The Citizen, 1991-04-17, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1991. PAGE 5.
Westerns
portrayed
make-believe world
I’ve seen a lot of cultural weirdness in
my time -- everything from Andy Warhol’s
soup can paintings through the Sack Dress
and all the way to Stompin’ Tom Connors.
But I think one of the very oddest fads I
ever sat through was the TV Western.
Remember TV Westerns? If you grew up
in the 50’s and 60’s and you couldn’t get
away from them. Every evening after the
dishes were washed and stacked, television
sets across the continent blazed to life as
all of North America gathered around their
cathode campfires to absorb a little more
Western lore as dispensed by Hollywood.
Westerns bushwacked the TV airwaves
every evening and held us all for ransom --
or at least the 11 o’clock news.
How many westerns were there? Who
could count them all? I’ve got a trivia book
that lists 89 different Western TV series --
and I can think of a couple that aren’t
mentioned. But for anyone who’s too
young to remember, or who spent their
youth picking ticks off yaks in a Tibetan
lamasery, here’s a brutally truncated
shortlist:
Lancer. Laramie. Laredo. The Lawman.
The International
Scene
Picking up
the pieces
BY RAYMOND CANON
I was walking down the street in St. Gall,
Switzerland early last August when a
newspaper heading caught my eye. The
headlines cried out about the Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait and the immediate condemna
tion of this by the United States. 1 had the
same feeling then as I did many years ago
when, as a very young boy, I heard about
the German invasion of Poland. War was
imminent!
In the months since that day in August, I
have had many urges to write something
about the arms build-up and the subse
quent war. I resisted the urge for a couple
of reasons. The first, that there was so
much already being written about it that
my comments would only be a drop in the
proverbial bucket. The second was that I
have been experiencing a certain confusion
over the pros and cons of such a war. To a
considerable degree this confusion still
exists. That is, perhaps, a healthy sign
since 1 am a little suspicious of those who
have ultimate truth at their finger tips.
I have been to both Kuwait and Iraq. In
fact I have been representing a Canadian
company in that area for over 15 years.
There are two thoughts that remain with
me. First and foremost was the inordinate
kindness of the Iraqi people that I met. 1
can honestly say, for example, that I was
treated by the hotel employees and
management with a kindness that rivals
what 1 receive in Switzerland. The other
was the puritanical bent of the Kuwaitis in
the practice of their religion. Christians
were as suspect as any other person.
Neither country was a democracy as we
know it. 1 was very aware of this in both
countries and this is not confined to Iraq
and Kuwait. In spite of the intransigence of
the Israelis on many occasions, they still
have much more of a democracy than any
Arab nation. For this reason my heart went
out to those Arabs who dreamed of
experiencing some day a freedom that we
in Canada take totally for granted.
One of those illusive concepts that
Saddam Hussein used to win hearts in the
Arthur Black\
The Legend of Jess James. The Life and
Legend of Wyatt Earp. Lone Ranger. The
Loner.
And those, my friends, are just the
Westerns that began with “L”.
The cowboys immortalized in celluloid
had a variety of occupations as wide as the
Texas panhandle. Matt Dillon was a
marshal; Brett Maverick was a cardsharp.
Ward Bond rode herd on a wagon train,
while Lucas McCain (The Rifleman) was a
jut-jawed single parent farmer, trying to
riase his young lad in between bouts of
blowing away baddies with his modified
Winchester lever action. There were
wandering confederate soldiers (The
Rebel) and Shakespeare spouting hit men
(Paladin); good guys who often took guitar
breaks (Gene Autry) and bizarre guys who
foiled Colt .45’s with Oriental mumbles
closely followed by lightning kicks to the
earhole (Kung Fu).
The TV Westerns had a couple of things
in common. For one thing, approximately
6.5 humans bit the dust per half hour
episode. And for another thing, very little
real work ever seemed to get done.
But none of that bothered the fans. We
sat and we watched, entranced, by the tens
of millions. After all, TV Westerns were
our only pipeline to the most fabled era of
North American history - The Wild West.
The ironic thing is, the Wild West was a
hoax. A fraud. It never happened. At least,
it never happened the way our history
books -- and the TV Westerns — tell us it
happened.
Middle East (and apparently very success
fully at that) was that of Pan-Arabism. This
is the concept, very poorly understood by
most people, that there exists some
fellowship among all Arabic-speaking
people, regardless of where they live. This
concept transcends any modern Arab or
semi-Arab state and it is one that has been
used cynically by a number of leaders, real
or imaginary, to achieve some goal that
would be in their best interests.
It is this concept that has been used,
again rather cynically, by Arabs in their
attempts to carve out a homeland for the
Palestinians in territory currently held by
the Israelis. The truth of the matter is that
these same Palestinians are not particular
ly well liked by other Arabs. They tend to
be better educated than most people in the
area and their numbers are such that they
could have easily been assimilated by the
other Arab nations. However, such was the
pull of Pan-Arabism that I would hazard a
guess that most Arabs accepted as truth
one of Radio Baghdad’s oft-repeated
claims that treacherous Zionism was
behind every unjust conspiracy or agres
sion against Iraq and the Arabs. Pan-Ara
Help keep Canada together
THE EDITOR,
What does Canada mean to you?
To me, it is my home. Home as in house,
backyard, street, highway, friends, neigh
bours and all of the people I’ve never met;
some I’ve seen from train windows, at
airports and from the side of the road, but
all the rest who live in Biggar, Head-
Smashed-in Buffalo-Jump, the Chilcotan
(probably an ace of Kitmeadows), some
where up the side of a Yukon mountain, on
an ice flow, the Pas, Amprior, St. Louis de
Ha Ha, St. Stephen, Baddeck. Cable Hill,
and those on the border of Gros Morine.
People who discuss the “29” hand at the
Esterhazy Legion, the guy who has stopped
his snow plow on the East Wawanosh
sideroad to enjoy his second cup of “black
hell”, and the person with the hat in the
“Jimmy Bay” who has that laugh.
“Canada” is worthy of discussion. I
You would think from watching televi
sion that the era of the Wild West must
have stretched out at least a century and a
half — how could you cram all those
hair-raising adventures in any less time? In
fact, cowboys as working class heroes only
had about 30 good years, beginning right
after the American Civil War when a cattle
boom in Texas coincided with a lot of
demobbed soldiers with nothing better to
do than play nursemaid to herds of
Longhorns.
Most cowboys were dirt poor, none to
bright and teetering on the edge of
malnutrition from a lousy diet of coffee,
beans and sourdough bread. Almost none
of them wore guns -- they couldn’t afford
to. They worked long hard hours for next to
nothing. Some of them spent so much time
in the saddle they literally couldn’t walk
properly.
Another failing of the TV Western:
colour blindness. Can you remember any
TV Westerns that featured a black cowboy
hero? Or black cowboys at all? Wasn’t
much black in those black and white shows.
Exceedingly odd, considering that one of
every three cowboys working the range
was black.
Ironically, there was one larger than life
black cowboy. His name was John Ware.
He rode like Kit Carson, shot like Bat
Masterson, hunted like Daniel Boone and
ranched like Jim Redigo on Empire.
Alas, John Ware had the misfortune to
do all this on the banks of the Red Deer
River in Alberta.
They don’t make TV westerns there.
bism and hatred of Israel go, it seems,
hand in hand.
It makes Arabs forget completely why
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait; it made
Egypt’s Nasser into a hero even though he
was responsible for a disastrous war
against Israel and it made Arabs every
where cheer when Saddam, who is as cruel
a person as you will likely find, continued
to launch Scud missiles into Israel, a
country which studiously avoided any
participation in the recently concluded war.
However, Pan-Arabism remains a myth
far more than a political reality. It is,
nevertheless, going to make it very difficult
for the Americans, or anybody else for that
matter, to pick up all the pieces lying about
in the aftermath of the war and put them
down in an orderly fashion.
Over the next few months I will be
writing several articles on aspects of the
Arab world: their religion, the Palestinian
problem and finally the hated enemy of
Pan-Arabs everywhere - Israel. What all
this does, I hope, is help you to understand
better why peace in the Middle East may
be more difficult to sustain than the war
against Iraq.
propose a meeting of anyone interested in
talking about their hopes and concerns
about this country, for Tuesday, April 30 at
8 p.m., somewhere here at the Festival.
This is all dependent on response. If
anyone is interested, they could call the
Festival office at 523-4345.
All of this came about after meeting with
Laurie Lapierre, a commissioner for the
Citizen’s Forum (Spicer Commission). He
said “hijack” the forum. “Hold you own
inquiry into the state of the nation. If
people are interested in participating in
a dialogue then get together. If it doesn’t
matter then, I personally believe, Canada
as we now know it will go by the boards. I
realize some change needs to occur, but
that is my opinion and I am very interested
in anyone elses thoughts.”
If enough people respond we can use the
Continued on page 23
The short of it
Let’s be positive
BY BONNIE GROPP
Regarding politics 1 now consider myself
completely brain dead. After listening to
Mike Harris at the PC banquet on
Wednesday night and Liberal MPP Murray
Elston at their banquet on Thursday
evening, I no longer would have any idea
who to vote for should an election be called
tomorrow, nor am I sure I would care.
I reluctantly, and somewhat guiltily,
admit my interest in the world of politics is
new, having really only piqued since I
began working for the media. I don’t
understand all of the ins and outs and have
little memory of the history. But I am
aware of what I see through an uncomplex .
and common sense look from the outside.
At each of these functions a good deal of
time was spent, quite obviously, in
gloating over the mistakes being made by
the present provincial government. The
NDP’s, they say, are novices who will be
the ruination of Ontario, who don’t deal
honestly with the people, and who don’t
understand our economy. All true perhaps,
but face it guys, you’ve all screwed up
royally at some point. I only wish 1 could
have attended an NDP function too to see if
they would also refer to themselves as the
only “realistic alternative”.
The cynical view that the people have
now regarding their politicians stems
primarily from a lack of honesty and a
feeling of having very little say in what is
happening. Perhaps a way to begin
changing this would be for someone to
actually admit to imperfections and vulner
ability. Do we really expect our politicians
to be infallable or have they strung this
noose of inaccuracy themself? In any other
walk of life, admitting our inadequacies
and failings is often the first step to
correcting them.
The people I saw the other night
impressed me. Murray Elston is an
eloquent speaker, an intelligent man who
after years of experience knows his way
around legalese and politics like Casanova
knew his way around a woman’s heart.
Jack Riddell is a fighter, a man of integrity
and principles, while Mike Harris is an
easy affable man, who has his share of
values. When I met Bob Rae last summer I
was also impressed by what I believed was
a sincere sense of caring and concern for
the people.
Except for a certain “jaw that walks like
a man” on Parliament Hall and his
arrogant sidekick Michael, the majority of
our politicians 1 think share the common
goal of improving our economy and our
lives. The fact that they can’t seem to
always figure out how or agree on how I
can forgive them for. What I can’t ignore is
their often backstabbing tactics and holier
than thou approach. Maybe it’s time for a
little humility in our leaders; a little
honesty in saying we too aren’t perfect. If a
politician were to stand up and say, he was
sorry, he had made a mistake then I’d
really believe in his integrity and honesty.
Mike Harris did say that he felt his party
had run an honest campaign in the last
election, by not making promises they
weren’t sure they could keep. While this
might be a little closer than others, I
perceive it more as careful politicing.
Certainly, politicians have for decades
run their campaigns by pointing out and
emphasizing the mistakes and inconsisten
cies of the reigning party. However, maybe
today’s embittered public needs a different
approach. In the movie “Crazy People” a
group of institutional individuals embark
on a successful advertising scheme based
on truth. Maybe the time has come for a
little more truth in politics. Maybe it’s time
politicians took a more truthful look at
themselves.
Remembering
Blyth
THE EDITOR,
It was a year ago this week that Shawna,
Woody and I rolled into Blyth and we
thought we’d mark the occasion by
extending our gratitude to all who helped
to make our summer in your fine county
such a memorable one.
We will miss the friends we made during
our brief stay, the calm country living and
our daily commutes into work. We feel
Continued on page 23