Victim of Culture

Obama summons Bob Dylan to White House for Beer Summit

Bob Dylan, from the outside looking in, seems like a cool guy.  While he might not be the most influential artist of the past fifty years when it comes to music, it would be hard to argue against him being the most influential on society.  He’s one of the few musicians you’ll find profiled in a high school history textbook.

That being said, I’m sure he has his bad days.  I’m sure there’s days he wakes up and just figures it’s not worth washing his hair or cleaning the spit from his harmonica.  On those days he’s Bob au naturel, and loving it.  July 23, 2009 was one of those days.

While walking in Long Beach, south of New York, Bob got pulled over by the cops.  Why?  Apparently someone called to report a man wandering around the neighborhood.  It was a mostly minority neighborhood, according to reports, which means some minority person called to report a strange looking Jewish man was wandering about.  This used to happen all the time in Poland, but it was just Uncle Jeremiah.  Anyway, so the police show up and it’s two young cops who don’t recognize Dylan, which might be because it’s an au naturel day.  It might also be because he’s not Hannah Montana.  Either, or, type of situation.

After asking him for his ID (which he did not have on him at the time), the police ask him to come with them back to his hotel so he can be identified.  They must have felt foolish driving up to the hotel asking if they could identify one of the biggest names in music history, but then again he’s no Pink.  Though, in fairness, they might not have been able to understand a word he said.  Still, apparently Bob stayed quite nice and friendly throughout the entire incident, which leads me to one Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Gates, as you may recall, is the Harvard professor that had the cops called on him by a neighbor who said he looked suspicious outside his own house.  When the police showed up he supposedly acted uncooperatively, not wanting to produce ID at first.  This in turn led to the police officer arresting Gates, and President Obama later saying the officer had “acted stupidly.”  I do wonder which is more stupid—not recognizing some Harvard professor or not recognizing Bob Dylan?  I wonder if Obama will comment?

And before anyone chimes in with they’re not the same because one was black and one was white, please do keep in mind that Dylan is Jewish.  His real name is Robert Zimmerman.  He and Gates are both of an age where they can recall quite open racism in this country, even if today it is slightly better concealed from public view.  So, the question is will President Obama call Dylan and the two cops to the White House for a beer summit?  There’s a good song waiting to be written.

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