Ken Burns on the Prohibition

[JcMack]

Starts tomorrow on PBS. Something to watch I guess. 5 HRS. of anti booze propaganda. His series on the War between the States was so slanted, I never watched anything else he produced. Liquor stores are closed here tomorrow. I've got to run out now for more beer for the show.

 

[labworm]

I'm hooked on Boardwalk Empire, so I will have to check this out. Thanks for the notice.

 

[cass]

I sure didn't think his Civil War film was slanted at all. Now, Shelby Foote leaned toward his Southern roots a little, but Barbara Fields did the same with her Northern leanings. It was , I think, evenly presented. I'll have to watch Ken's newest venture.

 

[Faulkner]

Ah, it's a shame prohibition didn't work.

 

[Damn Yankee]

Articles in this mornings Sun Herald Paper. Lots of Bootlegging went on down here on the coast from receiving to making booze. First state to go dry last to go wet 1966. It is still illegal to make home brew beer in MS.

Somebody's always screwing up somebody's fun.

We still don't need a license to carry a loaded handgun in our home or vehicle.

 

[sheriffoconee]

Thanks for the heads up, I have it set to record....

 

[doublesharp]

The bootleggers and the Baptist preachers still keep parts of Kentucky "dry" if you don't know where to look. Main bootlegger in Bell County had a circular drive with an embedded bell. 1/2 pint of JW Dant was $2 back in the early 70s.

 

[27145]

We had prohibition at work, but it never stopped us from getting a squarebag.

 

[keith44spl]

The bootleggers and the Baptist preachers still keep parts of Kentucky "dry" if you don't know where to look. Main bootlegger in Bell County had a circular drive with an embedded bell. 1/2 pint of JW Dant was $2 back in the early 70s.

DS,
Back in the ol days we used to see a lot of Ol' Crow and
Yellowstone 1/2 pints...None of the good stuff you guys were used to.

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[litauer]

Okrent in his book Last Call describes Carry Nation as "six feet tall, with the biceps of a stevedore, the face of a prison warden and the persistence of a toothache."
Amazing how such a great nation could buy into something monstrous as Prohibition.

 

[JcMack]

2038 hrs: I apologize for suggesting in my original post this program might have some merit. At this point I've heard the word "progressives" so many times I have to adjourn to throw up. Now I NEED another beer and another TV program. Ken Burns affirms my thoughts about him.

 

[BruceHMX]

That's why you should sit back in lazy boy with beer and watch Pawn Stars... LOL Or like me search reloading and gun stuff while drinking beer. Prohibition was for punks...

 

[roarindan]

I for one learned a lot. I didnt know about the work that went into the Amendment, all the people for or against it, the power brokers that it created and the lives that were ruined in Imposing the ban.

 

[AirForceShooter]

Watched Part 1.
Interesting how they pointed out that this was the first time the Federal Gov. tried to limit behaviour of people.
It was well done.
Part 2 should be gun. It's the bootleggers tern

AFS

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I watched it last night. What a bunch of idealistic idiots. They think a bunch of eggheads can sit down and with the stroke of the pen change people's behavior. That's like saying we had to send the president over to Kyoto to sign some global warming hoax treaty and the glaciers will instantly stop melting. Just sign it! Fast!!
Well, these smart people handed a golden goose to gangsters who made fortunes. And people still had all the fun they wanted anyway.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I tried to watch it last night after a few too many Jack and Cokes, I ended up taking a nap instead...

 

[moosedog]

What Wyatt said.

It is a huge part of history in the Detroit and SE Michigan area because of the proximity to Canada.
I used to install floors when I was in my early 20s and we used to run into trap doors leading into hidden cellars all the time. These were left over from to boot legging days. I heard some of the old timers say that at night, the evening air smelled like a distllery with every second home "cooking up the booze" People are still pulling bottles off the bottom of the Detroit and St. Clair rivers.
If the people want it, they will find a way to get it.

 

[Cyrano]

Ken Burns is pretty far left. I remember his take on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Not one word about firearms. They lived on elk for most of two years; apparently those elk just took off their skins and jumped into the cooking pot.

 

[27145]

It was a great show. I used it as a drinking game, every time they said "alcohol" I chugged a beer.

 

[brucev]

I can understand why prohibition was passed. In the era prior to its passage, alcohol was one of the most destructive forces in developing urban society, a reality aptly reflected in "Gin Alley." Those who pushed for Prohibition did so out of a desire to protect women and children who were the ones so often victimized by abuse of alcohol. If I could, I'd wipe alcohol off the face of the earth. It is by far the most pervasive and destructive drug known to man. Between tobacco and alcohol, I'd much rather see someone smoke than drink. Joe Camel has never taken a car and killed a grandfather with his two granddaughters. But folks holding hands with Jack Daniels have.

Reality is that morality cannot be legislated. Prohibition failed because it was not broadly supported by society. It failed because the criminal element was able to use it as a means by which to make money, etc. It does not pose a risk to all men but for some men. Sadly, those men and women often find their drive for alcohol to be uncontrollable. The consequences for them and their loves ones are extreme.

As stated earlier, if it were possible I'd eradicate alcohol from the face of the earth. But then I'd also do the same with illegal drugs the abuse of which have so sadly damaged and destroyed so many innocent people. The repeal of prohibition was a good thing. It decriminalized what as until then a lucrative money maker for criminals. That is the only reason why I now support the decriminalization of marijuana and a review of the laws pertaining to other currently illegal drugs. It is simply facing reality in as practical and workable a manner as possible. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.

 

[hannstv]

I wonder if in the future "the war on drugs" will be looked on in the same light? I enjoy a drink frequently but have not tried drugs. At my age don't need any new vices.

 

[CajunBass]

My mother used to tell how when she first met my father, her mother told her to "stay away from that (indert name here). He's a bootlegger."

Alas, I never asked him if he really had been. .

He DID have a 40 Ford Coupe with a rumble seat I'm told.

 

[wbraswell]

I like the show. Someone should have taken a hatchet to Carrie Nation. Too many good men died to try to enforce stupid laws by zealots. Still goes on today. They just make thugs millionaires.

 

[JcMack]

I would say if it weren't for alcohol ugly women wouldn't stand a chance. But that would be wrong of me.

 

[Armyphotog]

Starts tomorrow on PBS. Something to watch I guess. 5 HRS. of anti booze propaganda. His series on the War between the States was so slanted, I never watched anything else he produced. Liquor stores are closed here tomorrow. I've got to run out now for more beer for the show.

It certainly was! They made out like we lost the war or something. We'll forget the fact it was fought for all the wrong reasons. And just like today, the money interests controled the Southern Congress, just like the Money Interests with their paid spokesmen do today. About one percent of Mississippians had plantations and held large tracts of land and owned slaves, yet they controlled the sessession vote in our state. I was born in hard scrabble Northeast Mississippi where there was nothing but poor folks and share croppers. I didn't know until a few years ago that our part of the state actually voted against sessession, but that's not who controlled our State Legislature. Sound familiar?

 

[Damn Yankee]

Armyphotog;

Have you ever been to this site and read about the cause of the war?

Some interesting reading.

confederate heritage

 

[sigp220.45]

I liked the first part, and am looking forward to the rest.