George Takei Tells How He Was Sent To An Internment Camp At Age 5. And Somehow It's Not Horrifying!
Last night's Daily Show brings us George Takei, who's gone from pretend starship helmsman to real-life human rights hero and kept an excellent outlook on everything, somehow. Takei is on a press tour for his autobiographical documentary, To Be Takei, and instead of the usual interview fodder -- his career on the popular "Star Wars" TV series or his work as a gay rights activist -- Jon Stewart instead asked Takei to talk about his childhood experience in an internment camp during World War II. The amazing thing, and one of the reasons we just love George Takei, is that he can talk about the horrible irony of saying the Pledge of Allegiance in an elementary classroom and looking out at barbed wire and guard towers while saying "with liberty and justice for all" ... and he can tell the story so calmly, summing it up with his father's explanation years later:
"Our democracy is a people's democracy, and it can be as great as the people can be, but it's also as fallible as people are."
We'll take George Takei's patriotism over the flag-waving, "U.S.A!"-shouting version any old day.
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Did you know that George Takei has his own fragrance?
No, seriosuly: <a href="http:\/\/www.eaumyfragrance.com\/\?gclid=Cj0KEQjw3cKeBRDG-KKqqIj4qJgBEiQAOamX_d4e_xiokHmvlSmvN6FI11MNbtTArLuH99UmtLjDbbAaAsnh8P8HAQ" target="_blank">Eau My</a>.
Ok, true story and tangent... When I was a kid living in San Francisco in the 70&#039;s and early 80&#039;s, George Takei used to be the host of this weird afternoon kids&#039; show that ran mostly dubbed Japanese sci-fi live-action shows. It was weird and glorious. My fave was this series of space warriors named Goldar and Silvar that saved the Earth from outer-space monster threats. Wish I could remember the name of the show.
Anyhow, I&#039;ve loved GT forever. He is keeps being awesome through the ages.