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| Thursday, September 15, 2005 10:14 AM |
| Stuff and Nonsense |
 by Fëanor |
- First, some sad news: yesterday, Robert Wise, a great filmmaker in multiple genres, died of heart failure. He was 91.
Wise edited Citizen Kane, and directed West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, The Haunting, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was a giant talent, and I'm very sad to see him gone.
- In much happier news, there's an absolutely fantastic, gave-me-the-chills excellent, new trailer for Goblet of Fire available for viewing on AOL (thanks to The Movie Blog for the link). It's funny, it's dramatic, and it's got great visuals, and even great pacing--it builds to a tense, chilling finish. Each Harry Potter movie has generally been better than the last; add to that this great trailer, and now I'm very excited about this film.
- And now for some funny stuff. Check out these wonderful pictures of an important note that George W. Bush wrote to Condoleeza Rice during the UN World Summit yesterday.
- This one's for Yagathai. A future "Who Would Win in a Fight" poll, perhaps?
- A US District judge has ruled that the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance is unconstitutional, and the way is open for the case to make it to the Supreme Court. I'm quite pleased.
(WARNING: I have now climbed up on top of my soapbox.) What confuses me is how people defending the pledge and the "under God" phrase always say something along the lines of, "But it's patriotic!" Um, okay. First of all, blind patriotism for its own sake is not a good thing. In fact, it creeps me out. I mean, the Nazi party was based on a strong nationalistic sentiment. I love the idea of America, and I love living here, but this country (and its government) obviously has plenty of faults. Supporting it or its leaders without reservation and without question is not only foolish and dangerous, it's also--and I hate this word, but I think it's appropriate here--un-American. America was founded on freedom, questioning, and distrust of those in power. It was started up by a bunch of rebels who didn't like their King anymore, and who wanted to govern themselves. They set up a system of checks and balances so no one part of the government could have too much power. They made the people and the press free and gave them the right to bear arms so there could be open discussion, accountability, and a revolt, if necessary.
And anyway, we live in a deeply interconnected world now, and some of us have nuclear weapons. In order to live together peacefully, we have to live together, and not go around believing our random piece of the world is for some reason the best, that we have a manifest destiny, that we should rule the world, blah blah blah. That kind of blustering idiocy is what leads to people killing each other.
And anyway, how is God patriotic? Does He/She/It own America? What does God have to do with America? Putting God in there makes the pledge not patriotic, but religious--and not even in a way that embraces all religions. Polytheistic religions, or those without a god, are being left out. And then, of course, there's all the Americans who don't believe in a religion or a God of any kind.
Despite what some people say, America is not a Christian nation. That is not our official religion, and it never was. Our laws are not based on it, and our Constitution is not based on it. America was founded on the principles of secularism, and no citizen of this country should ever be forced to state a belief in any kind of God.
Okay, I'm done now.
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