Posted on 03/21/2012 6:46:14 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
“If I were the devil, I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree—Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first—I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to pray after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’
And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors on how to lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches that war that themselves, and nations that war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flame. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, and neglect to discipline emotions—just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography—soon I could evict God from the courthouse, and then the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.
If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. What do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would question against extremes and hard work, and Patriotism, and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were to devil I’d keep on doing on what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, good day.”
Harvey nailed it...
Great post. Paul Harvey was true blue.
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“Great post. Paul Harvey was true blue.”
He absolutely was. I’ve been looking for a radio show from years ago. He was really stressed. He was talking in financial terms I couldn’t understand at the time. It was directed at Clinton and Rubin’s financing of the country’s debt. I don’t know if it was long term or short term debt but he predicted exactly what we’ve been experiencing. I loved him.
Great post.
We all grew up with Paul Harvey, but around 1980 the mainstream Left couldn’t stand him anymore, countering his message with their Liberal version: Garrison Keillor.
Prairie Home Companion established that now-familiar sneering NPR faux-folksy antidote to Paul Harvey’s popularity. Dripping with postmodern sarcasm, the Left is not above co-opting the style of Rural America. They know how to fight dirty... and it’s high time that conservative America does battle with socialism in the same way. Breitbart knew this.
During WWII, when he was eligible to serve, he was draft dodger. Never served ...
I'm sorry but I have to call BS on this. I don't think most people would have known what either a drug-sniffing dog or a metal detector was in 1965.
I do recall hearing Mr. Harvey say these very words much later, in the '80s or '90s.
“During WWII, when he was eligible to serve, he was draft dodger. Never served ...”
Not true. He was in the Army. He was discharged after just a few months, but he enlisted.
The world is going to hell in a handbasket....Good day :)
PROVE IT!! Don't be like a demonrat that only makes accusations without proof. PROVE IT!! OR SHUT UP!!!
THe words are used in the recording. I guess it’s up to you to show that the recording is inaccurately dated.
Thanks for sharing Paul Harvey’s faults. Does this make him a hypocrite? or diminish the power of his later life? We live in a fallen world my friend. As for Paul’s later works and this particular recording, I forgive him.
PROVE IT!! Don't be like a demonrat that only makes accusations without proof. PROVE IT!! OR SHUT UP!!!
Well, I can't offer any direct proof other than my own personal experience as someone who lived through that time, and who observed the adoption of metal detectors for security purposes in the 1970s. I guess I didn't expect my observation to be so troublesome to anyone.
If you Google the words metal detector security history you will find this Wikipedia page. If you look at that page carefully, you will find a paragraph entitled "Security Screening" that includes these words:
A series of aircraft hijackings led the United States in 1972 to adopt metal detector technology to screen airline passengers, initially using magnetometers that were originally designed for logging operations to detect spikes in trees. The Finnish company Outokumpu adapted mining metal detectors, still housed in a large cylindrical pipe, to make a commercial walk-through security detector.
Now, I don't want to be argumentative, or offend your obviously well-tuned desire to defend Mr. Beck, but I'm finding it difficult to understand why, if a radio commentator like Paul Harvey was able to anticipate the need for the use of metal detectors for school security in 1965, why did the first actual devices used at United States airports have to be improvised from metal detectors originally designed for logging operations to detect spikes in trees? Was Paul Harvey the only man in America who anticipated the need, making public his prediction in 1965, while every department of the government, at every level, ignored his prediction?
I mean, I listened to Paul Harvey pretty much every day from approximately 1982 until maybe 2007, and I thought he was a remarkable communicator. As I said, I remember hearing him delivering the words quoted earlier in this thread, and, although I can't remember exactly when I heard him do so, it certainly wasn't in 1965, when I used my transistor radio to listen to The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel but not - I regret to say - to Paul Harvey. Many years later, in the mid-1980s, his words on the radio helped me personally and directly, and I've always been thankful for the truth he spoke on that occasion.
However, as much I esteem Paul Harvey, and miss his clear voice and great wisdom, I find it a little hard to believe that he foresaw the use of metal detectors for use in schools six years before that technology was placed in limited use in US civialian airports, and at least ten years before it was used at schoolhouse doors.
But hey, I could be wrong. My recollection is that Paul Harvey didn't try to foretell the future in his radio broadcasts very often; that wasn't his style. I'm not saying he never did it, just that he didn't do it very often. Can I prove it? No, I can't, really. I guess it's just a memory.
ping
Mr. Harvey delivered the speech many times. He updated it over the years. The version I heard was broadcast in 1996. That's the version that Mr. Beck broadcast, just as I suspected.
Why Mr. Beck chose to state that this speech was delivered in 1965, I don't know. My objection was that the language about metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs at schoolhouse doors was BS based on my memory of the world of 1965, and of my memory of the roll-out of metal detectors.
Mr. Beck added noise and spooky music over Paul Harvey's voice as well. I guess that was to help fool the gullible. Again I wonder why. Why? I very much doubt that Paul Harvey would have approved of the frame of falsehood in which Mr. Beck presented his very wise words. Beck did us no favors by doing so.
There. I've "put up." What are you going to do?
Thank you.
Spooky.
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