Author Ray Bradbury died this morning in Los Angeles at the age of 91, confirms io9. Bradbury, a pioneer in genres from horor to science fiction, is best known for his dystopian novel "Fahrenheit 451," which imagines a world without books. Goto: Ray Bradbury Dead: 'Fahrenheit 451' Author Dies At 91
I was never into fiction (too many WWII books on my shelves waiting to be read), but I read Fahrenheit 451 in school years ago. It was interesting, and its surprising to see how many of his "futuristic" ideas became reality. The first one that comes to mind are the "video walls" (or whatever he called them). Has anyone seen those 80+ inch TVs at Best Buy recently?
A fine tribute to Mr. Bradbury was posted on Live Science online. Goto: Ray Bradbury's Death Mourned by Scientists and Sci-Fi Authors | LiveScience
History is made from all kinds of people, the great, near great and the mearly obscure and otherwise unremarkable.
Those riots were a disgrace fro start to finish. A fine example of how people can use a situation to further their own ends, and at someone elses expense to boot. I'm not going to wish Rodney well for his trip to the Pearly Gates. Mr King did nothing whatsoever to reign in the violence perpetrated in his name. Did Rodney appear on the media asking for calm? Maybe, Im wrong, maybe he spent the rest of his born days travelling from school to school. Don't know. I don't care what the cops did, what happened afterward was the real crime. Too many people with chips on their collective shoulders. It reminded me very much of the rioting in Constantinople during the period of Belisarius. The mob were rioting for the simple reason that they supported either 'blues' or 'greens' in the local Circus Maximus
Did Rodney appear on the media asking for calm? He did appear on TV during the riots, saying "Can't we all just get along?" It is amazing how often people's anger, frustration, grief, or whatever is expressed by breaking into a store and stealing a television set.......
Not just a riot, any disruption of society, like say a hurricane can stimulate the desire of a five finger discount.
I always felt badly for Reginald Denny, the truck driver, who was beaten terribly for being in the wrong intersection when the gates of hades opened up on Florence Ave.
Remember people, the riots didn't happen because of King's beating by the police, it happened when they were found not guilty in the trial spurred by the video of King being beaten and tazed after the traffic stop. He (King) certainly wasn't a model citizen, but the violence directed at the man by the law authority personnel was un-necessary. Unfortunately for them, and LA in the long run the episode was "caught on tape" by a private citizen. Goto: News from The Associated Press And here is a link to a portion of the beating, and interviews with King. Goto: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2012/jun/18/video-rodney-king-whose-beating-led-la-riots-dies-ar-1995696/
I am sorry to hear this. He was thrust into the national spotlight and how many of us would be prepared for that? And then every choice he made, good or bad, was trotted out for all to see and comment on. I think he did the best he could with a completely out of control situation and with the unrelenting media attention. Just a guy trying to live his life and it ended too soon. That's always sad.
I tend to agree that Rodney King was probably way over his head when this mess spun out of control. The low-life scum bags who took the situation as an excuse to assault innocent folks like Mr. Denny, commit arson, steal & destroy property of innocent citizens, they are the one's to blame. I don't care how gross an injustice one thinks the original verdict was, the riots were inexcusable. If those thugs really cared about justice, they would have organized a peaceful protest or rally. Instead they went out and committed crimes. That tells you all you need to know.