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Published On: Jan 26, 2004 08:51 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jan 26, 2004 08:51 AM
Between Points in Life
Saturday morning Mom and I watched
Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq
War. This is a documentary that is being
promoted by the MoveOn political group. Many of the Dean supporters are ordering
this movie and watching it, throwing viewing house parties, etc. Up to this
point I was ambivalent—almost nervous—about seeing this movie. You
see, I've watched two propaganda films in my life. Both were pretty disgusting
experiences. Of course, at the time I had a pretty objective perspective so I
was able to see them for what they were: manipulation devices.
I don't know why, but it is so damned hard to get
anything done when I'm in Colorado. Maybe it's because Mom and I have such a fun
time dinking around, plus there are a zillion things "back home" that Mom waits
for my periodic visits to do.
This time I think it's a cross between that and the fact that I'm simply worn out. Since Wednesday when I was in New York I felt like I was coming down with a Christmas Cold. The odd thing is it was strangely asymptomatic: extreme fatigue and a little drainage that irritated the throat slightly. Thursday I spent the day traveling back to Colorado. At the airport I bought some Nyquil gel tabs and travelled like a semi-conscious zombie. By the time I got to Mom's house I just collapsed into bed and slept 13 hours.
Friday I alternated between sleep and meeting an accountant to discuss how I should incorporate my business. She charges $130 an hour. We power-met for 40 minutes—I do my homework so I don't waste time—and that was a damned good investment. Before Dec 31 I've got to get some turbo-paperwork done!
Friday night my best friend Joe's parents took me out to dinner. David and Mary Alice McComb are simple the coolest people around, and although I haven't seen them much in the last several years, they still are my surrogate parents. They also seemed remarkably excited that their [surrogate] son was becoming a budding political activist. (They are both dedicated Democrats, although I think they haven't been active in a while. Like so many Democrats I think they feel brow-beaten by the constant [losing] battles with the Republican party. Thank God for young energy!) Anyway, they simply inundated me with interesting suggestions of all the various things I could help candidates with, from speech writing to working on the campaign staff, and they even went so far as to suggest I might have fun spending a term in Washington D.C. working on someone's staff.
By the time I left my head was spinning. It was such a hoot to see them. I'll definitely have to make sure I pop in and see them more often!
Saturday morning Mom and I watched Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War. This is a documentary that is being promoted by the MoveOn political group. Many of the Dean supporters are ordering this movie and watching it, throwing viewing house parties, etc. Up to this point I was ambivalent—almost nervous—about seeing this movie. You see, I've watched two propaganda films in my life. Both were pretty disgusting experiences. Of course, at the time I had a pretty objective perspective so I was able to see them for what they were: manipulation devices.
The first was a film I saw when I was 14 years old called The Truth about Communism. I worked at a very interesting factory called Woodward Governor. This place was a time warp back into the 50's. Kids working in the yard wore collared shirts, and we had to put on clip-on bow ties when we entered any building, including when going in for lunch. Women were required to wear dresses or skirts—pants were forbidden. They even had a barber show in the plant and everyone had an appointment once every two weeks. The haircuts even made us look like we were in the 50's.
They offered a small number of classes where they would educate us on first aid or some field related to one of the company's divisions. I think during a Summer we'd have maybe four classes total. Well, The Truth about Communism was a pretty long movie; I remember it took two class periods. It was in black & white and was narrated by a rather young Ronald Reagan. This movie was such a blatant work of propaganda it was incredible! They showed us that communist leaders commonly stabbed each other in the back, that communist citizens didn't believe in God. They pulled just shy of suggesting that communist women ate their own young.
The outcry from my class was strong. Ours was the last group of kids to be shown that film.
The second propaganda film was an anti-gay movie. While I was in graduate school I briefly had a roommate Matt Walker. He had recently come out to his parents, who were none too thrilled. His father convinced him to attend an "education program" at their church about homosexuality. Now Matt's a good kid, he didn't like the schism this was creating with his family, and he respected his parents, so he agreed to go.
My gut instinct told me his was about to walk into a pack of wolves so I assisted in joining him. We drove down to either Loveland or Longmont to the church. It turned out the program was being presented by Colorado's own lovely Focus on the Family organization. They did the typical circus show, including inviting an "ex-gay" speaker. This was a young woman who told the audience she used to be gay. She described her deluded gay friends and their lack of focus and understanding. She basically described them as a bunch of naive free-sex hippy type of people. She had enjoyed the debauchery, but found herself spiritually empty. She spoke with pity for these people who could not follow her spiritual path to Jesus Christ. Now she is healed an whole. She doesn't miss the past life, and she only feels pity for her former friends who haven't seen the light.
Then they showed the movie. This was so completely inflammatory! The movie depicted gays as basically morally corrupt people who want to steal away and corrupt your children. They enjoyed filming pride parades and focusing on filming those few people who take things a bit too far and dress and act in ways that would shock an unfamiliar bystander. And the funny thing was every time they showed something (always out of context) that might seem shocking, there would be this dramatic heavy-bass moody background music that would send shivers down your spine and make you think the boogeyman was about to jump out at you.
I watched the church congregation, and I studied their faces. These were decent people who had come because they were concerned and uninformed about what they considered to be an upcoming issue. They came to their church—which they trusted—to be educated. And their church scared them out of their wits. No wonder there's such an anti-gay bias in the world. It just amazes me that churches can preach such a doctrine of hatred. I guess that's why I have a knee-jerk fear of Christians.
Anyway, I was fully aware that Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War was a political documentary, which almost by definition makes it a propaganda film. As much as I love being caught up in the swell of self-righteous fighting energy with the Dean activism, I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I allowed myself not to strive to see the whole picture of things. So as much as I wanted to rally totally behind this movie, I also wanted to see if I could detect obvious propaganda manipulation techniques.
I'm afraid I was unsuccessful. Everything the interviewed experts (with very impressive credentials) said mirrored the conclusions that I've been drawing. The material was very well organized, and after seeing it I couldn't help but wonder why George W hasn't been impeached, or at least under very tight and uncomfortable scrutiny. (Answer: Ashcroft.)
I've got a friend back in L.A. who is (shudder) a Republican, but strangely he's also a nice guy and rather intelligent. I'm considering asking if he would sit down with me to watch the film and then point out places in which it may not be showing an objective story. I doubt he will agree, but I think I'll ask him.
This time I think it's a cross between that and the fact that I'm simply worn out. Since Wednesday when I was in New York I felt like I was coming down with a Christmas Cold. The odd thing is it was strangely asymptomatic: extreme fatigue and a little drainage that irritated the throat slightly. Thursday I spent the day traveling back to Colorado. At the airport I bought some Nyquil gel tabs and travelled like a semi-conscious zombie. By the time I got to Mom's house I just collapsed into bed and slept 13 hours.
Friday I alternated between sleep and meeting an accountant to discuss how I should incorporate my business. She charges $130 an hour. We power-met for 40 minutes—I do my homework so I don't waste time—and that was a damned good investment. Before Dec 31 I've got to get some turbo-paperwork done!
Friday night my best friend Joe's parents took me out to dinner. David and Mary Alice McComb are simple the coolest people around, and although I haven't seen them much in the last several years, they still are my surrogate parents. They also seemed remarkably excited that their [surrogate] son was becoming a budding political activist. (They are both dedicated Democrats, although I think they haven't been active in a while. Like so many Democrats I think they feel brow-beaten by the constant [losing] battles with the Republican party. Thank God for young energy!) Anyway, they simply inundated me with interesting suggestions of all the various things I could help candidates with, from speech writing to working on the campaign staff, and they even went so far as to suggest I might have fun spending a term in Washington D.C. working on someone's staff.
By the time I left my head was spinning. It was such a hoot to see them. I'll definitely have to make sure I pop in and see them more often!
Saturday morning Mom and I watched Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War. This is a documentary that is being promoted by the MoveOn political group. Many of the Dean supporters are ordering this movie and watching it, throwing viewing house parties, etc. Up to this point I was ambivalent—almost nervous—about seeing this movie. You see, I've watched two propaganda films in my life. Both were pretty disgusting experiences. Of course, at the time I had a pretty objective perspective so I was able to see them for what they were: manipulation devices.
The first was a film I saw when I was 14 years old called The Truth about Communism. I worked at a very interesting factory called Woodward Governor. This place was a time warp back into the 50's. Kids working in the yard wore collared shirts, and we had to put on clip-on bow ties when we entered any building, including when going in for lunch. Women were required to wear dresses or skirts—pants were forbidden. They even had a barber show in the plant and everyone had an appointment once every two weeks. The haircuts even made us look like we were in the 50's.
They offered a small number of classes where they would educate us on first aid or some field related to one of the company's divisions. I think during a Summer we'd have maybe four classes total. Well, The Truth about Communism was a pretty long movie; I remember it took two class periods. It was in black & white and was narrated by a rather young Ronald Reagan. This movie was such a blatant work of propaganda it was incredible! They showed us that communist leaders commonly stabbed each other in the back, that communist citizens didn't believe in God. They pulled just shy of suggesting that communist women ate their own young.
The outcry from my class was strong. Ours was the last group of kids to be shown that film.
The second propaganda film was an anti-gay movie. While I was in graduate school I briefly had a roommate Matt Walker. He had recently come out to his parents, who were none too thrilled. His father convinced him to attend an "education program" at their church about homosexuality. Now Matt's a good kid, he didn't like the schism this was creating with his family, and he respected his parents, so he agreed to go.
My gut instinct told me his was about to walk into a pack of wolves so I assisted in joining him. We drove down to either Loveland or Longmont to the church. It turned out the program was being presented by Colorado's own lovely Focus on the Family organization. They did the typical circus show, including inviting an "ex-gay" speaker. This was a young woman who told the audience she used to be gay. She described her deluded gay friends and their lack of focus and understanding. She basically described them as a bunch of naive free-sex hippy type of people. She had enjoyed the debauchery, but found herself spiritually empty. She spoke with pity for these people who could not follow her spiritual path to Jesus Christ. Now she is healed an whole. She doesn't miss the past life, and she only feels pity for her former friends who haven't seen the light.
Then they showed the movie. This was so completely inflammatory! The movie depicted gays as basically morally corrupt people who want to steal away and corrupt your children. They enjoyed filming pride parades and focusing on filming those few people who take things a bit too far and dress and act in ways that would shock an unfamiliar bystander. And the funny thing was every time they showed something (always out of context) that might seem shocking, there would be this dramatic heavy-bass moody background music that would send shivers down your spine and make you think the boogeyman was about to jump out at you.
I watched the church congregation, and I studied their faces. These were decent people who had come because they were concerned and uninformed about what they considered to be an upcoming issue. They came to their church—which they trusted—to be educated. And their church scared them out of their wits. No wonder there's such an anti-gay bias in the world. It just amazes me that churches can preach such a doctrine of hatred. I guess that's why I have a knee-jerk fear of Christians.
Anyway, I was fully aware that Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War was a political documentary, which almost by definition makes it a propaganda film. As much as I love being caught up in the swell of self-righteous fighting energy with the Dean activism, I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I allowed myself not to strive to see the whole picture of things. So as much as I wanted to rally totally behind this movie, I also wanted to see if I could detect obvious propaganda manipulation techniques.
I'm afraid I was unsuccessful. Everything the interviewed experts (with very impressive credentials) said mirrored the conclusions that I've been drawing. The material was very well organized, and after seeing it I couldn't help but wonder why George W hasn't been impeached, or at least under very tight and uncomfortable scrutiny. (Answer: Ashcroft.)
I've got a friend back in L.A. who is (shudder) a Republican, but strangely he's also a nice guy and rather intelligent. I'm considering asking if he would sit down with me to watch the film and then point out places in which it may not be showing an objective story. I doubt he will agree, but I think I'll ask him.
Posted: Sat - December 20, 2003 at 08:19 AM