Posted on 01/17/2003 5:19:01 AM PST by Clintons-B-Gone
Have you ever suffered from acute political apathy?
I’m in the grips of it right now, an experience altogether unfamiliar for someone who has spent many years and earned a modicum of infamy exposing the foibles of various politicians. In retrospect, it began after the traumatic, premature birth of my second child, the insane weeks that followed, and a postpartum hormonal roller-coaster that left me feeling like a ghost walking through my own life. Despite the frenzy of political activity and the surging American response to September 11, 2001, I found myself so physically and emotionally drained that I could not follow events to my satisfaction. Unwilling to walk the path that so many in the mainstream media do – penning columns with little research and fewer facts – I drew back from politics slowly, steadily, and, almost completely.
Yes, apathy. The bane of an informed electorate. The primary reason why evil men rule, because good men are too darn tired to care and let them. A weariness so resounding that I can’t even muster the anger to slap Tom Daschle for his blatant lies and outrageous, daily antics. How do I know he’s lying? He opens his mouth. The same can be said for Saddam Hussein, North Korea, the Communist Chinese, and a whole host of others. What more needs to be said on the matter?
So what occurred to shake me from my relatively unhappy, willfully uninformed stupor? Darrell Ankarlo, a morning talk-show host for KLIF, played a snippet of Bill O’Reilly’s interview with Mel Gibson. Apparently, Mr. Gibson is currently making a movie about the life of Jesus Christ, a dry, reverent, brutal, yet accurate depiction of scripture. According to Mr. Gibson, bloodhounds in Hollywood, upset by the very politically incorrect nature of the material, have delved into his past, dug through his trash, and pestered his elderly father, looking for anything inflammatory to discredit him and the project.
This type of skullduggery is obscenely hypocritical. False stalwarts of free speech excoriated the Catholic Church when it objected to "The Last Temptation of Christ." The Church objected to the depiction of Christ as a confused and shiftless soul and was extremely offended by the sex scene with Mary. So what that their Lord and Savior was having a little dirt thrown on His face? The Media Elite painted the Catholic Church as an intolerant, archaic monster that couldn’t withstand any scrutiny and the movie quickly went to video.
But for all the hue and cry against the film, the Catholic Church did not launch a full-scale assault on Willem Dafoe or his family. And now that a version of Scripture is being made the Church might actually approve of, it must be cut down before the first curtain rises. If the Church approves and the Media Elite doesn’t, I know it’s going to be worth watching.
Having come to this conclusion, I realized that I wasn’t so apathetic, after all. I had made a decision, several years ago, to reject those actors who used their fame to spout anti-American, anti-Conservative propaganda. While I supported their right to voice their opinions, I didn’t have to support them with my money. After visiting several popular conservative information and chat sites, I realized I wasn’t alone. Others had come to the same conclusion and kept running lists of who would benefit from their hard-earned dollars, their trips to the movies now an annual event, if that.
The same could be said for television. When too many shows started spewing stories that read like a liberal’s fantasy, I switched channels, never to return. I couldn’t tell you what’s on CBS, NBC, or ABC anymore and, quite frankly, I don’t care. I discovered there are a great many people who also arrived at the same conclusion. If it’s not on FOX Cable, the History Channel, or a scarce few others, it doesn’t matter.
The same could also be said for music. Despite my head-banging, boot stomping, slam-dancing youth, I refused to waste my money on music pumped out by illiterate, smarmy snots who can’t play more than three cords yet chant about forgiving third world debt. Again, I was not alone.
The same could be said for advertisers. After Rosie O’Donnell shot her mouth off, announcing to the world that I, as a gun-owner, deserved to die, but her children were allowed to be protected by an armed guard, I walked away from K-Mart and never looked back. A pity, really, considering I usually spent several hundred dollars annually on holiday decorations and inexpensive, comfy clothes. If you ask any involved gun owner, and they will probably tell you the same thing.
Last, but certainly not least, was reading material. I tossed out of our house, and out of our lives, any magazines, newspapers, or periodicals promoting an agenda contrary to my Christian beliefs and Conservative positions. Pro-abortion, anti-gun, cheap sex, you name it…out it went, to the trash heap where it belonged. I doubt that I am alone in this regard.
Is there a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy? Yes, in a fashion. Quietly, but with increasing frequency, Conservatives are making the conscious choice to no longer fund the opposition. Ticket prices are up, but ticket sales are down. The Big Three are facing steady viewing declines, while cable is on the rise. Conservative talk-radio is bursting in every city, while music stations are resorting to disgusting pranks to keep listeners. Rosie O is on her way out of the popular culture and K-Mart just announced that it’s closing another 300 stores. Most newspapers are so desperate for readers, they’ll give you the paper free for six weeks, just to keep the printing presses busy.
Mel Gibson has never announced his political leanings, never threw a public hissy fit like Babs, or Alec, or Julia, or Ben, never done anything more than try to live his life according to the will of his Savior. So go ahead, vilify Mel Gibson for being an honest, decent man, who decided to make a movie about Jesus that he reportedly felt compelled to do. It could be the biggest stink bomb in history, panned by every reviewer on the map, and it will still do well. In my immediate family, there are at least 10 people who openly avoid the theaters – but they are anxious to see it.
If the Vast Right Wing mobilizes, it will be a box-office buster.
© 2003 Linda Prussen-Razzano
Your frustration with the darkness was part of the point. Shayamalan got to you, as he intended to do. The darkness is frustrating and disorienting, much like his camera's tendency to linger on something, ANYTHING other than what you desperately want to see!
I thought it was a very well-made movie.
I know, but a movie has to be very good to hold on to me in spite of frustrating me like that. This one did.
I also didn't miss the symbolism of the last scenes being brightly lit. :=)
And you know what - I don't miss any of them. And I totally agree with the right of these people to spew their beliefs, and I have my right to spew my own and boycott their attempts at so-called journalism and entertainment.
We need to figure out a way to do this without contributing to them financially. Any ideas?
We need to figure out a way to do this without contributing to them financially. Any ideas?
Support your local library!
Yes, but.Advertising executives deliberately try to irritate you in order to cause you to remember their message; that is true of all of the PR field including journalism.
With all best intentions I still pick up at least a couple of news broadcasts a day, knowing that it isn't anywhere near Philipians 4:8 to do so. Rush's program doesn't start at noon Eastern time; it starts when the clock radio pops on at 12:06 PM.
I came to FR from a C-Span message board, where I debated liberals daily--and I had a reluctance to come to an explicitly conservative forum for exactly the reason you cited. But in fact the liberals never had anything new, and they became boring once you caught on to their limitations. FR does at least have anticonservative articles to gnaw on. The read-only nature of print/broadcast media surely does grate on a dedicated blog poster!!
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