What would the late Abbie Hoffman...

[foreigncorrespondent]

...say about what is happening in the United States, and the world today?

I ask this question because I am currently watching Steal this Movie. I am watching this man stand up in court and say he is not an American, because he is outlawed in his country.

So much of what they are showing in this movie is so overwhelming me right now. If I didn't realize it was set in the 60's on up until his death, I would swear this guy was talking about today in the United States.

So what are your thoughts? What do you think Abbie would say today?

[Dr Fate]

1. He would say "The young have to be there..."

...and w/o a draft, the youth of today barely gives a shit. Americans have to have a personal stake in somthing to care about anything...

[qwertyMike]

2. You want a revolution?

Abolish TV

[RichM]

3. On the one hand, Abbie was a very bright & perceptive guy. He would

understand what has happened very clearly. It's often said that his depression over what the country was becoming had something to do with his suicide. (I don't know if this is verifiably so.)

Abbie saw that what the US did in Vietnam revealed a terrible truth about the United States. It is that part of the US that has now become a deranged rampaging monster.

Today, Abbie would feel that the 2-party system was hopeless. He might have been a Green. At this point, however, I think he would have hit his limits as a social theorist & diagnostician. The entire movement of the 60's was great at criticizing the ills of American society, but didn't have a clue of what should be done to set things right.

I don't say this to belittle him; fixing the world is a very tough problem. In my mind, though, the late '60's movement was long on social criticism & had some very good values; yet it lacked a solid political analysis & any understanding of history. It was a movement of well-meaning but bratty & spoiled kids, in many ways.

[proud patriot]

4. What they lacked then we have now

I think abbie would an internet savy undergrounder .

what would he say now "you can change the world
just stand up to do it "

[fla nocount]

7. What do you mean "no plan"

"Movein to the country,
Gonna eat alot a peaches,
Gonna find Jesus, on our own."

Sounds like a plan to me. Some of us made it happen, unfortuntely not me, yet.

[treefrogjohn]

9. keep the mail coming

I remember sitting in a meeting during the Yippie days. Abbie, Jerry, Bob Fass, Vaughn Meader, Ed Sanders, and several others were discussing what to do when we took charge. The discussion topic was how to make sure the mail kept being delivered. There was a sense that the people wanted even a revolutionary government to provide expected services.

[FlemingsGhost]

5. Whatever it would be, he wouldn't be writing it on DU.

He lived to bend, twist and break the "rules."

[Zorra]

6. Something like, "I believe in compulsory cannibalism--

if people were forced to eat what they kill, there would be no more wars" Abbie Hoffman

[Terwilliger]

8. he would have been in prison for years, by now

he wouldn't have put up with this shit

[AWD]

10. Abbie is a hero to me

When I stood among the Secret Service at Ohio Stadium that day, I was angry, scared, and determined. As I walked away that morning, I thought to myself "this is what Abbie Hoffman must have felt like every day."

Steal This Movie is an inspiration to me. IfAbbie were alive today, he'd be proud of the actions that many DUers take. From organizing to marching to civil disobedience...he's with us everyday, and we should carry his lessons in everything we do.

[foreigncorrespondent]

11. I agree with everything you say...

...after watching the movie I have a new found respect for this man. A man I never of until I saw part of the movie a few months back. And after watching the movie in full today, I can honestly say he is my hero as well.

A true patriot!

[FDRrocks]

12. I don;t know much about him...

skimmed through Steal this Book. I would imagine he would call us to arms, tell us to shoot cops with LSD tipped darts (like his book explained how to do), and generally cause choas. I would support that over the tacit resistance going on now, actually, even though I completely disagree with it.

I would also imagine he would be disgusted with the prices of printing independant zines nowadays, as well as the price of weed and the quality of LSD.

Just guessing.

[edzontar]

13. I met Abbie several times, and one time with his mother!!!!

In the late 60s-early 70s he was a regular at portests and lectures in the Boston area.

I met him first at Brandeis U,, where he gave a lecture. He was an alum.

Saw him many times after that, mostly at rallies.

Then in 1986-87, when he was on trial with amy Carter for the U Mass Amherst CIA protest, I met him fgain several times.

He was tried in the courthouse in Northampton, MA, and ilive about two blocks fron the courthouse where they acquitted him.

He was a nice man, funny and actually quite modest and friendly despite his bigger than life persona.

The best thing he ever put out was his first book, "Revolution for the Hell of it", in 1968. I treasure my copy.

His suicide was tragic. He was diagnosed as Manic-Depresive. Who knows what really went on in his head? I miss him, like so many other od that era, who would have much to add to the present debate.