who warrants “an appreciation?” Not Charlton Heston.
As I’ve grown older and spent more time in activism & politics, I’ve noticed that I have an increasingly strident world view. I really do think there are good people and bad people, and while there are shades of gray I find it pretty inexcusable when someone spends a bulk of their time doing something bad for the world. It’s why I can’t imagine seriously dating a Republican. This morning one of our interns asked if I’d seen an objective — or politically astute — critique of Charlton Heston, and instead all I found were “appreciations,” “appraisals,” and this little delight from Yahoo News about Heston as the “regal” face of the “scrappy” NRA. What I can’t find is the piece that says what I believe to be the truth: Charlton Heston was a compelling actor and notable Hollywood figure who spent the latter half of his life dedicated to a cause that killed lots and lots of people.
Certainly it’s difficult to evaluate a life. My friend Richard Kim was one of the few to deservedly stomp on William F. Buckley’s grave, believing as I do that Buckley spent a lifetime espousing policies that have left thousands (millions?) without a social safety net while simultaneously sensationalizing and celebrating the AIDS crisis. When Ronald Reagan died the right had already planned out a multi-day deification, and while it made for pretty bad television it cemented Reagan’s legacy as a great leader. There were voices of dissent, but the right won the posthumous p.r. war.
Today the website for The Brady Center, known (for better or worse) as the most significant gun control organization in the country, is silent on the death of Charlton Heston. There is apparently nothing to be said for a man who helped lead a resurgence of the nation’s largest pro-gun lobby; who campaigned in state after state preventing common-sense gun laws from going on the books; and whose efforts ensured that very sick people from college campuses and post offices to subways and shopping malls all over the country could get their hands on guns they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. I guess they’re being respectful in that non-profitey way, but when something as mainstream as Yahoo News is calling the NRA “scrappy” and Heston’s gun-lust “regal,” you’re losing a big, BIG public debate and you better put out a goddamned press release.
It takes some courage to stomp on a grave, but sometimes it just needs to be done.
About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
Someone had to say it.