2005-01-12


1-11-05, 11 29 pm

I just watched the original Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. Damn, it was pretty good. I know i�ll be watching it again pretty soon. It was strange how, when you watch the extra DVD interviews, you find out that Frank S. used his connections to get the movie funded, and that JFK was a fan of getting it made as well. They were both friends, as you know; so then in the movie, there is a plot to kill the candidate for president at the republican convention (in Madison Square Garden, does any of this sound fameeliar?), and then I won�t give it away; but the movie was pulled from all distribution a year later when Kennedy actually did get shot. Art imitates life, we all kind of see it coming, even if we don�t know what it actually is.
Today�s landscape is just as politically screwed up. I remember in my ancient greece culture classes hearing how that, after Athens started to go downhill, the politicians kept getting assasinated.
Although I can barely contain my seething hatred for Bush, if he did take a bullet from some nut who played too much Grand Theft Auto or whatever, then Dubya would just become a martyr and a reason to Really stir up and rile those conservative christian willfully ignorant do � gooders.
A democracy working is a beautiful thing. That means we all try our best, put our best foot forward, stay informed of the politics of the day, and respond to outrages when they appear. (Ahem, social security, ahem) It�s just like a successful group art critique, or a good discussion that keeps you up all night like your own personal My dinner with Andre; the entire group has to participate and feel accepted.
The most faith i put in America right now is in the immigrants; who continually come here with all of that optimism and spirit to renew the country�s attitude just by being here. It is in the immigrant viewpoint that America does not drift off into its own hyperbole hype, its in the humble beginnings of Salvadorans, Mexicans, Taiwanese arrivals that disperse and ridicule this advertising culture, and remind us what it is like to have a real life earned through fair and decent sweat. The climb up the social ladder makes all the difference in the world when you finally get there, as opposed to those of us who were born there by luck, and are kind of drifting around looking for a good time ala Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate.
Despite the overwhelming tide of stirred emotions that are clouding simple reason, people somehow loosing the curiousity to ask for the simple facts, (Like why is this administration so hell bent on radical ideas that were never brought up even five years ago?), despite the mass acceptance of ugly simplification as television is bought up by war makers, banks are conglomerized, ads perforate more and more space and time in our lives, food is more and more bland, prescription drugs are less accessable to more people, yada yada; despite the switcheroo from America the beacon on the hill democracy that i grew up with to a sudden America the birthplace of multinational rootless corporations and anchor of market empire, despite the buffoonery that passes for news and hot topics on american television media, despite the clear channel bubble monopoly, despite the presidential vote that has been severely questioned by some with good reason, and not even explained but merely skimmed over by the consenting majority, despite all this that will boil a hole in me it seems by the time I am 40 and have seen enough, despite all of this, I don�t want to leave my country. Kelli says if I really believe all this failure, then I am a glutton for punishment for staying here, but it�s my country dammit, and I don�t feel like being an expat for the rest of my life. I don�t want to be a foreigner. And if i can stand up and say something, and be heard, isn�t that worth it?