually is that!
I wish someone would ask for his thoughts on this. Talk about a deer in the headlights!
Save America Kill Reporters
What part of this do you disagree with? — "If we’re ever going to rise above race-baiting, news outlets have a duty to shine an even brighter light on decent behavior."
There is no such law. You stand corrected. Read the 4th amendment. It specifically prohibits the type of law you note.
Only if you are suspected of a crime or are doing something that requires a license do you have to produce anything.
All of these problems we are having could have been eliminated if Big Media News did there job and were objective in there reporting or lack of reporting.
Did we ever find out the truth about Palins kid. I know we never found out the truth about Obumer and his radical friends.
My post was rewritten by the editor. He added some fluff and rearranged the sentences in a way the was better to read. Sometimes minor errors such as dates that a news event took place can happen. The CNN article itself was published last week. Sorry about the error.
However, the whole point of the article was that in order to escape the ratings-getting race-baiting it would help if news outlets shined as big a light on behavior that is more in line with reasonable people as they do on the absurd. Thank you for reading and commenting.
That is hilarious! Kudos to your wife for the classy (and totally brilliant) retort.
BO,
You left out the part where you say –
"I jest."
PS: if you really wanted to, I bet you could get into Cuba -for life.
Actually, the story states that he was looking into windows (of a house up for sale.) The caller thought he might be a burglar. So, they did not simply stop him for sauntering down the boulevard.
Getting stoned may actually RAISE Biden's intelligence.
His earlier stuff was pretty political, but he stopped doing openly political material when he realized that too much of his audience was into his stuff specifically for the politics, as opposed to just enjoying the music qua music.
As he put it, "I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now."
The CNN viewership is based on polling done by ACORN so we know it is fair and accurate. (-:
Bob doesn't rate very high on the vocal skills but he is more of a musical storyteller.
Call me dense, but I don't see a double standard here–It was an entertainment news fluff piece, not an op-ed. I read it as a humorous example of young cops who didn't recognize an icon (a hell of a lot more famous, relevant, and recognizable than Gates), albeit a very eccentric looking one. I don't see what else you can wring out of the story. Any reader of standard intelligence would draw the connection to Gates themselves, but I don't see that its' omission is particularly damning.
But you shouldn't have to worry about being combative, as long as you don't cross over to creating a disturbance. Last I heard, as long as you don't cross the line into illegal behavior, it's not against the law to be an a-hole.
To be fair – the police weren't confronting him in his own home.
Considering how many times he's been divorced, maybe he was auditioning a future ex-Mrs. Dylan.
But was the music from a Buick Six?
Maybe the police were looking for the vandals who stole the pump handles?
Hey IDIOT – our last back and forth:
Tambourine Man is about as big a methadrine ad as any musician at the time produced. It wasn't a guilt trip, but Dylan still hides behind his poetry to drug Americans – a very Leftist agenda.
In 1966 (off the top of my head), while the opposition to the Viet Nam war was shooting up, Dylan recorded Highway 61 Revisited. The only way to read that propaganda is against free enterprise and war. You couldn't get much further to the Left.
If I got out his lyrics I could come up with another 50 Anti-American examples.
Again, as a Jew who lost 6 million of his tribe a generation before his, Bobby Zimmerman should admit to the at least 3 million that he helped the Communists slaughter in South East Asia when the USA pulled out.
Ed… I hear what you're saying. There's certain laws, like requiring you to wear a seat belt or motor cycle helmet, that aren't so black and white. I agree though – you want to err on the side of freedom.
These are really a "pun" on the lyrics to "Who Are You":
I walked up to a New Jersey doorway, two policemen didn't know my name
They said "Go back to your tour bus, you're not black so you can walk away…"
The libtards didn't jump on this story? I am shocked. I was a police officer for 21 years. It is not uncommon to have a resident of a neighborhood walking at strange hours. I worked really strange hours, like most cops, doctors, nurses, truck drivers, and small business owners. 99.99% of the time when I stopped someone they were grateful and polite. It wasn't viewed as harassment, just somebody doing their job. The lunatic left is arrogant and stupid. This college professor was a jackass.
Nor have you…
Dylan, having a brain, most likely understood the cop's point of view: What are you doing peering into the window?
Gates, not having a brain, refused to understand the cop's point of view: Why are you breaking into this home?
Dylan cooperated. Gates did not.
Gates, though he showed I.D., created a whole new situation and was therefore arrested for disorderly conduct.
Many posters seem to forget this.
Further, Dylan didn't screeeeech: "Yo Mama" while Gates did.
The professor acted stupidly and so did CNN.
Want to get arrested for disorderly conduct? Screech a nasty about the arresting officer's mother. Fifth graders get it. Why doesn't Get-a-Grip Gates?
Can you make an argument without having to resort to name calling? The only relevant difference is that one guy didn't want to comply with a reasonable request.
You may have a law like that in Texas, but the police can't do that up here in New York. I would assume New Jersey is similar, but I only vacation there at Wild Wood Crest, so I don't know.
If a police officer can only request your ID, and you are compelled to comply, it's not a request, its a legal requirement.
Some one on this thread pointed out that Dylan was peering into windows, so its a moot point, I didn't know that when I first posted. That is probable cause, so the demand for ID was valid, as it was in Gates-gate.
But I stand by my main point. This is America. The government needs a reason to demand to see my papers. The original story line from the MSM was how cute these cheeky youngsters didn't even know who Bob Dylan was. The secondary line was how much classier Dylan was than Gates. My point was and is, does anyone see a very dangerous pattern here, police illegally demanding We The People comply with their orders? That bothers me.
that was directed at Joe.
Dylan never played any Anti-Viet Nam War protest rallies. During his 1965 San Francisco Press Conference, he was asked if he was attending the anti-war rally later. He said he was busy, and then asked "How do you know I am against the war?"
He was part of the civil rights movement, playing rallies, including the March on the Washington Mall where MLK gave his "I Have A Dream" Speech. If he guilt tripped white america into living up to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence, good for him, but the idea that he took any real position on the Viet Nam War is laughable. As the sixites went haywire, Dylan retreated to his farm in upstate NY with his wife, had some kids, and raised his family. As far as I can tell he has nothing to apologise for.
As for Gates being a barbarian, and a Black one to boot, the guy acted like an asshole that night, though he was in his own house, and there is certainly no law in telling a police officer to go f%^& himself, especially when you are not breaking any law.
CNN probably wouldn't want to probe too deeply into Dylan's current lifestyle, beliefs either. He's a guy who believes in personal responsibility and sees some reasons to follow Christianity – OHHH the HORROR!!
Peter Grant introduced himself to Dylan by saying "I'm Peter Grant. I manage Led Zeppelin".
Dylan replied "I don't come to you with my problems" and walked away.
I meant this as a reply to someone else – I agree with McGruther.
I'm a huge Dylan fan, I've seen him several times. I didn't catch him in his hay day, too young. But over the years, he's actually getting better at playing and singing, though I think he needed that rebellious youngster streak to really hit is stride in writing. Blood on the Tracks is the exception.
But I have great respect for Bob because he sings like crap, and still does it. He doesn't care if people don't like his singing, if you don't like it, don't buy the albums, and don't go to the shows. I like that 'spit in your eye' attitude. Probably because I sing like crap but still do it anyway, or at least I did in my younger days.
I have a boot leg of him getting booed off stage for going electric. So what's he do? Schedules a world wide electric tour. Now that's balls. Big brass ones.
You're right that there is no such law in NJ (I used to live there). It is unconstitutional. I never saw any mention of Dylan "peering into windows" in any version of this story. A white guy picked up walking around a black neighborhood in Long Branch, just as black Ruben Carter got picked up driving around paterson, NJ long ago, a point probably not lost on Dylan.
I'm no lawyer, but I think the catch is the need a reason to stop you. Probable cause. It's unconstitutional to simply round up citizens looking for something to charge them with.
Are you an idiot or what?. Do you realy think that this DOPE can do anything other than sell our GREAT country
to the highest bidder. people like billionair george serose, a known self centerd socialist bent on destroying
our constitution, and our AMERICAN traditions. This knuckle-head is a token and nothing more, come 2012
he'll be gone and if he hasn't done to much damage, going around brown nosing, or outright kissing our foes
behindes, to put it nicely. We might still have a chance. Further more I'm not convinced this fool is even a U.S.
citizen.
Ha! Well, leave it to CNN to go for the most obvious one1
Bob Dylan is white?
True, and it appears burried in the story was Dylan was peering into windows, maybe looking for a good deal in real estate. That would probably stand as probable cause.
But had Dylan simply been walking down the street, they still need probable cause. In America, a police officer can not simply walk up to you and say I don't like the way you look, show me some ID. We The People are well within our constitutional rights to say "NO!"
thank you, she makes up for all my knuckledragging.
This is what Dylan had to say recently about "With God On Our Side" his one song that is ostensibly anti-war:
Every time I sing it, someone writes that it’s an anti-war song. But there’s no anti-war sentiment in that song. I’m not a pacifist. I don’t think I’ve ever been one. If you look closely at the song, it’s about what Eisenhower was saying about the dangers of the military-industrial complex in
this country. I believe strongly in everyone’s right to defend themselves by every means necessary…
Yaz, since you have law experience, maybe you can help settle a debate I've been having all over this thread.
The original story as I heard it (since discounted) was Dylan was walking down the street, some one thought he looked suspicious, called the police, so they asked for his ID.
Can a police officer legally just pull some one over with no probable cause and demand to see their ID? My contention was that would violate the fourth amendment?
Oh I'd love it if news outlets "shine an even brighter light on decend behavior."
But that doesn't make the Cambridge Police Department right. This was a clear cut case of the state violating individual rights.
What part of that do you disagree with?
EdSki,
I couldn't agree more, bro.
Ha! Bob should have screamed something about anti-Semitism, then continued with a "your mama" comment! Good on ya, Bob.
As Bob Dylan would Say: "Veta hee mita fe. Shunda gu, meta pa. Gheeeee!"
your intelligence is
numbing…….
it would appear you are reading as you post the "handbook' on how to make whitey look like a racist when
he's not.
i cant believe i bothered wasting 30 seconds of time to bother with
the president of the MENSA societe
My intention was a little comic relief, hope it makes your day a little better.
Anyone who wrote what I did and was serious would have to be insane. Sadly we have many journalist who would have agreed with what I wrote. Catie Couric is one for sure.
Just having some fun.
CNN is the word of GOD. I forgot, I don't believe in GOD. CNN is the word of ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With God On Our Side on the direct level was about blindly following religion into war. However, that message also nicely worked to demoralize America’s belief in itself, especially to fight in Viet Nam. I don’t know how old you are, but no one who listened to it back then thought of it any other way.
Nor did any of us believe that Zimmerman meant anything else, especially since he was tight with the old commie beatnik Alan Ginsberg.
Later in the song, he names the Russians specifically and wants us to question whether or not we should fight them. However, he doesn’t explore the slavery they endorsed. This was pure “better Red than dead” rhetoric.
Dylan was a brilliant wordsmith and straight-up a coward.
Highway 61 Revisited was also definitely anti-war. It’s first stanza:
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What ?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done ?"
God says. "Out on Highway 61".
Again, no one who listened to it back then thought of it in any way but anti Viet Nam War.
Like Zimmerman, you need to quit hiding behind the ambiguity of his words and deal with how virtually everyone interpreted – an interpretations that he never denied.
Everything I have seen or read about Dylan makes me have a really deep respect for him. I read his autobiography – it was no tell all or disrespectful of others. He is truly a class act!
It really pains me to hear people say anything negative about him.
Too bad the Unusuals isn't still in production. They could adapt this incident with Amber Tamblyn pulling off the "26-year-old who looks like a 16-year-old" bit.
When you wake up, you are going to be very embarrassed, and very sad. Your complete ignorance of history, politics, and reality is disturbing. That you are passionately ignorant is, well, pathetic. Please, in life, you will some day learn that it is wise to know of what you speak before going public. Please, please leave my country and take all of your zombie friends with you. Go where you can fulfill your dream of trading all of your rights in return for having no responsibility for yourself. Have you forgotten so quickly what slavery is? This country was founded on the principles of freedom. If you love slavery so much – leave, and take your socialist, "massa" obama with you. You are not Americans so leave us with our country and go somewhere else to start your new slave society.
The sad thing is, I've seen slavishly pro-Obama rhetoric that was much more inane than what you posted in obvious jest.
I miss the days when satire was goofier than reality.
I used to think I was bright. I even cheered when the country elected Obama. Hope and change and a better future. I believed!
Now? I have to agree with nonsequitur3. I'm definitely one of the 'not so bright'.
I miss the days when satire was goofier than reality.
So hard to tell these days….
Joe, as far as I know, anyone can get arrested for insulting an officer or directing your anger and agitation at one. So no, I disagree with you on those grounds.
Had Gates been simply raising a ruckus on his own property and then a cop shows up due to complaints and then Gates lashes out at the cop I believe the cop can arrest him then too.
I highlyreccomend autobiography, Chronicles. It is amazing that a man so talented can be so humble, as in this post. His book was not a tell-all, didn't have a bad thing to say about anyone or anything and seemed in awe of his experiences.
Plus, listening to the audiobook, Sean Penn taught me that Don Juan is not pronounced "don wan", but "don joo-on". Silly me I've been mispronouncing it all these years.
To be Blunt, I suggest they invite the Doobie Brothers and do some Kalifornia Dreamin'. Puff, the Magic Dragon would be proud. Sounds like we need Highway 60 revisited.
Once again you pull stuff out of your butt. If the guy said his name was Elvis Presley, the police still did the right thing. They let him prove who he was, then left him alone. Point blank: If you really believe that the average encounter that a black person has with A cop (regardless of the color of the cop) is the same as the average white persons encounter, you are a complete fool. You think the level of suspicion, intent, mannerism, etc is the same. You really are a nut job if you believe that. What country you live in?
Oh wait, you must think that ALL black people should be like the submissive Sambo. “Oday, Massa. I sorry for being in me own house. Don’t arrest me. “
Typical CNN to cherrypick the storyline. Bob Dylan is too White and too Polite to get arrested. He is a really calm and cool guy in person. I first saw him at a small venue in Minnesota back in the Woodstock days and I liked his style. Bob actually came into the crowd to shake everyone's hand for attending his performance. Gates I have never met and I reserve my judgement til that day. Right now, I just don't agree with his attitude towards the police and white people in general. It's uncalled for in this day and age. Someone needs to tell Gates he overcame a long time ago. But hey many people are still stuck in the '60's in so many ways.
Hmmphh. Seems like the plus/minus doohickey ain't worth a damn sometimes for judging comments. No wonder I don't bother registering. Well that and all those minuses in my past.
Bob was looking for Bruce Springsteen's former home where he wrote "born to run" in 1974. He has visited other artists homes with unannounced visits. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8335824&pa...
Dylan is a genuine gentleman besides a talented artist.
That's 61.
Live and work in NYC and you may experience all kinds of police stops…I'm 42 now, never arrested, white male…I've been stopped by police for: possible burglary of a retail store, possible car theft, drunk driving check points where the cop practically kisses you to see if you're drunk, stopped for failing to single a lane change: the police actually told me they stopped me because they thought I was watching them and I was really NYPD internal affairs so they thought theyd check me out. Pulled over for a license plate bulb..the list goes on…they can stop anyone just about anytime they want really. Now had they given Dylan a wood shampoo for good measure……
Not directed at anyone but PDice by the way.
I’m actually a conservative. I just happen to live in the real world and can think for myself. What is there to debate? You think Gates is a big mean, aggressive, loud, black man. That is your right to think that. It just demonstrates YOUR intellect.
I prefer to think Gates is just an old guy coming home from a long trip, pissed that his door did not open and is tired. So, in that condition he said something a little out of line. Not really worth more effort x amount of weeks later.
Her is a bad sentene in this post, so you guy kin talk about me riting skils and intelec. Since your so prefect.
See! I knew it needed to be revisited!
My advise is whenever a cop pulls you over ask yourself, "What if there's an all-points bulletin for a drug-crazed axe-murderer who just so happens to be driving the same make and model as your car?" As far as you know the cop thinks his life is now in danger and it's up to you not to spook him and not to make him accidently shoot you.
Hey! My mother was a saint!
I had to laugh during the Gates incident when he said that black people shouldn't have to defer to police. My father was a policeman for 25 years, and told me that you keep your hands where the officer can see them and respond with 'yes officer' or 'no officer' type comments until he feels safe around you.
Oh .. I'm white! And this was in the early 70s in a small, rural community. Hey Mr. Gates — it's always been this way no matter the color of your skin and Mr. Dylan shows that it works and gets you far less hassle.
"Tangled Up In Blue"…Since the cops didn't know who Dylan I guess they didn't know Hurricane Carter was either…
Um, the headline was clearly a pun on the lyrics to "Like A Rolling Stone:"
"How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?"
I actually though a big part of the story _was_ that the guys were too young to recognize him, and Dylan looked like a creepy weirdo, which he has for the last 30 years or so. (I'm sure that voice didn't help any) In any case, _not_ getting arrested isn't nearly as tasty a story as someone getting arrested.
I can't believe that Jews all over the US weren't offended…or Christians…or hippies…or people who like great song writers…or people that call the cops when they think someone might be breaking into their neighbor's house. It's amazing that all those kinds of people didn't get mad…more amazing that Mr. Dylan didn't tongue lash the cops with a song having 27 verses, a chorus, and two bridges. Such discipline, such control.
Pete,
I am glad to hear that. A cop buddy of mine jumped to the conclusion that Bob was probably out looking to buy dope. Of course, in response, I pointed out who Dylan was touring with, and that I was sure that Willie had brought along enough for everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_3EyRgVog
As to this story, I don't think twice, it's alright. It has no relation whatsoever to the Gates case except that it involved someone being questioned by the cops. Luckily, these two officers were too young and unhip to know about Dylan's "Hurricane," which trashes the New Jersey criminal justice system.
No surprise that CNN can't or won't connect the dots. The Democrats and their radical left ARE the party of racism and grievance and anyone who TRULY studies history knows it, The difference between Gates and Dylan, besides manners, was one person's determination to make the situation a political one,
Boy have you missed the point.
"Bob Dylan" is a name that one might expect bo be universally recognizable throughtout the Western World. He is a cultural icon, he has won Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for what they called his profound impact on popular music and American culture, He has sold 60 million record albums.
Our understanding is that Skip Gates threw a hissy fit in an expectation that the Cambridge Police should have known who he was. He threatened to call the mayor, the President of Harvard, etc. One might reasonably expect that Bob Dylan could have been insulted to not have been recognized. It's not about race, it's about class. It's about how you treat people. And ultimately it's about character.
I cannot believe the shabby thinking that would even suggest a comparison. Gates was IN HIS OWN HOME, which HE DEMONSTRATED with his ID. That should have been the end of it there and then. It's obvious from the police report etc. that they didn't wish to end it as such. I'd be irate too if police came into my own home and busted my balls even though I proved who I was. Dylan was on the street without ID peering into houses. WTF. I bet he wouldn't have been happy if police came into his home either. In any case, the minute you think this is worth a comparison is the minute you stop thinking. What a lousy attempt at a point this was.
the "obvious correlation"?????? Laugh out loud, my friend. I take it you never, say, studied formal logic or basic propositional thinking, huh? There is absolutely no correlation unless of course you simply think it is comparable to be stopped by the police in general, in which case, every police stop is an "obvious correlation." Your thinking leaves a lot to be desired here. Hey, check the local police blotter though and find some other comparisons that suck while you're at it?
Why does CUBA have free health care and not the USA????????????
For the same reason that the USSR & China have it. They are communistic societies.
CNN and MSNBC have NO agenda like FOX news.
Yea right!
Softball over the head.
Seems you missed the point entirely, on purpose I am sure. White Dillon in an all black neighborhood, acting suspicious to black neighbors. Black professor in an all white neighborhood acting suspicious to a white neighbor. One caused a scene the other didnt, both detained by the police. So who is the better man….the Black Liberal I am sure. /sarc
Respect to Dillion for being cool enough to handle the situation like an adult.
I hadn't heard that, if that's true, that could probably stand as probable cause. I sit corrected.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with the police, or with obeying (most) laws. I've never been arrested, and I've only seen the inside of police station twice in my life, once on a cub scout tour when I was a kid, and once when my young daughter drew a picture of a women police officer, and I walked over with her to give it to them. They put it up on the bulletin board.
But in America, the government doesn't control us, it works for us. As long as we are not committing any crime, and it's not some kind of state of emergency (like evacuations and such) the police have no authority over us. And when I think the police step over that line, I say so. It's our duty as citizens to make sure they don't. Because if we don't insist government follow the constitution, no one will. Take a look at Washington to see what happens when government ignores the law.
And quite frankly I find it a little unsettling that more Americans don't seem to hold that opinion. These are our civil rights, not the fake kind Bush was accused of eating for lunch daily, but our real civil rights. Over on the blogs at Reason.com they were going ballistic over the police actions during the Gates spat.
We are either a nation of free men and women, or we are slaves. I'm going with freedom.
We can all guess how Elton John would have behaved in the circumstance that Bob found himself in!
We can all guess how Elton John would have behaved in the circumstance that Bob found himself in!
Do you know who I am? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Correct, Gates was a belligerent asshole. Show me where that's against the law.
When a citizen is on public property the police have a limited amount of authority as to what they can compel them to do.
When the citizen is on private property and the police on public property, there is even less they can compel the citizen to do.
When the citizen is on their own private property and the police enter that private property, there is even less they can compel the citizen to do.
If a police officer is on private property, with out the property owners permission, the police officer is on extremely thin ice. Trust me, I remember this from college. I was partying at a friends apt. and the police knocked on the door, and some guy from school who didn't live there just yelled "come on in." The guy who rented the apt. went ballistic. After wards he explained, unless they have a warrant, or you invite them in, the police can not enter your property. Invite them in, they can start looking around. Catch site of a half smoked joint in an ash tray, every one is busted, and they'll get a warrant and strip search the entire premises.
In the Gates affair, the police had probable cause to enter the private property. Once Gates established residency and identity, at that very second, the police became uninvited onto private property, and the rules all changed. That was the mistake the police made in the Gates affair. He let Gates get under his skin. What he should have done was immediately left the premises, proceeded to public property, let Gates follow him out to the streets, and then it would have been a clean bust
Cuba is so utopian that people are willing to raft across 90 miles of shark-water to get away. Liberals are such utter morons.
In what state? What town? Show me the text from any ordinance from ANY jurisdiction in this country that says you can be arrested in you own home just for having a nasty attitude with a cop when you pose NO threat, there is NO warrant for your arrest, there is NO probable cause and you have PROVEN your residence.
Look it up and show me.
I never met anybody back then who was in the civil rights movement who was for the war or vice versa.
If Bobby Z was for the war, why didn't he just say so?
MLK certainly wasn’t and said so.
Right, Z’s anti-war positions are as laughable as the two commie rat songs that I mentioned above, which I have no idea how any who lived through those years can refute.
"As the sixties went haywrie?" Drugs were a huge part of that and Tambourine Man was the seminal speed freak song. Zimmerman not only was partly responsible for getting 2 to 6 mil Southeast Asian allies of the USA whacked by friends of commie beatnik Ginsberg, but he pied pipered tens of thousands into self-immolation with drugs.
Pretending that all Zimmerman was doing was attempting to make America live up to its Declaration of Independence is pure Alinsky rhetoric.
When a cop comes to your house to help you protect it, you don't put him through your Stokley Charmichael/ Huey P. Newton Mau Mau bullshit unless you are a god-damn barbarian.
Joe, you could have just googled that one yourself and found countless examples but I did it for you. Here's one where a guy was arrested for driving down the street blaring his radio.
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/07/08/new...
MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A defense attorney admitted Tuesday that Nickelous Dellapolla was “trying to be a pain in the butt” when he stalked and harassed a Ridley Township officer by driving past his home and blaring the car radio.
Dellapolla, 28, of the 500 block of Fernwood Avenue, Folsom, was sentenced to four to 16 months in jail to be followed by three years probation by Judge Ann Osborne, arising from his conviction in May related to crimes committed against Ridley Township Officer Jason McDevitt.
When I first heard this story I thought it was hilarious given Dylan's status in the 1960s. I sent the link around to my friends with the caption 'The Times They Are A-Changin".
I read an an interesting article on him about a year ago – in Smithsonian or American Heritage – about him in the 1960s, and it was surprising to me. The author intimated that he was not really left wing but more conservative, or at least libertarian. There was a time when wanting to be left alone to write music he rented a farmhouse in rural upstate NY and still fans found him – even caught some climbing on his roof.
Your thought was something I hadn't thought of Michael – and nice to think that Dylan is so grounded and humble that he doesn't feel to give the "Do You Know Who I Am" !@#$%^.
VERY weak argument, Michael. The story says that Dellapolla STALKED AND HARASSED the officer. This means he went out of his way, and went to the officer to be a
'pain in the butt.' Stalking and harrassment is against the law in any state.
But I fail to see how that compares to a Cambridge police officer arresting Gates when he is IN HIS OWN HOME, BREAKING NO LAWS. Where is the evidence that Gates stalked and harrassed Crowley?
Again, show me where there is a law that says you can be arrested for being a prick to a cop in YOUR OWN HOME when you have BROKEN NO LAWS.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you advocating a police state where government jurisdiction supercedes individual rights?
I thought that's what you right-wingnuts hated most?
Or maybe you just hate it for white people. It's okay for the rest of us, eh?
Not advocating a police state at all! No F'n way! What I am advocating is a closer look at the laws that can technically get one arrested and a better understanding on the fact – FACT – that each town or municipality has their own unique rules. They all do and you and I do not know them. That's what I am getting at.
My wife is a minority who has been harassed in Los Angeles by the police but that doesn't mean you make everything into a blown out of proportion, attention getting, look what they did to me – event. Sometimes a guy crosses the line and is arrested. That's all.
He was out of line. He spoke to the officer in a way that I wouldn't have, unless I felt I was in imminent physical danger. He was belligerant. He lost his head.
But he did not break any laws.
Even if this was blown out of proportion, there is no reason for him to have been arrested.
I don't know you, and I don't know your business, but if it were my wife being harassed by the police, you'd better believe I'd blow it out of proportion.
That's how you avoid a police state: reminding the state that law-abiding citizens don't need to be policed.
Dylan's old too – and again was apparently peering into houses, which he must have known looked odd to the coppers. He's not and never has been 'left wing' per se or even really political at all. It was the media who tried to make him into some figurehead. He's always sidestepped that. I mean, did you hear him speaking out against W, perhaps the most right wing Prez ever??? I love how conservatives apparently assume anyone who is thoughtful or poetic or cares about 'social' life in America is somehow 'left wing'. Dylan, if you read the recent RS interview, seems to care about America, and in fact, an older version where people weren't plugged into devices and reality TV show, which let's face it, IS our culture these days. On the other hand, perhaps conservatives out there can take solace in all their great artists — like Toby Keith. Leave the Dylans, Marvin Gayes, Tom Waits's, Sam Cookes, etc. etc. to others if you think it's all about perceived 'leftism'.
Dylan's old too – and again was apparently peering into houses, which he must have known looked odd to the coppers. He's not and never has been 'left wing' per se or even really political at all. It was the media who tried to make him into some figurehead. He's always sidestepped that. I mean, did you hear him speaking out against W, perhaps the most right wing Prez ever??? I love how conservatives apparently assume anyone who is thoughtful or poetic or cares about 'social' life in America is somehow 'left wing'. Dylan, if you read the recent RS interview, seems to care about America, and in fact, an older version where people weren't plugged into devices and reality TV show, which let's face it, IS our culture these days. On the other hand, perhaps conservatives out there can take solace in all their great artists — like Toby Keith. Leave the Dylans, Marvin Gayes, Tom Waits's, Sam Cookes, etc. etc. to others if you think it's all about perceived 'leftism'.
with their red lights flashin' on a hot New Jersey night…
How do you know all these "facts"? Were you there? The story says he was in the yard peering through a window. Granted, the home was for sale, but a nieghbor called the police anyway.
Maybe the police did not have the right to ask for ID, but common sense and decency says, cooperate and produce it. The police have a hard enough job without people with your attitude trying to make even the smallest encounter more complicated than it is.
There is a difference being confronted in your private residence and in public.
Not saying the reaction from Gate's was right, but in America, you don't F**k with people in their domicile.
Again u're missing the point.
They let him prove who he was, then left him alone. Had Skp Gates proven who he is was, he would have been left alone too. That is why every officer in Cambrdge, Black, White and Hispanic back Crowley.
..average encounter that a black person has with A cop This is where you are mistaken. Skp Gates is not an average black person, he is a professor who is a racialist. Officer Crowley is not an average police officer, he is an expert in racial profiling and teaches the topic to other officers.
You really are a nut job if you believe that. What country you live in?
You've done a great job of mistating everything. Since Beer-gate does not represent an average encounter as I've proven, you've made it clear why your conclusions are incorrect. You've said "I've pulled things out of my butt. Yes…they are called Facts, sorry they inconvenience you. You've also implied I'm a racist, I'm sorry that you're so threatened by logic and fact.
Is CNN still on the air? Great correlation – Dylan to Gates – normal to radical.
II think Dylan was perceived as "left wing" because all of the left-wingers protesting Vietnam treated him as their spokesman – not because he is "thoughtful, poetic or cares about social life in America".
The article that I had read was interesting to me because the author maintained that he really wasn't a lefty…
What about all the soldiers who were using drugs to escape the reality of being forced to fight a war they didn't believe in? For you to say the Vietnam war was the fault of any one person, let alone a helpless musician, is possibly one of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard. It doesn't matter who lived through that time or not, plenty of younger people have a better grasp on the situation because there is these things called books that you have no doubt failed to read in a very long time.
“What about all the soldiers who were using drugs to escape the reality of being forced to fight a war they didn't believe in?”
Four major changes swamped American culture simultaneously, synergistically in the 60s: drugs, the so-called sexual revolution, integration and Anti-Vietnam War protesting. In other words, drugs were popularized (which Dylan played a huge propagandistic part). You don’t have any evidence that soldiers were using drugs in Viet Nam because they did believe in the war. That is Leftist revisionist nonsense. They took drugs because they were young and it was popular.
“For you to say the Vietnam war was the fault of any one person, let alone a helpless musician, is possibly one of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard.”
I never said that the screwing of America in Viet Nam by the Left was the sole responsibility of B. Zimmerman. Zimmy used a high profile megaphone to suggest that Americans do what the KGB wanted them to – take it up the ass.
I can even forgive him for his possibly somewhat innocent youthful mistakes. My problem with him is that he has never apologized for nor even refuted his cowardice from 35 years ago. I can only assume that he is still trying to destroy our freedoms and that his favorite weapon of mass destruction is drugs.
“It doesn't matter who lived through that time or not, plenty of younger people have a better grasp on the situation because there is these things called books that you have no doubt failed to read in a very long time.”
“… there is …” I can see that you missed the third grade class on noun verb agreement.
I must be dense, but I am not drawing the connection between the biblical story of Abraham's sacrifice taking place on Highway 61 and being against the Viet Nam War.
There were plenty of Anti-War protests taking place back then, yet Dylan never attended a single one, never even sent a message of support. How do you explain that?
This is my last comment on this one. Did you ever hear the rest of the lyrics?
The next stanza claims that welfare people are forced into war if they wanted to eat.
The one after that is a reference to moneymen using war for no good end but to get richer.
The fourth stanza equates sexual perverts with war.
The last one is about the "roving gambler" trying to create the next world war.
How can that song be read as other than an anti-war guilt trip, designed to convince Americans to lose to the Russians?
The way that I explain Bobby Z never showing up at anti-war rallies is that he is a coward. He knew that to produce Highway 61 Revisited during the Viet Nam War said what he believed. He just didn't have the balls to back up his own play.
Then again, he was hanging out with the king of the butt-fuck brigade: Alan Ginsberg. That Bobby should also have a limp wrist at that time in his life makes perfect sense.
dd
I'm from Long Branch and know where he was walking. He's lucky, the cops probably saved his life.
Lee, someone as slow as you should think twice before posting. It's pretty obvious that Sequiter is being sarcastic.
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