Harlan Ellison Interview, Part 2

Richard Eiswerth's interview with author Harlan Ellison continues. From 1976.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Harlan
• Ellison
• science
• fiction
• authors

[JoyGrenade]

Harlan has to be one of the most interesting individuals in the world.  I would love to have half an hour with which to pick his brain.

[Elric33239]

More than likely what they knew based on seeing the aggressive military enlistment campaigns going on at college campuses at that time as well as seeing the "walking wounded" when they got back from 'Nam! One of my next-door neighbor friends had an older brother who served over there and came back a drug-addict and a basket case with very few coherent things to say about his experiences! How many of those have we seen on THE TUBE in the late '60s? Too damn few!

[arklowrockz]

@Alexm799 Yeah but that WAS TV in Britain in the 70's. Reg Varney "On The Buses" I mean come on??? And all the sport?? That was glorious!!

And I'm from a fairly republican part of Ireland but we loved all that stuff when we were little kids in the 70's

[Elric33239]

@CDBBryan You mean snippets and clippings of reprinted articles! And just because a former Marine wrote it doesn't mean he knew everything about all vets who served in Vietnam!

[CDBBryan]

@Elric33239 I don't know what basis you have for trashing READER'S DIGEST. They do investigative special reports, but mostly reprint articles from TIME, NEWSWEEK, etc.

The writer identified himself as a former Marine who served in Vietnam, obviously in contact with other Vietnam veterans, and not just some guy who wrote an article, but never actually lived it.

I feel bad for your friend's brother, and meant no offense.  "crazy vet" is his word, the news/tv/media stereotype of Vietnam vets

[Elric33239]

@CDBBryan The brother of my friend, Billy Huff, wasn't a "crazy vet" as you put it! He was a wounded vet who never recovered mentally nor physically after his tour of duty! While I wasn't paying attention to these ads that featured "fraudulent vets," I would question your statistics regarding the "success" of Vietnam Vets as opposed to vets of earlier wars. Reader's Digest isn't the most reliable of sources for news in my experience.

[CDBBryan]

@Elric33239 With all due respect, I read an article in READER'S DIGEST in 1994 that cites stats about Vietnam veterans, and that many of the "crazy vet" types you describe were exposed as frauds pretending to be vets for drama and attention. The ratioof financial success among veterans is higher than the national average of civilians from that era, and likewise, the ratio of alcoholism and drug use and suicide is lower. "Crazy vet" is an image baselessly projected by an anti-military media.

[Alexm799]

What an interesting and entertaining man, although i'm saddened somewhat by his impression of the UK..

[luv2bud]

The Flying Nun . . . lol!

[andrewtheman19]

@KentAllard

PKD was crazy, but he WAS also involved with some student organizations that the FBI had on watch lists. Sane people that knew him have confirmed this, look it up.