Who knew? Mary Anne and Gilligan...Potheads

I am back. I have some time and the inclination to post on a Sunday. I remember what I wanted to go on about from last week.....the marijuana possession conviction of Dawn Wells.

This one is pretty funny when you really think about it. Dawn Wells, who played Mary Anne on Gilligan's Island, was arrested, and convicted, I think, of possession of marijuana when she was pulled over after a birthday party (her 69th) and the cop found 3 or 4 partially smoked joints. He pulled her over as she was swerving and he could smell the dope that she was allegedly smoking.

The funny part is that she is the second castaway, er cast member, to get nailed for smoking dope. I recall that Bob Denver, Gilligan himself and before that beatnik Maynard G. Krebs (which would explain his dope smoking) was arrested for a similar offense before his death (though to arrest him after his death would be much more funny and really just as absurd).

Here is a case where the "harm" (at 69, I am not sure what the harm actually is) is personal in nature, but the state, the fucking nanny state at that, steps in and has to slap an individual on the wrist for having the audacity to follow the mantra of the forefathers of the United States and follow her pursuit of happiness, without harming others in any direct manner (not withstanding some poor driving, which may or may not have been marijuana induced).

Is this not the most ironic thing? The United States, a nation and culture, founded on the principles of individual self-determination and liberty, finds itself sucking at the teat of government....all at the price of individual liberty.

I will not get into Canada as the history is different. We have a greater sense of the collective good, or so we are told by the nanny state, so it must be true. Then again, we achieved are independence as an act of British Parliament, so conceivably, our independence can be taken away in the same manner, so there is NO pretense of individual liberty in this fucking country. Bullshit, there is....we are fed to believe in this individual liberty, but it is an illusion and is always taken away when the desire is there.

Of course, my American friends cannot even debate any issue without epithets and labels being handed out by either side of the debate. Thought, or independent minded thought, based on the facts at hand and not the ideology espoused has been banished. I have to agree with the boys of Green Day with their American Idiot recording. There is a grave danger of thought and action in the US and it is all based on the fear of terrorism on the home soil.

It does not seem to matter that the sacrifice of liberty and debate is the price to be paid for the illusion of security. Then again, the US has history on their side, as the McCarthy era and the good work done by J. Edgar Hoover many years ago attest. The funniest part is that as the Boomers have taken the reins of power, the same ageist undercurrents rear their heads. It was not so much the the generation of those in power that determined their "odd" actions but their demographic position. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss as Pete Townsend would have told you.....before he became the "new boss".

I guess my ultimate conclusion is leave the 69 year old Dawn Wells alone to blow out. She is not harming anybody, so what is the point? Who is actually served here? How is society in general protected? It is not.

Now, I wonder if Ginger and the Professor like to engage in a little 4:20 action? Of course, with Skipper, Gilligan and the Howells gone, I am pretty sure we do not have to worry about them getting caught with a doob in their mouths (or cars).

Ciao!