Scott Paper had a major production plant in my home town...and my best friend's dad was one of the production line supervisors. They were a very big local employer. They also had their corporate HQ just to the north, airport circle south of Philly.
When this hit the fan I was in middle school. Everyone in our town was looking back and forth like the monkey-puppet meme. Nothing that we could see was wrong or had changed, the lines were running normally, there were no disruptions in logistics, there was no scuttlebutt about problems. The problems were elsewhere--more in a moment.
My dad explained to me how television worked, in terms of whipping people into frenzy.
He also explained that people could be whipped into frenzy over nothing at all, to suit people behind the scenes, and he said that sometimes the frenzy-whipping had nothing to do with what was being presented, but other things. He commended me for checking facts with my friend's dad.
Froelich represented Wisconsin's "paper valley" (major pulp processors in the Neenah/Appleton/Green Bay area). So there was speculation that he whipped up panic via hyperbole on behalf of the paper mills there.
That led to scuttlebutt about potential logistics issues that he knew about but we didn't--again, more in a moment. Wisconsin's paper valley was inland/inside the Great Lakes. Our paper company had much better port access AND we had a massive oil refinery complex--again again, more in a moment.
Scott was a home-town company for us, but eventually Kimberly-Clark of WI took it over and shuttered it, with the help of "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap, a remarkably shady corporate predator. The impact on the job base of my home city was terminal, though I was gone for many years by then. But I knew people in management, research, technical, and blue collar jobs who had worked hard and faithfully for the company for decades. They were thrown out on the street with no hope of finding work.
So here comes the "more in a moment."
You left out several crucial bits of context.
1973 was the year of the oil embargo by OPEC. The Arabs were understandably unhappy with the US shoveling money at Israel in the October War, and supporting Israeli aggression against many Arab states. Israel had claimed giant new sections of Palestine in 1967 (and also torpedoed, gunned up, and napalmed the USS Liberty). In 1973 Israel was restarting major violence and expansionism against its Arab neighbors.
Plus the US dollar was being taken off the gold standard/was being remade as the "petrodollar" through the efforts of the central banks.
So there were significant price shocks for energy and everything else. There were gas lines/shortages and heating oil shortages (the latter as we were going into winter).
So people were more than a bit twitchy. It wasn't them being goofy or stupid as your story suggests, and I'm offended by your tone. It was a hard time for working Americans. How would you react if gas went overnight from $4 a gallon to $16? If it could even be gotten at that price...after waiting in line for hours.
My dad despised Johnny Carson (and was long in bed by that hour anyway, since morning shift started at 0700 hours) and felt he should have been less "lippy" on the topic. He figured it was typical "TV star" arrogance. He thought that jokes about shortages, at that juncture, were in extreme bad taste...but what would a rich, connected TV guy know about that?
I ask you to remember the people who were the victims of all this, and not regard them as goy cattle to be mocked in their hardships.
Secondly, I wasn't reporting on things that I saw. And you did, so of course I do not possess the level of understanding as you do.
Thirdly, what is truly offensive is that you call my tone offensive accusing me of insulting hardworking Americans. I am pretty certain you possess no magical mind reading capabilities. At no point did I insult hard-working Americans. I wrote about this merely as an interesting history repeating itself arc.
Scott Paper had a major production plant in my home town...and my best friend's dad was one of the production line supervisors. They were a very big local employer. They also had their corporate HQ just to the north, airport circle south of Philly.
When this hit the fan I was in middle school. Everyone in our town was looking back and forth like the monkey-puppet meme. Nothing that we could see was wrong or had changed, the lines were running normally, there were no disruptions in logistics, there was no scuttlebutt about problems. The problems were elsewhere--more in a moment.
My dad explained to me how television worked, in terms of whipping people into frenzy.
He also explained that people could be whipped into frenzy over nothing at all, to suit people behind the scenes, and he said that sometimes the frenzy-whipping had nothing to do with what was being presented, but other things. He commended me for checking facts with my friend's dad.
Froelich represented Wisconsin's "paper valley" (major pulp processors in the Neenah/Appleton/Green Bay area). So there was speculation that he whipped up panic via hyperbole on behalf of the paper mills there.
That led to scuttlebutt about potential logistics issues that he knew about but we didn't--again, more in a moment. Wisconsin's paper valley was inland/inside the Great Lakes. Our paper company had much better port access AND we had a massive oil refinery complex--again again, more in a moment.
Scott was a home-town company for us, but eventually Kimberly-Clark of WI took it over and shuttered it, with the help of "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap, a remarkably shady corporate predator. The impact on the job base of my home city was terminal, though I was gone for many years by then. But I knew people in management, research, technical, and blue collar jobs who had worked hard and faithfully for the company for decades. They were thrown out on the street with no hope of finding work.
So here comes the "more in a moment."
You left out several crucial bits of context.
1973 was the year of the oil embargo by OPEC. The Arabs were understandably unhappy with the US shoveling money at Israel in the October War, and supporting Israeli aggression against many Arab states. Israel had claimed giant new sections of Palestine in 1967 (and also torpedoed, gunned up, and napalmed the USS Liberty). In 1973 Israel was restarting major violence and expansionism against its Arab neighbors.
Plus the US dollar was being taken off the gold standard/was being remade as the "petrodollar" through the efforts of the central banks.
So there were significant price shocks for energy and everything else. There were gas lines/shortages and heating oil shortages (the latter as we were going into winter).
So people were more than a bit twitchy. It wasn't them being goofy or stupid as your story suggests, and I'm offended by your tone. It was a hard time for working Americans. How would you react if gas went overnight from $4 a gallon to $16? If it could even be gotten at that price...after waiting in line for hours.
My dad despised Johnny Carson (and was long in bed by that hour anyway, since morning shift started at 0700 hours) and felt he should have been less "lippy" on the topic. He figured it was typical "TV star" arrogance. He thought that jokes about shortages, at that juncture, were in extreme bad taste...but what would a rich, connected TV guy know about that?
I ask you to remember the people who were the victims of all this, and not regard them as goy cattle to be mocked in their hardships.
Firstly, thank you for the context.
Secondly, I wasn't reporting on things that I saw. And you did, so of course I do not possess the level of understanding as you do.
Thirdly, what is truly offensive is that you call my tone offensive accusing me of insulting hardworking Americans. I am pretty certain you possess no magical mind reading capabilities. At no point did I insult hard-working Americans. I wrote about this merely as an interesting history repeating itself arc.
Disgusting, uncouth and unbecoming on your part.
You're adorable.
And blocked.
I am laughing.