talking dogs

[Sojourner]

At 04:40 PM 7/14/97 EDT, Ben Freeman wrote:
> 	
>	Also interested in what you guys made of the whole
>scale/morality issue in Men in Black. On one hand, characters are
>deemed killable because they are exterminators and kill bugs
>senselessly; the overriding theme of the flick seems to be, humans are
>small and fragile and should take good care of things that seem small
>and fragile to them, because, hey, were are just a speck on some
>bizarre aliens basketball as the ending signifies? The "we" here is
>Americans, as in, we should treat Mexicans well, we should treat bugs
>well, we should evolve as a species because we're puny and our
>thoughts are inferior. 
>
>	Then things really symbolically begin to confuse me. I am
>tired of the whole "Will-Smith-alienkiller" theme. The message here
>and in Independence Day as well as others seems to be, the black man
>can work with the white man against common enemies, some sort of Henry
>V thing, you know, I eat leeks and you don't but we can still
>chill and fight a common enemy... the guess who's coming to dinner
>thing with Will Smith 
>though really starts to get me angry. He's really very funny in this movie,
>and I'm pro-blackwhite integration, but its such thinly veiled
>propaganda... I hate that part of any movies these days... you can
>almost identify whether Republicrats or Demoblicans picked up the tab
>for the film... and the "sassytoughsmart" Black character jivin and
>jazzin' up the lives of these soulless white people is an overdone,
>silly "better" stereotype than the ones we are presently stuck with.
>

I think the above statements are where your bitterness begins to infuse
your perception.  A movie, especially one which proclaims itself as fiction
and as entertainment, is not the vehicle on which cultural values are
expressed, but its reflection.  See below.

<snipped more anger at values of the movie>


>	paranoid theory #375389AF: Violence in tv and movies with
>thinly veiled moral backing is just a way to create a bunch of
>Americans who will be willing to go to war and use violence for
>whatever "good" premise. Combine that with patriotism (anything
>America does is good) and you get a bunch of sleeping zombies who will
>go to war for any reason... 
>

It's not paranoid.  Movies and TV and books and every other form of media
do not "create a bunch of
americans with XX values".  All media of a commercial nature sell YOU what
YOU want to see.  If you go to see a movie that clearly and understandingly
is popular, then it expresses popular values.  So if you do not concur with
popular values, do not blame the movie.  The movie is fairly, honestly, and
openly selling what people value.  If you do not value what the movie has
to sell, then DO NOT BUY IT.  Furthermore, not only do not buy it (whether
a ticket or a rental or the cassette itself), but buy and value what YOU
value.  If mindless violence and hypocritical ethics are not what you
value, do not support them with your money or your efforts.


>	I hate America. Where should I move? (And don't give me love
>it or leave it or I'll come and kick your ass.. uhoh, there's that
>violence creeping back into things.)

You do not hate America.  You hate some of the values that some Americans
hold.  I will assume you do not hate the belief that Americans have that
every man and woman are equal.  That every citizen has the right to vote.
That there is a freedom of speech.  You may hate some actions of the
government or some actions of those who do not value the same things you
do, but you do not hate America.

America is a unique place.  Why?  Because you have the SPACE to live.
Almost every other country and culture in the world hands down its values
and says THIS IS HOW IT IS.  And you may feel America is like this too.
But in reality, in this country, you have the space to say "I think its
like this".  Rosa Parks said "I think its like this" when the rest of
America told her it was different.  If America and Americans seem to be
telling you that mindless values are not ok, say "I disagree".  

People on this list may have expressed hostility in response to your
hostility.  Feeling angry and feeling cheated is a GOOD thing but ONLY if
it prompts you to do something about it.  Not march on DC or win a seat in
Congress necessarily, but to change your mind.  to say, I alone, even if no
one else agrees with me, feel that this is wrong.  I, contrary to the laws
of this state, contrary to the laws of this country, contrary to the values
of the race of the people who rule this country, contrary to popular morals
and beliefs, contrary to the human nature of every single other person on
this bus REFUSE TO GIVE UP MY SEAT.

Show courage, and ye shall be respected.  Stand up in the face of
adversity, and ye shall be respected.  But curse the weak, spit on the
sick, kick the crutches out from the lame, and people will not call you a
doctor.





	"One thing a man likes, and that is
	 to get his hands around things."

		--Sojourner (circa 1997)



	"Sumur aftarnewns win the tar bubals bloom in the 
	rode, wyld dayzees backun gyrlz to sic pehdal fortyoons 
	and weev chayns of frahgrunt dreems."

		--unknown