Half-Truth, Partial Justice, and the Republican Way

[vovat]

I've making a lot of Oz-related posts recently, haven't I? There's another one that I want to write today, but there are some other more timely issues that I'd like to address first. Most importantly, Bush is no longer president, and none too soon. I'm kind of surprised that he went so quietly, instead of looking into being crowned king. Maybe even he realized that he could never accomplish that with his recent approval rating. While Bush has been saying that he'll be exonerated by history, and other people think he'll be remembered as one of the worst, I think there's a definite possibility that he won't be remembered much at all in the future (well, except in trivia questions about which presidents were the children of other presidents). But I've noticed that people DO tend to remember idiosyncrasies of famous people's speech, so even if Bush's deeds are lost to history, it will be some time before anyone forgets about how he was misunderestimated, or couldn't get fooled again after being fooled once, or the rumors on the Internets.

Oh, by the way, Bush has said that "not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment." Because if they HAD been in Iraq, that would have been a GOOD thing, right? While I'm sure the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" didn't originate during the Bush administration, it was certainly a memorable catchphrase for the period. Also memorable were "illegal" being used as a noun, and Bush's insistence that he was a "compassionate conservative." I've never been quite sure what that term meant, but "compassionate" is certainly not an adjective I'd use to describe his form of conservatism.

Speaking of conservatism, something I recently came across on the Internets was a poll pertaining to the best conservative movies of the past 25 years. How some of these options made the list, I'm not really sure. Like, what's conservative about Finding Nemo? Wouldn't the modern Republican belief be that Nemo should be maladjusted because he's being raised by a single parent? (Come to think of it, what DO the people who insist that every kid should live with both biological parents think should happen when a parent dies?) I've heard the comparisons of Batman to Bush (the main one apparently being that both are willing to use torture to achieve what they consider to be the greater good). And while I've never seen the Iron Man movie, I guess that Tony Stark, like Bruce Wayne, is rich. But Spider-Man is poor and believes that with great power comes great responsibility, which seems pretty much the opposite of what the current Republican leadership thinks. While I'm sure there are a lot of things to be found in the various superhero mythologies that can be taken to support left, right, and center, it seems like one continuing theme in such stories is that superheroes support the oppressed and downtrodden. Isn't the conservative view that the oppressed and downtrodden should help themselves? Or are superheroes okay because they don't work for the government? (Actually, I believe that Captain America does, but he's a military guy who clothes himself in the flag, and hence might be acceptable to Republicans.)

Comments

[annamatic.livejournal.com]

And The Dark Knight? How is that conservative?

And Seven?!?!?! Are they fucking kidding me? O____O Other than the fact that the psychopath kills people in staggeringly gruesome and horrific ways according to the seven deadly sins? So that's conservative?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

And The Dark Knight? How is that conservative?

Because Batman is modeled on Bush (http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121694247343482821-lMyQjAxMDI4MTI2NTkyNDUyWj.html), of course! :P

Other than the fact that the psychopath kills people in staggeringly gruesome and horrific ways according to the seven deadly sins? So that's conservative?

I get the feeling that some people consider anything that references the Bible to be conservative. Maybe that's how the Chronicles of Narnia movies got on there, too. (Actually, I think C.S. Lewis WAS pretty conservative in some respects, but in a mid-twentieth-century British way, not a modern American way.)

[annamatic.livejournal.com]

He was very openly and unapologetically Christian, yes, but was quite tolerant and not all hellfire-and-brimstone.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

True, but the Narnia books in particular also have a sort of longing for a glorious English past that probably never really existed, like modern Republicans do for their traditional America. I'm not sure I'd necessarily call that conservative, but it sort of is. Also, Lewis mocks Eustace's parents for being teetotalers and vegetarians.

[colbyucb.livejournal.com]

I think there's a definite possibility that he won't be remembered much at all in the future (well, except in trivia questions about which presidents were the children of other presidents)

Heh, today my mom said "So what's going to happen with Bush now?" and I said "Hopefully we'll forget about him." Seriously, I've been trying to live in the twilight zone or something these past 8 years, I just can't wrap my head around that administration and I'm glad I can stop trying.

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

Not to be a downer, but a lot of people will remember Bush as the "*" who killed my child, or who traumatized my son, or who killed countless thousands of iraqis, or...., *sigh* you get the message.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Fair point. I guess I was thinking more of how he'd be remembered in history books, rather than by people whose families were directly affected by his policies.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

The classic conservative view is that the oppressed and downtrodden should be given the freedom and opportunity to make something of themselves, rather than to spend the rest of their lives beholden to the government. It's the "teach a man to fish" theory. A true conservative believes greatness comes from within the human spirit, rather than from a government program, and that the unfortunate need a hand up rather than a hand out.

Like anything else, including liberalism, there are some who twist and abuse those beliefs, and who are looked down on for doing so.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

What about people who, for whatever reason, are incapable of metaphorically learning to fish?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

If they can't work for themselves, they're taken care of. The problem, as always, is determining who can and who can't ... I don't think there'll ever be a perfect system for weeding out the cheaters, and it's better to err on the side of not letting anyone starve to death in a cardboard box. So simple -- in theory.

It sounds like Obama has the right idea on this, from what he's said so far: Instead of extending more welfare to people in this recession, get jobs programs going and give them pride, respect, and some work skills they can take with them through life. Oh, and pay.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I do think helping people get jobs is preferable to simply giving them money, unless there's some reason why they can't work. But then, there's always the danger of underemployemnt, which our society doesn't seem to want to address.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

If I had a dollar for every problem our society doesn't want to address, I could buy an island and start my own society.

[shadarko.livejournal.com]

The other day I read your oz blog about who could star in a new film version of Oz. A few minutes later I fell asleep and had a whole dream where Glenn Close was hired to play Glinda but half way through the movie they decided she was to old, but she refused to take off the glinda garb.

that is all...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

In this thread (http://ozclubforums.yuku.com/topic/2606), someone suggested that Glenn Close could play the Wicked Witch of the East.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing a list (possibly you posted it) of I think it was conservative songs, and snorting because some of the choices were so tongue-in-cheek NOT conservative; but I've seen a lot more truly conservative movies, uh, probably because my husband watches so many war movies. But I think I agree with whoever commented on-- that movie page I guess because I don't see any of your commenters saying it, so I must have read it there-- that a conservative movie can only be defined as a movie a conservative watches and strongly agrees with, although truly great art being what it is, a liberal could watch the same movie (if it is truly great) and strongly agree with it too, though the two might argue about why. This is, of course, one of the reasons I refuse to take sides using these labels. Now, political PARTY labels are even worse, and I don't think you can define "conservative" as "following what the current Republican party does" either, because this past administration especially has done some very not-conservative things, like the whole violation-of-privacy-rights deals (yes, liberals might want to claim the indignation for that for themselves, but true conservatives also hate it because it's Big Government).

As for Iron Man, which is a very good movie by the way, the conservatism stems not from the character being rich (and he hardly spends his money in ways a conservative would approve of) but the fact that he's head of a huge weapons-manufacturing corporation. There's a line he says toward the beginning, something like "Some people say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I say the best weapon is one you only have to fire once," which made me laugh and tell Jason "That is SOOOO something you would say." But of course, in the course of the movie he discovers that his weapons are being used by terrorists-- indignation about that you could say is conservative-- but this also causes him to decide that he no longer wants his company to build weapons, and they're going to start investing in alternative energy instead, which sounds like a pretty liberal philosophy, so who can say!

But that brings me back to my point about art and GREAT movies-- if a movie has an obvious agenda one way or another, it's probably not a great movie. A lasting work of art just seeks to tell the Truth, not a Message, and everyone interprets the Truth differently, based on their own previously held beliefs and experiences. So my dear conservative husband and I can watch the same great movie and each believe that it supports our own particular beliefs, even though our beliefs hardly coincide when you actually get into the voting booth.

That said, in this house, I always notice when a movie does or does NOT carry a "guns are inherently evil" bias anymore... someone I know would say you can decide if a movie is conservative THAT way!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I actually thought of that article about conservative songs when seeing the poll. While I know that the author of that article sometimes missed obvious sarcasm, I kind of think it's more common to hear songs that are political in some way (whether left or right) than movies that are the same way (well, except maybe documentaries).

Now, political PARTY labels are even worse, and I don't think you can define "conservative" as "following what the current Republican party does" either, because this past administration especially has done some very not-conservative things, like the whole violation-of-privacy-rights deals (yes, liberals might want to claim the indignation for that for themselves, but true conservatives also hate it because it's Big Government).

I think there are some issues that most people who don't directly benefit from them disagree with. For instance, I've seen plenty of indignant comments from both the Left AND the Right about eminent domain and copyright extensions. Privacy concerns are probably much the same way, but you can get a lot of people to agree to things if motivated by fear.