George Carlin '73

[Hards Alumni]

Back to George Carlin.

The Milwaukee Police Department was a very different organization in 1973 than it is now. Under the leadership of then Chief Harold Brier, the Department was extremely reactionary and not above enforcing whatever law they felt like, no matter how ridiculous they looked in the process.

Keep in mind too that this was a time of considerable generational turmoil. Today's Boomers were the "Don't Trust Anyone Over 30" generation as the very oldest of Boomer was 27 at the time. The average Boomer was about 17 and most concerned about whether he was to be drafted. Our generation had an uncanny ability to absolutely p*ss off our parents and their generation. Chief Brier was about "law and order" and "knowing your place."

George Carlin wasn't and the Battle of Summerfest was a culmination of the generational Battle Between Boomers and our parents' generation.

Some things never change......

Yeah, and now you guys are the reactionaries.

[Hards Alumni]

They're all likely criminals.

Fixed

[MuggsyB]

So is Batman

Bats are much cooler than Batman.

Fair enough , we can drop the subject.  Carlin's rant on people that should be killed is hilarious. 

[rocket surgeon]

Are you talking about Junior or Eric?

 carlin was great at testing and/or pushing the boundries kinda like the missing diaries or dropped off lap top
           especially love hb rehab/detox in the suspension tank, bare arse nekid, with a hard seltzer and his unit in one hand and a crack pipe in the other or the personalized pornhub account is a nice use of time between burisma board meetings

[Spotcheck Billy]

Back to George Carlin.

The Milwaukee Police Department was a very different organization in 1973 than it is now. Under the leadership of then Chief Harold Brier, the Department was extremely reactionary and not above enforcing whatever law they felt like, no matter how ridiculous they looked in the process.

Keep in mind too that this was a time of considerable generational turmoil. Today's Boomers were the "Don't Trust Anyone Over 30" generation as the very oldest of Boomer was 27 at the time. The average Boomer was about 17 and most concerned about whether he was to be drafted. Our generation had an uncanny ability to absolutely p*ss off our parents and their generation. Chief Brier was about "law and order" and "knowing your place."

George Carlin wasn't and the Battle of Summerfest was a culmination of the generational Battle Between Boomers and our parents' generation.

Some things never change......

don't forget Judge Christ Seraphim

[Pakuni]

So you think Hunter is innocent?  Great.  They denied that it was his laptop for a year and completely buried the story for a year on big-tech.  I would be surprised if anything on or erased from that laptop isn't the tip of the iceberg for Hunter.  He's a criminal and his dad is a liar.

1. Innocent of what?
2. Who is they? And please back up what you say.

[Hards Alumni]

carlin was great at testing and/or pushing the boundries kinda like the missing diaries or dropped off lap top
           especially love hb rehab/detox in the suspension tank, bare arse nekid, with a hard seltzer and his unit in one hand and a crack pipe in the other or the personalized pornhub account is a nice use of time between burisma board meetings

You going to answer me as to who your favorite undergrad prof was?

[dgies9156]

don't forget Judge Christ Seraphim

I try every day to. Sheesh!

[MU82]

You trust the media more than you say you do

Opinion piece by Jack Shafer, Politico's senior media writer

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/opinion-you-trust-the-media-more-than-you-say-you-do,235165

If you follow the trendline of plummeting trust in newspapers, as just updated by Gallup, you could make an argument that by the year 2030 or so, 0 percent of respondents will say they have any “confidence” in newspapers and TV news.

It sounds ridiculous, but that’s the direction the data is headed. In 1979, 51 percent of those polled said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspaper journalism. But in Gallup’s latest poll this week, the number dropped to 16 percent, marking a steep four-and-a-half decade decline. Confidence in TV news has fared even worse, dropping from 46 percent in 1991 to 11 percent today.

Will the last poll respondent to lose confidence in newspapers and TV news, please cancel his subscription and turn off his TV?

This downer news about the news — and its hell-bound trajectory — surely measures something, but what? Other surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Reuters Institute bring similar findings. Could it be that newspapers are demonstrably worse than they were decades ago? No. Would anybody who was reading newspapers in 1979 say that? No, any honest assessment would find today’s newspapers more timely and accurate, fairer, and often better-written than the newspapers of 1979. So, what gives?

Newspapers aren’t alone in suffering a confidence decline. As Gallup reported earlier this month, 11 of 16 important American institutions have witnessed significant declines in confidence, including the criminal justice system, the presidency, the Supreme Court, public schools and even the military. (Congress rated only 4 percent confidence in the Gallup poll, beating out the news media for last place.)

Citing a near-universal decline in institutional confidence isn’t an attempt to offer an excuse for newspapers. But it illustrates the pervasiveness of public colic over American life and society, and suggests the institutions might not have changed as much as the perceptions of them have. The best explanation for the uniform drops might be that we’re living in an age of heightened criticism and scrutiny that leaves no faults or blemishes unnoticed compared to earlier eras. Politicians, activists and the press itself are all more critical of institutions than they were in the 1970s. If the public has lost confidence in so many institutions, how did they come to that realization? It’s safe to say that they learned much of what they know about institutional failings from what they read in newspapers or saw on TV news. In this environment, even the common man becomes a hanging judge, especially when the press goes on trial.

Another possible reason the press might have lost confidence: Reporting has not just become more critical in the past 40 years, but it’s also started covering topics it left largely untouched in earlier times. As Matthew Pressman wrote in his 2018 book, On Press: The Liberal Values That Shaped the News, as recently as the early 1960s, newspapers largely ignored matters of race, sex, class and inequity, topics that can make some readers squirm. There weren’t many stories about gender or trans issues in 1979. Other sacred cows, like organized religion, get much more scrutiny today than they did yesterday. Is the press at least partly responsible for the decline in confidence in organized religion from 68 percent in 1975 to 31 this year? Seems likely. If so, the disdain for the press might be linked to the “blame the messenger” mindset.

It’s also easy to surmise that some of the negativity toward the press originates in how many members of the political class talk about it. Politicians have long blamed the press for their shortcomings and failures, but that increased in the mid-1960s, as George Wallace showered the press with his bile. President Richard Nixon and his vice president, Spiro Agnew, imitated Wallace to good political effect. Other pols have followed, but none so aggressively as President Donald Trump, who placed press-bashing at the center of his oratorical agenda, declaring that “the Fake News Media” is “the true Enemy of the People.” Even President Joe Biden is known to slam the press. Last month on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he blamed some of his troubles on a sensationalist press and click-chasing. In our polarized age — particularly one where internet myths proliferate, and people struggle to distinguish news from opinion — it’s no surprise so many are eager to discount the media.

Yet does the public really have such a low opinion of newspapers? Gallup’s wording of its question is pretty vague. It didn’t ask respondents to rate the specific newspapers they read but to express their levels of confidence in the newspaper as an institution. They might have gotten a more positive answer if they had asked people how they feel about the daily newspaper they actually read. When the Pew Research Center asked this question in 2005, they found that 80 percent of Americans give favorable ratings to their daily. Local TV news, cable news and network TV news are rated only slightly worse. Granted, that’s data from a 17-year-old survey, but it shows that asking a slightly different question about the press can produce a startlingly different answer.

Hating newspapers but loving one’s own daily has a congressional parallel familiar to many in Washington. In 1978, political scientist Richard Fenno formulated “Fenno’s paradox,” which states that people generally disapprove of Congress but support their own congressman. That’s why members of Congress often run against Congress. If Fenno’s paradox applies to newspapers, perhaps the crisis in confidence Gallup has measured isn’t all of what it’s cracked up to be.

[HouWarrior]

I try every day to. Sheesh!

Another example.
Chief Brier loved the grandstanding of protecting the morality of Milwaukee
In the same time period, an x rated movie was released and shown in a theater (on Lisbon?) called the Devil in Miss Jones.
Georgina Spelvin starred as Ms Jones. As a promotional treat she appeared in person at the theater and was promised to perform--nekkid!!
Well my 19 year old (18 was "adult" back then) hormones required as a young MUer that I must explore and learn of this special show. I plunked down my $5 and got a single seat on the aisle ,

Georgina talked for five minutes, and began a soft Sally Rand style  nekkid dance. Actually in person she was very pretty.

MPD abruptly popped my fantasy....at least 10 cops in the aisles and exits, and half a dozen more rushed the stage to capture and arrest the brazen Ms Spelvin.

I was a bit concerned for my own freedom....how would I explain to my parents I was arrested for looking at a nekkid lady?   

Well upon the arrest and her removal, all of the cops left.  $5 was money in those days so I stayed to see the movie. An interesting watch 3 stars

Spelvin was released with a fine and proceeded with her show for two more nights ...the press garnered packed the next shows and theater was glad to front the fines.

Chief Brier arrested ...the press reported, and while some joined our Chief in the outrage... others simply became intrigued to go see what caused the hubbub. 

BTW this would be considered mild stuff nowadays but back then this was the extreme edge of sinnin' I am a sinner.

[Goose]

HouWarrior

The Parkway was quite the place. I had a friend that ran the projector there in the early '80's and spent a couple of Saturday afternoons there. Definitely an eye opener for a 19y guy.

[MU82]

don't forget Judge Christ Seraphim

Reminds me of the joke one of my buddies used to tell when we are at MU:

"I'm sober as a judge ... Judge Seraphim."

[tower912]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

[HouWarrior]

Appropriate to the moment
Attached press photo from:

Chief Brier and then suspended Judge Christ Seraphim, joined by head of MPD's Band climb on the bus to sing carols to a group from the Badger Home for the Blind,...at Christmastime 

Pity the poor residents trapped on the bus who "blindly" followed these two yahoos

[MU82]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

I got stopped once; only got a warning.

[tower912]

Hippie.

[dgies9156]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

Me

Probably still a warrant somewhere in Milwaukee for my arrest.

There was an old, heavy cop at 6th and Wisconsin whose job was to yell at jay walkers. Every one. Every day.

I think that's all he did.

As to the question that we're the reactionaries, well, possibly. But keep in mind it was our generation that broke the hold of the backroom politicians on the Democratic Party. It was our generation that sent Richard Nixon down in flames. And, yes, we elected Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

[Jockey]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

They used to arrest tons of people after Bucks playoff wins.

[Hards Alumni]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

My father got a jaywalking ticket in the 70s in MKE.  Soooo there's that.

[tower912]

A couple of times going from dorm to class or vice versa, I had jay walked out to a traffic island only to have a cruiser pull up and drive slowly next to me as I dutifully walked to a crosswalk.   But no ticket.

[HouWarrior]

Jay walking is a two way street.

We had history class at the Varsity.

 My freshman year a young man, an MUer I think, jumped out into traffic ...iaywalking... and splat ...hit and killed by a car.
I remember the look on the driver's face at the scene, after it happened, when I arrived....my god I wouldnt wish that grief on any driver

[Lennys Tap]

Who here got ticketed for jaywalking during the Breier years?

Early May, 1970, around 1am. My girlfriend and I crossed Wells between 14th and 15th on our way to the Avalanche. Not only did we get ticketed, we were taken to the courthouse via paddy wagon - the arresting officer said we needed to post bail since we would both be graduated before our court date and would be long gone from Milwaukee - she to St Louis, me to Chicago. Cop was real chivalrous (for a total dick, anyway) - he let my girlfriend ride upfront. I was relegated to th back with the handcuffed father stabbers and mother rapers.

[Lennys Tap]

Carlin was hilarious.

Good comedians push the envelope and make honest people laugh at their foibles. Give me Dave Chappelle, Norm McDonald, Bill Burr, Louie C.K., etc. over Seth Rogan any day.

[JWags85]

Good comedians push the envelope and make honest people laugh at their foibles. Give me Dave Chappelle, Norm McDonald, Bill Burr, Louie C.K., etc. over Seth Rogan any day.

Burr's most recent standup is a masterclass

[Lennys Tap]

Burr's most recent standup is a masterclass

Is that the one from Red Rock? Hilarious.