Regarding Pride...

With the American political landscape being what it is these days, I feel compelled to post about pride.  It's the backbone of every dissent, every tirade, and every misunderstanding in politics, and it spreads into other aspects of our society.

Republicans and the Tea Party separate themselves from Democrats, liberals, and (now) Coffee Partiers by stating--with over-emphasized conviction--that they are more patriotic, more proud of being American than their left-wing counterparts.  As if they're trying to paint Democrats and liberals as not being patriotic, therefore enemies of our own country.

Anyone who studied Greek tragedies in high school (or ever, really) should know a few things about pride.  And anyone who is familiar with Christianity and Catholicism--specifically, the Seven Deadly Sins--knows a thing or two about pride.  And I mean pride as a pejorative.  As a negative, a "sin" to be abhorred, a flaw of the human condition.  Which is ironic, considering how Christian the Tea Party and GOP claim to be.

Those of us who studied those Greek tragedies know this negative form of pride as "hubris".  Which is simply excessive pride.  Put another way, it's arrogance.  Narcissism.  Delusions of grandeur, call it what you will.

But if there's a negative form, there's also a positive form of pride.  It's a bit more specific, though.  At its best, pride is a result of an achievement; a great success worth sharing with people.  And it's very specific, like if a loved one--father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.--does something wonderful like getting an A on a test, doing well on their school sports team, playing/acting well in the school concert or musical, graduating high school, college, getting a great job, making partner at the law firm, joining a branch of the military, getting high honors in the military, becoming a doctor, becoming a nurse, getting recognized at their job, etc.

Regarding a loved one joining a branch of the military...this is an important distinction.  For the most part, everyone supports our troops.  Nobody thinks ill of anyone in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, or any other part of the military.  We're proud of particular people in the military, but we support everyone in the military.  Personally, I can't be proud of people whose existence is outside my awareness.  Heck, they might be rotten people who just want to shoot guns and kill people and be praised for it.  I'm not proud of them!

Typically, the GOP and Tea Party DO have pride in our troops.  All of them.  Which sounds nice, but are they really proud?  When Independence Day comes around, is anyone thinking of our troops?  Or do they just want to shoot off fireworks?  Is anyone truly proud of something of which they're told they should be proud?

Expanding on that, how many people are actually proud of being Americans?  I have a hard time believing Republicans and Tea Partiers are proud of their country but wouldn't be caught dead in Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and anywhere else that's more blue than red.  I know I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than go to Mobile, AL.  I wouldn't want to visit any place where most of the people are anti-gay, anti-Jewish, anti-atheist, anti-agnostic, and anti- a million other things that are perfectly rational and even beneficial to people.

That's sort of the thing.  Most Americans are proud of where they come from.  But it's very specific.  Chicagoans are proud of their city and think Chicago is better than New York.  And with New Yorkers, the feeling is reversed but mutual.  I think most of it comes down to sports.  People from one city may glibly think ill of other cities and it's mostly because of their major sports teams.  Heck, people who live in the north side of Chicago do not get along well with people in the south side, and vice versa.  And it's entirely because of the rivalry between the Cubs and the White Sox.  I have to wonder if New York is the same way with the Mets and Yankees.

What's more, have you noticed how the people of the United States don't care for soccer (known the world over as "football"), but the rest of the world think....well, the world of soccer?  We do have a large country and you can meet radically different people in one spot of the U.S. versus another spot.  There's probably more similarities between the Spanish and French than there are between Texans and New Yorkers.  I have to wonder if this fuels the right-wing conservatives' arrogance over the rest of the world, as if soccer unites most of the world and the United States chooses to isolate itself with their baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey...

Hopefully, you can see how "pride" can be toxic and counter-productive.  When Americans very loudly proclaim and advertise how they're PROUD to be AMERICAN, you can't help but notice how much they hate the rest of the world by the transitive property.  Personally, I was just born here.  I've never been to most of the rest of the world, so I can't tell if mine is the best country.  And wouldn't "best" be subjective?  It's easier to say who's the world's best guitar player, and even that is a matter of opinion.

The ultimate irony is how the far right use this pretentious sense of "pride" to distance themselves, thereby dividing themselves, from the left.  They're actively and deliberately committing a Christian Sin because they're so full of spite and there's nothing they like more than looking for more ways to divide the country.  Personally, it makes me sick.

Science fiction explained

My favorite genre of storytelling--be it film, novel, poem, or bathroom stall limerick--is science fiction. I know it's the geek's preferred genre and everything, but I have my own legitimate reasons.

I think part of it is how it sort of blurs and meshes with horror at times. For example, the Alien movies, John Carpenter's The Thing and They Live, either version of The Fly, and several other films qualify as horror films. Scary alien threat or freak lab mutation killing and preying on human beings, for the most part. Otherwise, threatening to replace humanity with alien copies, or some other scenario that spells death to humans. And the root of any horror story is fear of the unknown, because the unknown can be a threat to people in unimaginable ways.

Fantasy gets mixed in a lot, too. And why not? Fantasy is pretty much wild, improbable, and extraordinary adventure with antagonists that are more diabolical and....well, antagonistic...than they are scary and nightmare-inducing. Flash Gordon comes to mind. It takes a scientist to build this rocket that goes to some other part of the universe, or galaxy (it's been a bit since I saw it last), the villain is a despot with armies and a fixation on the hero and his friends, they go to beautiful planets with jungles and air cities, and the hero is capable and sufficiently challenged, but never really scared out of his mind. And the science aspect is only explained far enough to justify our heroes making it somewhere in outer space or for understanding the threat of having your mind erased. The TV show Doctor Who is a great hybrid of science fiction and fantasy, too. Usually, the technobabble is just blurred through so impossible things can be taken for granted. Otherwise, the show is basically an eccentric, brilliant, and charming man, a magic carpet, and his ordinary traveling companion taken from Earth. We live vicariously through the companion because it's fun to imagine The Doctor showing up in our backyard, opening the door to the TARDIS, and inviting us for a journey we wouldn't soon forget. How is that not fantasy? But it certainly isn't any the worse off as a result.

On a side note, the Star Wars franchise is pretty much fantasy. It just gets lumped into sci-fi because it takes place in space and technology beyond our own helps complete the setting. Otherwise, there's almost no technobabble and science is never used as a means for resolving a problem.

Anyways, besides the shared DNA (see what I did there?) with horror and fantasy, what also makes science fiction so great is that it isn't based in practical reality. The appeal of extraordinary and supernatural fiction is key elements of the setting and characters can't exist. So it's a fun playground for a storyteller's imagination. Historical drama? Eh, you're pretty much just adding drama to historical events, sometimes obfuscating actual historic accuracy. Drama in general? Can be interesting, but we get enough drama in our real lives as it is. I remember Bobby Slayton had a routine where he was talking about domestic disputes with his wife and what movies they want to watch and he pretty much said "We have a house! We have a dog! We have a relationship! We DON'T have people living under our stairs eating other people!". I mean, aren't movies and TV shows supposed to be an escape from reality? Why not go the whole nine yards and make the most of the fiction?

But it's really easy to foul up a science fiction story. There's a recent movie--Inception dir. by Christopher Nolan--that is genuinely science fiction. It's not really horror and it's kind of fantasy. But science is needed to explain the fantasy, so it is genuinely science fiction. However, I think too much explanation is needed. When dramatic events were unfolding, I found myself thinking, "Am I supposed to care about this? Isn't this just a dream?" I got no impression that the characters' actual lives were in danger when they were diving into the dreams of other people. I guess I drifted a bit during one of the lectures given to Anna Paquin's character (half of the reason she existed was so we, the audience, could learn with her).

I had the same problem with the Matrix movies. I think I actually preferred the two sequels because all the explanation was done in the first movie. But the first movie? The one everyone prefers? Yeah, I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed it, but when the setting needs that much explanation, I found myself losing interest. It's like I have to be told to care when major events are taking place. Compared to, say, Dark City, I could easily get into that. There's what seems to be ordinary life, and it stops periodically so creepy alien Strangers can tamper with the city. And then there's how the city morphs, and how there's never any sunlight. It borders on horror, but it's a great way to make the most of the unknown.

As far as TV shows go, I would MUCH rather watch something like Farscape or Doctor Who over any incarnation of Star Trek because there's adventure, life-and-death situations, and contending with unknown threats (yep, that word again) and the triumph felt when the good guys overcome the odds and come out on top. I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, and after the show ended and I thought about it....it was a really boring show! If people are really that saccharine and dry in the future with so little personality, then I'd rather watch a historical drama. And there are so many episodes where the problem is two governments not getting along, but oh! Picard and maybe a friend he agreed to chauffer to some meeting place save the day with....diplomacy! Oh, how exciting! They have a starship that can travel the stars and explore unknown planets, solar systems, and maybe even galaxies....and they do diplomacy and dwell on technobabble so ubiquitous that you have to wonder if the script was just Mad Libs. "Oh no! [insert problem here]! It's [doing something to the ship]!" And at the 50 minute mark: "Wait, if I just [technoverb] the [technonoun that's part of the ship], then MAYBE......YES! IT'S WORKING!" Oh, yeah, didn't see that coming. Does anyone know what a phase inducer is, or what it means to modulate shield frequency? It's like we think it matters because it seems to in the show with the help of the background music and the apparent relief of the protagonists. I think I get more excited and anxious when the plumber comes over to unclog our pipes. I at least know what he's doing.

It's not just something that can be applied to science fiction, though. ANY story where made-up science has to be explained to understand its threat and more unexplained science is used to clear it up isn't really all that interesting. I'm sure most teens don't fully know how they get acne or how acne creams and cleansing systems work. They just know they both exist and one resolves the other. Same can be said of a lot of science fiction.

Or fantasy, for that matter. Actually, there's a trend in pretty much every Disney movie after the mid-or-late '90s (and other family friendly films) that really bothers me. It's taking something extraordinary, fantastic, and sometimes supernatural, and making it practical, commonplace, and mundane. I couldn't abide the movie The Incredibles--not so much because it's a satire on superhero stories, but because they made an entire nuclear family into superheroes. Family is mundane. Family is commonplace. Hearing a mother tell her kids to clean their rooms during a firefight, or hearing siblings talk about homework while fleeing an enemy threat, just completely takes away the fun that makes superhero movies what they are. And the Men in Black movies with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones left me cold, too. The idea of a movie about the Men in Black is appealing, but when we see the offices and behind-the-scenes of a completely fictional agency that's both cute and cuddly, and then it's all addressed like someone starting a job at a newspaper office or detective agency...it's like we're being told to be bored. I don't feel excited when something paranormal or supernatural becomes as domestic as my cat. I feel excited when something paranormal is shown to be real, but just as misunderstood as actual paranormal phenomena in real life (so to speak).

A better example of a superhero movie--to contrast The Incredibles--would be Spider-Man, dir. by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey MacGuire and Kirsten Dunst. Here's a hero who ISN'T wealthy or stable in his regular life. In fact, he's pretty miserable in it and the people in his life and New York in general constantly take a dump on him on a daily basis. What's more, only Peter Parker has the radioactive spider DNA in him. It's not passed through the genes from his parents or present in all Parkers. Only he has it, and he has to make sense of it. And Raimi did a great job of compounding the frustrations of adolescence with his spider-augmentation changes. It's like Peter didn't have the luxury to go on sabbatical (well, he did a little, I admit) to figure out exactly what he could our couldn't do. He made sense of it as he went along. And he deliberately kept his identity a secret from his friends, family, and everyone else. There was actual risk involved in his identity being known. And finally, because he couldn't balance his super-power life with his domestic life, his uncle--one of the last members of his small, poor family--gets gunned down by a criminal Peter deliberately allows to go free. Isn't that more interesting than sibling rivalry in the middle of a good vs. evil fight?

So, in conclusion, good science fiction preserves the wonder and intrigue of what is unknown and doesn't over-complicate things with science that's not possible (yet). That'd probably sound better with a tertiary point, but that's pretty much it. The audience has to explore and experience the story as it unfolds. The audience can't be pandered to, can't hope to be impressed by spoiling the wondrous, and can't enjoy the story if it has to take notes and figure out the "science" that explains the new reality. The science in science fiction itself is foreign enough. When too many variables have to be explained, then it becomes too convoluted. And when too much of the unknown becomes so well-known that it's as exciting as how staplers work, then it feels like an endurance test.

My rant against Republicans

Wow, I managed to go a whole year without a new post! How 'bout that? Anyways...

I never used to care so much about politics. I suppose the same could be said of everyone, if you consider that other people were once children (or still are). Maybe I feel stronger about politics than in the past because the internet makes the world a much smaller place. Information moves faster, it can have much more detail, and responses to information abound almost immediately and can be observed from anywhere.

I’d like to think we’re still in a sort of Dark Age transition; that we’re still getting used to this global network and getting used to each other. Right now, it’s just far too easy to speak and have one’s opinions heard high and low, from L.A. and New York to small towns with populations in the hundreds.

It saddens me to see that the Republican Party, as it is now, is the most toxic and arrogant organization to abound in the United States since the Ku Klux Klan. It frightens me to see just how large and influential they really are. I’ve never seen an organization as large and as firmly established as the G.O.P. criticize people—namely political opponents—for being educated and “elite”. And it’s appalling to see an organization that is meant to represent and serve the citizens of one of the most powerful countries on the planet be so narcissistic, belligerent, blasé about blanket statements meant to be interpreted as “facts”, and worst of all, bent on brainwashing the public against the Democratic Party.

It seems that George W. Bush, our president for two terms from 2000 to 2008, started it all. At this point, it’s pretty much a matter-of-fact that he’s the worst president this country has had since a very long time ago. There’s a quote from the classic Doctor Who show that comes to mind:

“You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that need altering.” Can’t remember which doctor said it, though.

It applies perfectly. We have a president who ignored Al Qaeda to start a war (to my knowledge, the first time the U.S. has done so since the Revolutionary War) with a nation’s leader who was no longer a problem to the United States. This war was so costly that the economic surplus that resulted from Bill Clinton’s presidency turned into a greater National Debt.

And things have only gotten worse, thanks largely in part to Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck harvesting and exploiting fear in the American populace. The gross defeat of McCain and Palin in 2008 should have embarrassed the G.O.P. and forced them to realize the American people aren’t morons and deserve to be regarded with greater respect. By the way, let’s remember that Palin’s strategy in the 2008 campaign involved insulting some Americans, slinging childish insults, and denouncing the value of education.

Regarding education, I have to wonder why the G.O.P. criticize it and consider it a pejorative. Could it be they want to keep people out of college, maybe even out of high school, and tell them it’s okay to not be educated, and could it be they want this because under-educated people are far more gullible and easy to manipulate? You have to admit, there’s no loyal follower like those who insist upon not considering any other viewpoints. I had the misfortune of arguing with one Tea Partier about the value of science. He honestly claimed the only book worth reading is the Bible and anything that isn’t in it isn’t important or a lie! I mean, we put men on the fucking moon!! That should kill that argument once and for all!

I’ve been led to believe the Republicans were once a lot more respectable. Sure, they had similar views on taxes and considered certain things more important than health care and education. But on the whole, they were the party that valued business. Capitalism! That sounds like it could actually be beneficial: they could consider resolving the unemployment issue in the United States from the top down (conglomerates and corporations) and the Democrats could focus on the same problem from the bottom up (working class and middle class citizens). And the two perspectives would rely upon and value harmony with the other side! Wouldn’t that be something?

Instead we have an entire political party brainwashing people like Hitler did to inspire Germans to follow his lead. We’re barraged with propaganda so transparent that it could be used as a headline for the National Enquirer. What’s scary is people—a LOT of people—take it seriously. If that’s a broad paint stroke, I don’t mind because they use broad paint strokes all the time.

Recently, the G.O.P. have managed to have enough of their politicians be elected in the House of Representatives to make up its majority. Right off the bat, the brand new Republican House Speaker Boehner vowed to undo the accomplishments Obama has made starting with the health care reform. Their reasons stem from Obama—out of necessity, I feel the need to point out—is making our National Debt even larger. This is interesting because, since I’ve been born, the Republicans have been inflating our National Debt so much that it’s doubtful it’ll ever go away. We’ve actually gotten by with our great debt being in the trillions. Right now, our country’s economy is suffering so badly that focusing on the National Debt is like a pipe-fitter injuring himself on the job severely, losing his job for being out of work for a long time, and worrying about where his next paycheck is coming from in spite of the fact that his leg hasn’t moved in weeks and gangrene is starting to set in.

And I hadn’t even gotten to Jared Lee Loughner, who shot the Democratic Representative from Arizona Gabrielle Giffords and several others. It’s hard to consider that this wasn’t a politically motivated crime. Therefore, pundits on both sides are trying to put their spin on matters. And naturally, the Republicans are far more asinine about it than the Democrats. Glenn Beck himself has demonstrated he is nothing more than a really dangerous televangelist (and I use “televangelist” in the worst possibly way). Connections have already been made to Sarah Palin putting crosshairs on Democratic politicians in a pictorial ad she approved. That’s something completely asinine unto itself (the ad, not the connections made between the ad and the shooting).

The G.O.P. is an organization that misinterprets the facts, mutates them to suit their views, and villainizes the Democratic Party as if they were bent on collapsing and ruining this country. Considering how much damage the G.O.P. has done to this country—and how much they continue to do on a daily basis—I sincerely believe their behavior should be criminalized.

I’m scared to think that the only way of putting a stop to the G.O.P. is doing something really radical and removing them altogether from our country. However, it’s such a lofty goal that I doubt it can be accomplished by any means. But if our country is to survive and move forward, it needs to be done. It can be likened to a wolf gnawing off its leg caught in a bear trap.

I’m just so worried about this country. Political views used to be something we can accept and dismiss like differing tastes in music and film. Now it’s just as polarizing and venomous as religious differences in the Middle East. At least, it seems that way with this recent shooting in Arizona. I wish people would get over their petty pride and look at facts and raw data instead of listening to brainwashing nut jobs like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Coulter, Hannity, Savage, Mancow, Boehner, Gingrich, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and anyone else I neglected to mention who rubs elbows with these wastes of skin.