Wednesday, November 9, 2016

This too shall pass.

At the time I'm writing this it looks like President Trump, though Florida was, last I heard, in automatic recount territory.  Having had all hope crushed, I assume that if that holds true, the result of the recount will be that Trump still wins.

So . . . yeah.


When America was getting really into the whole "We claim to have free speech, but fuck everyone who disagrees with me!" mode the band was blacklisted and all the members were placed under FBI surveillance.  By 1952 the band was forced to disband because it was impossible for them to make money.  In 1953 their record company terminated their contract and removed them from its catalog.

With no airplay, no record company, and no live performances (the band was already disbanded, remember), the band really should have been dead and buried.

The politics of the 1950s in America were not kind to dissidents.

Instead they had a comeback that ought to have been impossible.  As in, if you put it in a movie people would deride it as being unrealistic.

Even though the band didn't exist at the time, it's members were still being harassed by the government in 1955.  HUAC (The House UnAmerican Activities Committee itself) called two of the former members and accused them of being communists which . . . wasn't actually a crime, nor should it be.

Then the band got back together and in December of the same year put on a concert.  This involved looking around for someplace to host the concert in spite of them being blacklisted and being the targets of harassment from right wing groups and anti communist groups (not all of which are right wing) whenever they tried to preform.  What they found should boggle minds.

In December 1955 the Weavers played a sold out concert in Carnegie Hall.  The concert was recorded by an independent label, which signed them due to the massive success.

Things weren't all smooth sailing from there.  The group broke up again.

1968 saw the election of McCarthy-era asshole Richard Nixon.

And then 1980 saw the election of Reagan.

And yet, here they are saying, "Be of good cheer."

For, this -too- will pass.

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