- A.A. Milne, Winnie The Pooh
“He was telling an interesting anecdote full of exciting words like "encyclopedia" and "rhododendron".”
- A.A. Milne, Winnie The Pooh
Comments
I had an invitation to a super bowl party tonight but was out all afternoon and by the time I got home, would have had to arrive late. I suppose that if I was really interested in seeing the game I would have made an effort, but the truth is that I couldn't even tell you who's playing. So instead I'm watching a movie which I haven't seen before, Three Coins In The Fountain from 1954. I'm about half-an-hour in, and so far am not impressed. UPDATE: I finished the film, and it wasn't so hot. Well, it was O.K., I suppose- I laughed a couple of times, and Clifton Webb is always watchable. But he isn't actually in it that much until the last part of the film and the rest is... meh. I turned the game on afterwards and that appears to be kind of "meh" too. I knew that the Patriots were playing, but have now figured out that they are playing the Atlanta Falcons. Better late than never, I suppose. I don't really know what's going on; I don't watch football, and Canadian football rules aren't the same, anyway. Not that I know those, either. I basically wait to see which team fist-pumps after a play to know which side benefited from it. Frankly, give me hockey any day.
UPDATE #2: As soon as I said the game was dull, things took a sudden turn... even I could figure out what was going on. It was an exciting ending. Still isn't hockey, though. "The mob is the mother of tyrants" -Diogenes- Well, the rioters at U.C. Berkeley set out to prove that President Trump and his supporters are hate-filled fascists by smashing windows, burning things, and beating people who disagreed with them into unconsciousness. Job well done; who wouldn't be persuaded by such well thought out arguments? Which brings me to my primary question about what leftist activists have been getting up to over the past few weeks: what exactly are they trying to accomplish? If their objective was to persuade other citizens that their cause was righteous, it failed the minute the violence and vandalism started. Because no civilized person viewing this disgusting behaviour will align themselves with the perpetrators of it. It won't even matter if people disagree with the objects of the violence- the fact that they are being physically attacked will compel those who believe in civil discourse and reason to defend them. If one side in a debate is using rational arguments, facts, and- y'know- words, and the other side responds by picking up a brick and throwing it through the window, guess who most normal people are going to side with. Even if they don't automatically agree with the talking points, most will go with the side which is talking to them rather than the one calling them names, destroying their stuff, and maybe hitting them with blunt objects... all the while telling them how much they love humanity. Even at the protests which were mostly peaceful, like the Women's March, it was difficult to find anyone in the crowds who could articulate what their aims in protesting were. I watched many interviews in which marchers were asked what they were hoping to accomplish; they fumbled incoherently for explanations and justifications. They only seemed sure of themselves when they were shouting vulgarities and chanting slogans. But engaging in mindless repetition and screeching obscenities is not making a rational argument any more than lighting fires and breaking things. It appears that, because they are incapable or unwilling to engage on an intellectual level, these groups seek to shut down the debate entirely, either with violence or vitriol. So if their aim is not to convince or persuade, then what are leftists attempting with these behaviours? Some- probably most of the violent ones- strike me as being moral and political nihilists. They wish to tear down or destroy civil society, causing chaos and destruction for their own warped purposes. The majority of them, however, seem to be a noxious combination of ignorance, immaturity, and self-absorption; they appear to be acting out because, despite a lack of any qualifiable evidence, they've cast themselves as victims of society. They are ignorant because they refuse to listen to the opinions and arguments of those who don't agree with them, choosing instead to scream, cry, and hide in "safe spaces". They are immature precisely because they hide away from reality, aided and abetted by their parents, professors, and peers who coddle them and provide them with a well-padded echo chamber to exist in. They are self-absorbed because they have been raised in an environment where children, in the name of affirmation and self-esteem, are told that they and everything they do are wonderful. Instead of being slapped down when they were being obnoxious they were indulged. Instead of demanding that they strive for excellence and improvement, they were given participation trophies and told that it wasn't fair if someone else did better or got more than they did. So now they don't comprehend that they can't always get their own way, that no one outside their safe space thinks they're special and, in fact, most people despise them. Unused to being told that they're wrong, and unprepared to defend their beliefs with facts, they revert to the usual actions of spoiled brats who have been thwarted: name-calling and tantrums... and occasional hysterical sobbing. In an attempt to help these sensitive souls, I offer the following advice: 1. Knock off the "safe space" nonsense- it makes you look weak and pathetic. 2. Attempt to find enough humility to at least entertain the notion that others may have legitimate reasons for disagreeing with you. 3. Listen to their reasons; you might actually learn something because, despite what you may have been told, you don't hold the monopoly on truth. 4. Educate yourself. It's not enough to have "feelings" about something... if you don't have facts, you don't have an argument. 5. Screaming, crying and throwing things is not proof of anything except mental instability. Try to exercise self-control and engage in rational thought and speech. 6. Unless someone comes goose-stepping by dressed as Hitler, refrain from calling anyone a Nazi. Remember that the people who are disagreeing with you are your fellow citizens, neighbours, and perhaps even family. The fact that they think differently than you doesn't make them evil. 7. Go home and take a good long look in the mirror. If you engaged in an attempt to shut down other peoples' right to free speech- violently or not- or if you cheered on those who did, then you are part of the problem. To demand free speech for yourself yet seek to deprive others of it is hypocritical and frankly, dangerous. In closing, I'm going to post two videos. The first is an example of what passes for debate in the minds of social justice warriors. Language warning; this professor may be a woman, but she's no lady. This next video is perhaps my favourite one from the last couple of weeks: a normal person getting fed up with a bunch of obnoxious and disruptive protesters. It never gets old. Related Posts: Last week, I got to watch a film I'd been wanting to see since it was released: Hail, Caesar! the 2016 movie by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is a comedy set in the world of 1950's Hollywood during the filming of a Ben Hur-style Biblical epic (it even borrows the subtitle from Ben Hur: "A Tale of the Christ." Everything which I had watched and read about Hail, Caesar! made me think that this was my kind of film, and it really was. The protagonist of the film is Eddie Mannix (played by Josh Brolin) who is the "fixer" for Capitol Pictures, a motion picture company. It's his job to get the studio's stars out of any potentially career-damaging scandals that they manage to get themselves into, and save their reputations. For example, when we first meet him, Mannix is hauling a young starlet out of a skeezy photographer's pad, where she was having girlie pics taken. Another scandal which he is handling is the pregnancy of one of their stars- an Esther Williams-type swimming actress who had an affair with a married director. The solution which Mannix comes up with is to have the baby sent to an orphanage and then have the star- DeeAnna Moran- adopt her own child. She will then be seen as a benefactress rather than a home wrecker and unwed mother. Mannix spends his days handling these types of scandals and messes which the movie stars get themselves embroiled in. As can be imagined, this is a highly stressful and time consuming job which keeps him from spending a lot of time with his wife and kids. However, he is being wooed by an aerospace company which is offering a high-paid executive position and he has been putting off making a decision. Somewhat incongruously, Eddie Mannix is also a devout Catholic who goes to confession almost every night after work, confessing to things like deceiving his wife about quitting smoking. Soon, however, the problems Mannix is dealing with at the studio are eclipsed by one involving one of their biggest stars. Baird Whitlock, the actor starring in the Biblical epic "Hail, Caesar!" being filmed at Capitol, suddenly disappears in the middle of the shoot. At first it's assumed that he's gone off on a binge, but then a ransom note arrives... Whitlock has been kidnapped! Of course, the now-paused epic is not the only film in development at the studio. There is a western finishing up production which stars singing cowboy Hobie Doyle. Doyle is young, earnest, and eager to please, and is becoming quite popular with the public. To capitalize on this, the studio casts him in a period drama. The problem is, Hobie, who was an actual cowboy before going to Hollywood, has trouble pulling off the demeanor and accents of an English gentleman. He is willing and ready to work hard to succeed at it, though, if his director doesn't have a stroke from frustration first. There's also a musical filming at the studio which stars Gene Kelly-esque all-American song and dance man Burt Gurney. It is actually on the set of this film that the ransom note directs Mannix to drop off the briefcase full of money which he's gotten from the studio. Coincidentally, the director of this film is the man with whom DeeAnna Moran was having the affair. Eddie Mannix is trying to keep all of these balls in the air, with the added stress of attempting to keep Thessaly and Thora Thacker, twin sisters who are rival gossip columnists, from breaking a scandal- a different one- about Baird Whitlock. In an attempt to distract them, he tells them that Hobie Doyle is dating a young starlet, Carlotta Valdez, and tells them that Doyle will be taking Valdez to the premiere of his latest western. He then contacts Hobie to tell him that he will be taking Carlotta to the premiere. It is while he has Hobie in his office that the kidnappers call to tell him where to drop the ransom, and in a moment of weakness, he tells Doyle about the kidnapping. Hobie thinks for a minute then tells Mannix that he should check out the extras working on Hail, Caesar! He points out that they are hired for short periods of time without being known very well, and can come and go at the studio without causing suspicion. Mannix sees the wisdom in this and after making the drop, starts looking into the extras. As it happens, Hobie is correct... it was two of the extras who drugged and carried off Baird Whitlock. In Part II of my summary of Hail, Caesar! we'll find out where Whitlock finds himself when he awakens. Related Posts: |
About MeI'm a lover of good books, classic movies, and well-written shows (as well as some pretty cheesy ones, to be completely honest). Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
Fun SitesOdds & Ends |